Posted on 06/09/2008 7:08:44 PM PDT by Lowcountry
This past Saturday (6/7/08) my wife and I took our kids to the Statue of Liberty. They are 10 and 13 and it was their first trip to NYC. We took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and were to proceed on to Ellis Island.
Like most tourist, we were taking photos and helping others to take group photos as well. As we got close to the front of the Statue, we saw a young, 18-22 year old young man step on top of the wall separating the grassy area from the sidewalk which circles the statue. Below him stood his mother and father to take his picture. He posed for his picture, Lady Liberty directly behind him, with his right arm lifted and middle finger extended. He was clearly mocking the statue... and America.
I started to get mad and told my wife to look at him. As I started to walk towards the family, my wife begged me to go no further. I did not want to create a scene, nor did I want to argue with my wife. My heart was racing.
As I stood and watched, the mother (late 40's) was helping him pose and told him to curl his middle finger instead of holding it straight. As the mother, son and father all laughed, there was not a single person around who was looking at them or approaching in disgust. I could hear the family talking and laughing, but the language was not American. It sounded like a cross between German and Russian (is that possible?) My wife was trying to look away, so I walked close to the family and spat on the ground behind them in absolute disgust. They looked around but I was moving away. Then I stood and stared in my green reflector fishing glasses.
Again they started the pose. This time my 10 year old daughter saw him holding a water bottle between his legs at the crotch like he was peeing while giving the finger. My wife came up and said "let's go!" I said OK, just give me a second. I got a large loogy in my mouth, walked up and spat in the middle of them, took three steps back and stood and stared. They looked somewhat shocked and a little intimidated. I did not break my glare. They looked around as if someone might come and take me away. After about 15-20 seconds when that did not happen, they packed up their camera stuff and walked quickly away and got in the ferry line. The laughing had stopped.
Did I do the right thing? Could I have done something "more American"? I felt very angry about the way they came on our soil and mocked our most cherished symbol of Liberty and Freedom. Have you witnessed other acts of Euro punk desecration? How dare they do this and no American set them straight.
I salute you, sir.
But isn’t the correct term here Europeon?
Absolutely. After all, it made the jerks stop their antics and their laughter.
My hat is off to you.
Thank you!!!
And what kind of 40-year old mother lets her son behave that way?! Had that been my parents, I wouldnt have even tried a stunt like that. I already know the result would be a smack on the butt, an earfull, and a grounding.
We asked ourselves the same questions! Why come here if you hate us? Plus, any kid with parents like that is going to be a punk.
You should have taken their picture acting the way they did. You could have posted them. Nothing an east european hate worse that getting their pictures taken by someone in sun glasses. Maybe that would reminding them that freedom isn’t free.
How do you drive or park without "help"?
You could have alway tried the polite but correct question
Speicherten amerikanische Soldaten Ihre Familie von den Nazin?
Oder war Ihre Familie, welche die Nazin stützt?
I’m sorry - in English -
Did American soldiers save your family from the Nazis?
Or was your family supporting the Nazis?
Hell, back in the late 40’s and early 50’s the Europeans were already started getting nasty while they were still on the Marshall Plan tit. Many Europeans are born nasty.
“Did I do the right thing?”
YES!
Exactly. If there was a picture of some Eurotrash family being so incredibly disrespectful to the people and country that made it possible for them to live free lives, it would ignite a firestorm of outrage. As it stands, it’s just a couple hundred people across a few websites with elevated blood pressure.
There is a time and a place to give some obnoxious individual a black eye or even a broken nose.
And when in that time and place happen, each of us need to make the choice whether to administer justice.
In many ways, it is like the willingness to intervene when you see a criminal act take place. Government never wants you to, because it prefers “sheeple” as citizens, but the vast majority of your fellow citizens *do* want you to, and will applaud you for it.
The bottom line is that if flag burners got black eyes, there would be a lot fewer flag burnings. If a Code Pinko spits on a soldier, and a citizen gives them a broken nose to remember the event, Code Pinkos learn not to spit on soldiers.
But if they don’t get what is owed them, then they are just encouraged to be more disgusting in the future. So feel free to do the right thing.
Of course you only had seconds to consider your actions. Having the luxury of sitting here and fantasizing about what I would liked to have done, I came up with the following:
I would graciously offer to take their pictures for them. Once they give me the camera I would pretend to take a few shots, and then casually, yet forcefully fling the damn thing over my shoulder. While still maintaining a friendly smile and tone I would then ask “So...What part of Europe are you from? The part whose ass we saved? Or the part whose ass we kicked?”
“Trust me, nothing would have happened.
If a NYC cop had shown up, with the guy screaming in a foreign language that you hit him, all you’d have to tell the cop, in a calm tone of voice, is: “Officer, look, this guy is crazy. He started the whole thing. What I am supposed to do, just sit there and take it?””
The Statue of Liberty is Federal Property, Different kind of cops.
agree with most that what you did was right.
would have been great if you could have gotten their cam for a ‘family’ photo, and borrowed the memory stick out of it, and maybe adjusted the autofocus for them. Obviously they have a bad ‘memory’ of what our country stands for, and they ‘focus’ on the wrong things.
horrible puns intended
but they are pieces of crap that should be escorted rudely out of the country and told they are no longer welcome here. we don’t have enough room for the people who want to be here.....
Other than forgetting to smash their camera I’d have done the same. ;)
I admire your restraint.
Nice thought, but the Statue’s a National Park, Fed jurisdiction, US Park Police are the law enforcement.
As long as no blood was drawn, they would have just quieted things down and sent them on the way, they might have even gotten tickets if lowcountry took some photos of their antics.
It’s a tough place to work and keep an eye on, averages about 7,000 visitors a day now, and the summer rush is not yet here.
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