The British and Irish culture of street violence

Modern Conservative ^ | May 25, 2008 | Christopher Cook

[thinkingIsPresuppositional]

The British and Irish culture of street violence

Who's really more violent?
By Christopher Cook

If I had a dollar for every time a Brit has told me that our "gun culture" makes us "uncivilized"......

This tragic story caught my eye this morning...

Teen Actor in Upcoming 'Potter' Film Stabbed to Death in Bar Brawl:

LONDON — A teenage actor who is to appear in the new 'Harry Potter' film was stabbed to death Saturday during an early morning barfight.

Robert Knox, 18, was murdered outside the Metro bar in southeast London as he tried to protect his brother Jamie, 17, from a man with a knife.

The attack, which left three other people with serious stab wounds, took place just a few miles from where Jimmy Mizen, a 16-year-old altar boy, was murdered two weeks ago while trying to shield his older brother.

I have visited Britain many times. I lived in Scotland for nearly a year. I've also been to Ireland twice. If you add up all the time I've spent in all of those places, it comes to about a year.

And during that one year, I saw more street violence than I have seen in my other 39 years in America!

Too many instances to describe, but here are a few...

-->Two PCP-dusted pimps beating up their prostitutes in a kebab shop on the Lothian Road in Edinburgh. One of the pimps (don't picture 1970s pimps with feather boas, picture large nazi skinheads) threw one of the girls over a railing inside the shop, while the other (already on the ground) screamed, "No, John...she's pregnant!"...

[weegee]

This double knife attack was by a black man. Black British or Black Irish? Or victim of the British/Irish cultural influences? < /s >

[2banana]

Maybe there is hope to fight against the muslims...

[rellimpank]

--pretty much agrees with my US experience.

In spite of spending some of my late youth and earlier manhood in assorted social centers which catered to adults and served whiskey (in mining towns such as Leadville, Colorado), I have seen exactly one good punch land on a face--and that was between a couple of tourists in Las Vegas---

[353FMG]

“And during that one year, I saw more street violence than I have seen in my other 39 years in America!”

You could’ve said the same thing about Holland and Belgium if you had lived there.

[ZULU]

An armed society is a polite society.

[Billthedrill]

If I had a dollar for every time a Brit has told me that our "gun culture" makes us "uncivilized"...I'd buy a .45!

LOL! I'd buy...well, another one. I've often made this argument myself - firearms and the skill to employ them are a trait of civilization, not the opposite. In their absence brute force, not reason, rules. In their presence reason at least has a chance.

It isn't difficult to see unless you're trying not to. And an awful lot of people are trying their very hardest not to.

[NH Liberty]

What the author has described here is so TRUE. I lived in the UK for nearly 8 years, and immediately discovered that the amount of violent crime one encounters among "regular" people in "regular" areas and situations is staggering (as opposed to the usually-contained crime one might find in certain areas of inner cities here in the U.S.).

It is also true that many people there tend to believe that the U.S. is a more violent place, but this is because -- as with many other issues they are misinformed about re the U.S. -- they are victims of a left-wing media coterie that despises the U.S. and will do whatever it takes to misrepresent news reports and American culture, in general. As a result, the "America is too violent/uncivilized" mantra is just is another one that the leftists in the British media have cultivated for the common Brit to believe and repeat.

[Max in Utah]

Ping: Street Violence in the UK and Ireland

Inviting you to comment.

[Dr. Ursus]

The fight was probably over something important like
football team affiliation.

[NFHale]

“As a result, the “America is too violent/uncivilized” mantra is just is another one that the leftists in the British media have cultivated for the common Brit to believe and repeat...”

This, from a country that throws people in jail for defending themselves and their families.

Treat it with the contempt it deserves; they let themselves be disarmed. Britain had a thriving gun culture for many years; they let the socialists take over and strip them of their self-defense capability.

You get the government that you’re willing to settle for. They have it now. Welcome to 1984, about 28 years late...

They are “subjects” in all senses of the word.

[MadMitch]

Lothian Road has always been a bit lively at night, to be honest it’s more a case of people having to much to drink and starting fights. Boys will be boys.

[glorgau]

I have seen exactly one good punch land on a face--and that was between a couple of tourists in Las Vegas---

Sorry, but there is no greater joy in life than landing a good punch - other than a great hit playing football.

I've seen, given, and took a number good punches. 5'7" 140 pounds. Too old for that stuff nowadays.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

At one point, England had it right more than we do. Their cops (bobbies) walked their beats with no firearms, only a billy club. Their citizens were armed. There are a number of cases from early 20th century England were bobbies were running down armed criminals and they would borrow a citizens handgun.