Sunday, May 11, 2008

The Angels are in the Details

Fjordman sent this “Memo From Europe,” from Bruce Bawer’s blog.

This particular memo of Bawer’s deals with the destruction of Oslo by the criminals on the street, and the criminally irresponsible people who hold power in government. The latter may smell better, but they are more to blame than the common criminal who wreaks havoc on ordinary citizens.

[In the following, the emphases are mine. I will explain them at the end of Mr. Bawer’s remarks - D]

During the nine years and two weeks that I’ve lived in Oslo, I’ve seen the city change significantly -- for the worse. I don’t remember exactly when it started reminding me of New York in the 1970s and 80s, but by now the resemblance is undeniable.

Burglary, rape, gay-bashing, mugging, graffiti, vandalism: you name it, we’ve got it in spades, and it’s still on the rise. Public stabbings and gang fights have become routine.

Forget for a moment the Muslim youth gangs that are responsible for a wildly disproportionate number of the crimes here: it’s now impossible to walk in broad daylight down Karl Johans Gate, the grand ceremonial thoroughfare that was once the kingdom’s pride, without being accosted by aggressive gypsy beggars who want your money (they’ve been bussed in from Rumania specifically for this purpose) and by equally aggressive drug addicts (some of who are asking for handouts, others of whom are dealing).

At night, this unsavory crew is replaced by an even pushier brigade of Nigerian prostitutes, some of whom will follow you for a block or more, repeatedly (and often belligerently) demanding that you avail yourself of their services. So insistent are they that it doesn’t even help to scream: “I’m gay!” Even the pre-Giuliani Times Square area was safer and more congenial.

The statistics are dire.
- - - - - - - - -
Last month came news that the rate of reported crimes in Oslo is now four times that of New York; last week it emerged that Oslo’s rape figures reached an all-time high in 2007; today it was reported that over 99 percent of street robberies in the city go unsolved.

To any unblinkered individual who lives here, these statistics are no surprise. Yet civic authorities, faced with the steady erosion of law and order, exude indifference and ineffectuality.

Alas, as illustrated by the vile comments made last October to a Muslim audience in Oslo by the head of Norway’s security police -- who, as recounted by Rita Karlsen, bent over backwards to praise Muslims and decouple Islam from terrorism while maligning America and depicting ordinary Norwegians as ignorant, potentially violent anti-Muslim bigots -- Norwegian cops are hobbled by the same mindless multiculturalism that infects their counterparts elsewhere in the West.

Mr. Bawer points out the similarities between present-day Oslo and the New York City of the 1980’s. These similarities are significant, that is why I emphasized them.

In the various crimes listed in his second paragraph, he includes graffiti and vandalism. In a counter-intuitive move, that is where New York started in cleaning up the city and bringing the crime rate down. It is the small details that count, and to start the change back to public order they can be dealt with more easily and immediately than more complex problems. They are also easier to see, which begins to change perceptions.

In New York, The graffiti was cleaned up, and the broken windows were fixed.

Next, the aggressive beggars who ran over to cars stopped at traffic lights, demanding money for cleaning the drivers’ windows (often becoming irate and dangerous when refused) were ordered off the turf, not to return.

This could be done with the gypsy beggars and the Nigerian prostitutes; simply take them off the streets. Surely even Oslo has public nuisance ordinances?

Next, give the police some peacekeeping mandates and give them the discretion to arrest those who are causing trouble. Put police officers on the streets, all the time. That is what New York did, and the Chief of Police has since gone on to curb crime in other cities. New York City cops are not hobbled by multi-cultural mandates. They’ve learned to work around them.

Since the experience proved so successful in New York, people are more trusting of the police, and the latter have more autonomy. The spiral upward was an ascent out of restrictive, mindless ideas about what “causes” crime - the result of 1960’s thinking so well represented by Mayor Lindsey.

Crime happens because criminals know they can get away with it. Oslo has been mau-maued into its present condition by gangs, immigrant hooligans, and imported beggars and prostitutes.

In his book, Moment of Truth in Iraq, Michael Yon makes the point that small details are essential to a successful battle. Thus, if he is off to observe some engagement with the enemy, he will not get in a vehicle with dirty windows, or one with a slovenly crew. He knows from experience that the attention to detail and the realization that preparation is essential means the difference between success and failure.

Mr. Bawer finds himself in the unenviable position of living where the details no longer count. Is that unsafe environment worth it?

Come back to New York City, Mr. B. You and your partner will be safer and your anxiety level when you leave the refuge of your home will decrease.

26 comments:

Zarxos said...

Apologies for this being slightly off-topic, but I figured this was the only place I might be able to get an answer...

