Althouse: "I thought London was a civilized society full of gentlemen and ladies."

August 14, 2011

"I thought London was a civilized society full of gentlemen and ladies."

"But it is not like that. England has become a sick society."

The Polish immigrant Monika Konczyk.

25 comments:

rhhardin said...: Mark Steyn's point is that not only doesn't the lefty political economy not work owing to misallocation of resources and so there's a lower standard of living all around, which is more or less known economics, but it turns its supporters into junk.; 8/14/11, 7:21 AM
Paco Wové said...: One too many not's.; 8/14/11, 7:36 AM
Triangle Man said...: The Tudors is more accurate than Marry Poppins wrt modern London.; 8/14/11, 7:37 AM
Curious George said...: Mark Steyn:

“In Britain, everything is policed except crime.”

“Want has been all but abolished. Today, fewer and fewer Britons want to work, want to marry, want to raise children, want to lead a life of any purpose or dignity.”

“For Americans, the quickest way to understand modern Britain is to look at what LBJ’s Great Society did to the black family and imagine it applied to the general population”.

Add mass immigration without dissemination.

Who does that sound like?; 8/14/11, 7:44 AM
traditionalguy said...: London has too many mosques doing their thing.

London is the vacation spot for Arab Patriarchs with their 80 wives and daughters.

Young middle eastern men go to London to get jobs serving in hotels and restaurants, and to learn to speak English (London has English Schools the way America has Convenience stores,)and to screw themselves a coveted blonde or two.

There are no more Ladies and Gentlemen's training schools, but only services for these middle eastern men and tourists from all over England, Europe and the USA.; 8/14/11, 7:48 AM
KCFleming said...: The word 'barbarian' describes what London's people have descended into.

They are not citizens but subjects, serfs. They can operate cell phones, but have no actual skills and no morals.

All prior warnings were ignored and will still be ignored.

The same thing is happening in the US. I expect most large cities will see riots like Milwaukee and protests like Madison as the economy staggers on or even falters.

Expect rage and violence, followed by authoritarian rule. We are long past any effective intervention.

Where are the modern monks to save the remnants of Western Civilization? The churches are all museums and the constitutions are honored only in the breach.; 8/14/11, 7:57 AM
BAS said...: I don't think it's fair to London for her to say that. It was never a civilized society, she made a mistake if she thought that.; 8/14/11, 8:26 AM
Curious George said...: Pogo said...

The same thing is happening in the US. I expect most large cities will see riots like Milwaukee and protests like Madison as the economy staggers on or even falters.

Yep

Expect rage and violence, followed by authoritarian rule. We are long past any effective intervention.

Maybe a some point, but not yet. The left, who run these failed cities, will still say "How did we fail them" as a ramp up to a renamed, but warm over, destined for failure program.; 8/14/11, 8:44 AM
Phil 314 said...: I'll pass on the short-term psychoanalysis. But these riots do bring out the irony in our hand-wringing and second guessing about the choice of Rio for the 2016 Summer Olympics

because of all the crime.; 8/14/11, 9:13 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Ann Coulter tackles the issue of mob dementia in Demonic.; 8/14/11, 9:13 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/14/11, 9:13 AM
edutcher said...: Even in the 18th Century, when London was called the most civilized city in the world, a man was well-advised to go abroad, especially at night, with a brace of pistols and a rapier. This is also why there were coachmen and coach dogs.

That said, even though Steyn seems to have lost his mojo after his run-in with the Thought Police in Canuckistan, he crystallizes why Brits had to invent the term, "yob", although many of the rioters have been found to be the sons and daughters of privilege.

(it has ever been thus - witness Carlos The Jackal, Ayman al Zawahiri, Fidel Castro, et al); 8/14/11, 9:25 AM
Paul said...: The British government has for so many years hit their crime rates why should anyone be shocked. It's all of their 'official secrets act'.

Example, in Britain only 5 crimes per person per year can be reported. Any more crimes to that person are thrown out in gathering their stats. See such things as store robberies, domestic violence, bullying, etc.. are not counted past their magical '5'.

Also they exclude residents of communal establishments, e.g. hostels, nursing and care homes and university halls of residence, from its surveys,

There is far far more crime there than they admit, and when such as these riots happen, well it IS kind of embarrassing, right?

But over there you can't defend yourself.; 8/14/11, 11:13 AM
A. Shmendrik said...: If you catch her, can you keep her?; 8/14/11, 11:28 AM
Heart_Collector said...: "The same thing is happening in the US. I expect most large cities will see riots like Milwaukee and protests like Madison as the economy staggers on or even falters."

I dont think you will be seeing much in the way of madison style protests anywhere outside of warm fuzzy we live far from reality peter pan neverlands, the world is a hard violent place, gay shit like that wont be tolerated in most places.; 8/14/11, 12:47 PM
ken in tx said...: If and when Obama loses, all the self segregated black enclaves will explode and burn.; 8/14/11, 1:02 PM
Larry J said...: How can any country that prosecutes people for self-defense be considered civilized? All that does is put the rights of the thugs ahead of the crime victims.

My job might take me to London for a couple weeks next month. I was considering taking my wife so she can see part of Europe for the first time. We're now reconsidering whether she should go.; 8/14/11, 1:15 PM
Bayoneteer said...: And yet she wants to stay there. Go figure?; 8/14/11, 2:24 PM
Ralph L said...: If and when Obama loses, all the self segregated black enclaves will explode and burn
That might have happened in 2008, but now the bloom is off the O rose for everyone.

I predict riots in the retirement villages and nursing homes when the SS and Medicare means tests arrive.; 8/14/11, 2:28 PM
Bayoneteer said...: On a related note. 53 people died in the LA riots of '92. How many died in the UK? What five or so? Interesting. The common folks don't have the means to defend nor to kill either.; 8/14/11, 2:31 PM
Carol_Herman said...: The LONGBOW!

I had completely forgotten.

And, then, Glenn Reynolds posts a link to "The Temple of Mut."

He gives a lesson (from Shakespeare) ... with the Aigancourt (sp unknown to me) speech. The French had the bad luck.

And, it turns out right in Miramar California (no less), is a club where people can learn to shoot the LONG BOW. Heck, I loved that article!

Ya don't need a gun!

Guns are new to the field of defense.; 8/14/11, 4:58 PM
Carol_Herman said...: Well, London's gonna have the Olympics. Saw a good cartoon ... where one of the circles is under the arm of a looter. But who knows?

Mr. Crapper gave the world flushing toilets. Brought civilization TO the world. Before that all you had were buckets.; 8/14/11, 5:00 PM
Ralph L said...: It's Agincourt, but the "t" isn't pronounced in French, not that we're speaking French.
They were called chamberpots, not buckets.; 8/14/11, 5:36 PM
vza said...: I became very optimistic about England after I saw the immigrant communities defiantly defending their hard-earned little shops from the thugs. That's the old British spirit that got them through the Blitz. Sometimes it takes newcomers to remind people that what they have is worth fighting for.; 8/14/11, 6:01 PM
vza said...: Larry J said: "My job might take me to London for a couple weeks next month. I was considering taking my wife so she can see part of Europe for the first time. We're now reconsidering whether she should go."

Do go! It is still one of the great cities of the world. It will be fine. It is one my favorite places on this earth. History everywhere! The parks are so lovely, the museums, the best anywhere, and the people are quite nice. We have never had a problem.; 8/14/11, 6:06 PM