I was talking to a Danish friend of mine several days ago, and he mentioned that Anders Fogh Rasmussen made a speech on the 60th anniversary of the Danish resistance against the Nazis (some time in 2003) along the lines of "just as we fought against totalitarianism and for our freedom back then, we must continue to do so in the present day." My friend said it was because of this speech that PM Rasmussen was so pro-Jyllands-Posten during the Cartoon Jihad; if he had caved to the demands of the Islamists, he would have been accused of going back on his word.

My question is, does anyone by chance know where I could find the text of this speech?

Mange takk!!

kepiblanc said...

I suppose it is this one.

Homophobic Horse said...

The "mindless bigots" are the people committing rape, robbery, and AIDs infected whore mongering.

I've been thinking about this and I have decided it is appropriate: Multiculturalism and unrequested mass-immigration now constitute a crime against humanity. And like all past victims of inhumanity we have no voice and no political redress.

Homophobic Horse said...

The EU is a predatory anti-human organisation.

X said...

The new mayor of London is promising a similar zero tolerance crackdown and he's already getting flack for it, with the BBC desperately trying to portray him as some sort of racist fascist bigot. They keep mentioning the BNP whenever they do an article about him. He's been in about a week and not even done anything yet. It'll be interesting how a zero tolerance polilty plays out in light of various bits of "human rights" legislation that are floating around these days...

randian said...

Liberals are pushing to install this kind of moonbattery here in the US. How can we stop them?

Conservative Swede said...

Graham,

They keep mentioning the BNP whenever they do an article about him.

That's a lot of gratuitous advertising for the BNP.

Homophobic Horse said...

BNP. The party of law and order. lol.

Following on from previous discussions here's another article from Mediocracy about how the modern ideology portrays people as irrational maniacs driven by the unknowable and chaotic - and logically require the adjustment of the social engineer.

Conservative Swede said...

New York? I think it's more like Paris:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DYd7Tdefpe4

Charles Martel said...

I am EXTREMELY skeptical of Bruce Bauer. Bauer himself falls prey to the same multicultural deceits that he himself ostensibly decries.

Bawer seems unable to drift too far from the leftist perspective that nurtures his lifestyle. For example (from his book): "Authorities must simply be more careful about whom they let in - and treat them differently when they do. They must stop thinking of immigrants as charity cases and start thinking of them as equals who are ready, willing, and able to pull their own weight. They need not stop importing people from the Muslim world: millions of Muslims have no fondness for sharia law and, given the opportunity to live and work in a free country, would prove themselves valuable, loyal assets to their new homelands."

He completely ignores the immutable Koran cast in stone which, under penalty of death, demands of Islam's adherents that they accept no authority whatsoever other than Mohammad. He ignores the Koran's directive to kill infidels and not to make friends with Christians or Jews. He ignores the Koran's approval of slavery, the inferiority of women and a whole host of anti-Western ideas that are utterly at odds with Western ideals. He fails to faithfully examine the implications of European demographic implosion. He simply blithely states (from his book), "They need not stop importing people from the Muslim world." REALLLY?! According to Bauer, all that is necessary is just a little tinkering with the approach to immigration and voilà (!) the problem will be solved. If it were only that easy.

Bauer is encumbered by his own leftist prejudices which he is unable to overcome. He left the USA because of his dislike for the fundamentalist religious right. Honestly, I don't know how anyone with an ounce of common sense could feel seriously threatened or restricted by the bogeyman called the religious right. After all, if the religious right is so omnipotent how come EVERYONE feels comfortable attacking it. Bawer is shocked, shocked I tell you (!!) when he discovers in Europe those very same values he treasures taken to their logical conclusion. He fails to see, much less analyze, the irony. He bemoans the provincialism and narrow mindedness that he encountered in Europe but fails to understand its genesis.

Afonso Henriques said...

People, do you really think this only happens in Oslo?

I'd say that it happens more or less in every great (Western) European city.

In Lisbon, and Portugal as a whole, if a Policeman fires against a fellow human, he will have to be present at court and the fact that he is a policeman is an "agravation" of the crime of shooting to another fellow human.
The policeman has to proove that his life was at stake so that he can shoot towards a criminal leg.
Last year, seven policemen were murdered.

Only the minority of policemen who always wanted to be policemen since childhood are the ones who are "good policemen".
All the others (some 75% or more) say that: We have no power, when we see a real bad situation, the best we can do is turn our backs. The criminals have better arms than we do and usualy the population (minorities) is hostile towards the police.

This week, near the centre of Lisbon, at daylight, a man was lynched by a mob:

This is the story in Portuguese

The twenty year old man ran into a police station.

There, we was lynched by a "group" of ten men. (All the eye witnesses stressed the fact that they were "Brazilians" but no mass media reported it except when directly asking the eye witnesses what happened).

There was only one policeman in the station and he was powerless to controle the mob. The Brazilian mob lynched the man and went out of the police station, at day light, 14:00 o'clock, everybody saw what happened.

No men of that mob was convicted or found. Impunity is extreme.

I have a friend of mine that lives in "Reboleira", at the outskirts of Lisbon. A very multicultural area with a great minority of Africans (I would say, from 35 to 50%).

In the walls of the area, there were grafittis saying:

Police=Skinhead

and "Rabuleira". "Rabuleira" is "Reboleira" with African accent. They have written in the walls:

"Rabuleira is the land of the brothers".

If this is not invasion and colonisation, I don't know what it is. Especially when it is offensive towards "Reboleira" itself because "Rabo" from "RABUleira" means "ass", literally, and "eira" can be considered to be "land of (the)".
An "eira" is indeed, a "space of empty land".

And the fact that they are calling the police skinheads is at least funny because the police itself aknowledge that they do not have the means to act. Also, there are many "ethnics" in the police. One, was killed last year when he was coming to his predominantly "ethnic and criminal" neighbourhood.

It was a clear statement: Here, we don't tolerate the police, neither if they are one of ours. His mother had to leave the place. She was unable to tell the authorities who killed her son because of what could happen to her next.
The people on the neighbourhood said that "even the worst criminals had great respect for this woman".
That kind of respect is a bit odd in my opinion.

Also, there was an interesting case a friend of mine in the police confidentiated to me: The case of a "good black cop" that became a "bad cop" after seeing his "good white collegue" beating up a "black criminal that was friend of the black cop when they were children".
The black cop acused the other of racism.

It is also generally accepted in the police that there is no racism, despite the fact that blacks and gypsies are "racially profiled" by individual officiers.
The only "racism" in the police is in the especial groups that tend to be more Nationalistic and tend to intervain only in "ethnic neighbourhoods" where the normal police have no controle. It usually is because of trafic, drugs and weapons.

Well, it seems that it is too lenghty by now.
All I wanted to say is that, all cities here are like Oslo now, some more, other less. But the problem is not local. No, it is not.

Dymphna said...

Charles Martel--

Yes, I do think he is an unfortunate example of someone who is blinded by his prejudices; they hamper him from protecting himself. He fled to Europe because the US wasn't Left enough for him and now he's landed in the mire of "too much of a good thing."
__________

Con Swede--

In NYC they call that behavior "wilding" -- there seems to be a pathological rise in testosterone levels when young men go about in large groups (married men, btw, have lower levels).

It's a risk in all large cities where there is an underclass of boys raised by single mothers. My son was attacked from behind by such a group. They didn't get much beyond cracking his ribs and injuring his face before their fun was interrupted by some passers-by.
When the police began to see there was a pattern to it, they began using plainclothes officers to lure them into an attack. The little monsters were hauled off in groups and the situation is much improved.

Dymphna said...

archonix --

Proclamations about "zero tolerance" are a good indication that nothing will change. How depressing.

Afonso Henriques said...

Conservative Swede,

great video!

I have seen almost all this behaviour both from my window, being a victim or seeing it happening in the street.

My preception:
If they are three or less, react! They will run away. They do not know bravery.
Of course, it depends on the type of person and their size(s) but with those in the video. If they are three or less, and do not display arms, react!

If they are more than three or they are really big, run away and alert all the people you care about their presence.

One thing we must have in mind. If they know where you live, do nothing. Do not resist. Try to remember the face of the person and when you are to see him again, there you will have your revange the way you want. But the revange has to be schocking, be it with police, or by friends. Never by the person the guy attacked or robbed.

I could describe many cases but there is no need for it.

Afonso Henriques said...

"there seems to be a pathological rise in testosterone levels when young men go about in large groups"

I think it is more machievelian than that.

I do really believe that there is a "political agenda" behinde that.

If by political we mean group relations. I admire how cohese those groups uslally are, though.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the wonders of "diversity." Celebrate your differences, Europe!

Now you Europeans, who have always looked down on us Americans for our crime rates, and always assumed it was because of our fondness for guns and capitalism, and our dislike of the welfare state -- well, now you know. There's a wonderful site called "Statemaster" where you can look up all the comparative data about each American state. Guess which ones have the lowest crime rates, the highest educational achievement standards, the smallest gap between rich and poor? I can assure you that all of those states that score highly in those statistics, they all have guns, capitalism and not as much welfare as you Europeans are used to. What they don't have is "diversity." Bruce Bawer hasn't found the key yet. He's still waiting for the "strengthening" qualities provided by "diversity" to make themselves apparent. He's still waiting for the "beautiful cultural mosaic" of the promised multi-culti society to start "working." Maybe a few more beatings up of his boyfriend and he will start getting it. We can only hope.

Anonymous said...

Here you go, an example of a sort on Statemaster -- homicide victims per capita, by state:

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/cri_hom_tot_num_of_vic_percap-total-number-victims-per-capita

Notice anything about the states scoring the lowest homicide rates? Vermont, Utah, North Dakota?

spackle said...

As someone who was born and raised in NYC and experienced its crime firsthand (including being "wilded" upon) I can say that the only thing that changed anything was that people had had enough. They elected a mayor ( even liberals) with balls who was willing to do what it takes. Was there still hemming and hawing from progressives? yes. But it was too late at that point. Until the people of Oslo or anywhere else for that matter say ENOUGH and elect a realist nothing will change. London seems to be on the right track by bringing in Bill Bratton, but we will see? The only problem with NYC now is that it has turned into a theme park for tourists where only the very rich or very poor can afford to live.

Zarxos said...

I don't know if anyone is still checking this thread, but thank you, kepiblanc!

And in case someone is checking the thread, could anyone by chance translate "Vi kan i dag med taknemmelighed og stolthed tænke tilbage på de mennesker, som holdt fast i den menneskelige anstændighed – og trodsede støvletramp og stikkeri for at redde deres medmennesker."?

Thanks again.

turn said...

Dympha-

Zero tolerance can be pretty downright stupid--like getting 7 year-olds arrested for sexual harassment. Common sense demands measurement and judgment. But it sounds good to a populace weary of bad behavior and worse politicians. I wish BoJo well.

I'm no expert on hormones but I suspect it's more adrenaline driven than testosterone. Groups of young men (and now young women) getting worked up with the fight or flight impulse act out against the other and it so often appears racially motivated.

Baltimore has had a couple cases in the past six months of atrocious acts by groups of young blacks against one or two whites--in one case a young woman refused to give her seat on the bus to a youngster (she suffered a fractured occipital bone) and in another the young man died after months in a coma.

London ousted Red Ken like NY ousted Dinkens. Let's hope the good folk of Oslo will pay attention.

kepiblanc said...

Zarxos:
"Vi kan i dag med taknemmelighed og stolthed tænke tilbage på
de mennesker, som holdt fast i den menneskelige anstændighed – og
trodsede støvletramp og stikkeri for at redde deres medmennesker."

"Today we can think back with gratitude and pride about those people who stood fast on human dignity - and defied the goose-stepping jackboots and collaborators [informers - stool pigeons] in order to save their fellow human beings".

Diamed said...

Diversity = crime.
Tolerance = the continuance of crime.
Multiculturalism = genocide.

We've certainly learned this lesson the hard way, but too late to change a thing, like lemmings the ball is already set in motion, the unalterable fatal course of demographics will reveal itself in full glory 2060. Maybe we should hold a party or something then, to commemorate the death of the west.

Dymphna said...

Diamed--

I don't think it's inevitable "yet" but then I'm an optimist.

I see the turn in Britain, and the fact that Italy just did not a turn, but an about-face. And look at France celebrating Israel.

These are small trickles, but they bring surprise, and they may produce momentum.

We're in uncharted territory.

BTW, I really like your equations:

Diversity = crime.
Tolerance = the continuance of crime.
Multiculturalism = genocide.

That's something to ponder...

randian said...

France celebrates Israel while wanting to add Turkey and North Africa to the EU. All of those proposed additions celebrate Israel's destruction. It makes me wonder how firm that support really is.

X said...

Have you ever seen a dam top over? I have. It was a "model" I built once for some reason that I can't recall at the moment, out of construction sand, but it was fairly accurate as such things go. Now you can fill up a dam right to the top and watch it overflow and you'll notice something. For a long time the water just sort of laps at the top of the dam wall, trickling over in tiny dribbles as the level rises. It can stay like this for a very long time, just slopping tiny trickles of water over the top. Then, suddenly, without any apparent warning the water starts to flow over the top in a constant stream, right along the entire length of the dam wall. When a dam tops out like that it usually collapses. If you're observant you'll have noticed that dam was doomed from the moment the first wave trickled over the lip.

Now in our case that dam is a combination of political correctness and islam. The first trickle over the top might well have been the motoon crisis, or perhaps the first publication of those cartoons in norway. Doesn't matter when it was, though. There's a steady drip of criticism now. The dam is as doomed as if someone had filled it full of dynamite.

Homophobic Horse said...

I like the cut of your jib Archonix.

You know, being a former Marxist I've got Dialectical Materialism burnt into my brain and I can't help but think about the 'sudden transformation of quantity in quality' in your description of the failing dam. But really I know that there is no 'transformation', to say there is a transformation confuses the phenomenological with the actual. I suppose that's how Marxism becomes fanatical mind control.