Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Canadian Topics Police identify suspect in bus beheading

The first rule for rescuers is "protect yourself". Dead people cannot be heroes. Because everyone else left the bus, we have a singular bizarre incident, but only one death. The people who disabled the bus and prevented the beheader from leaving it need to be commended for containing a potentially wider tragedy.

I think it's pretty presumptuous to pass this kind of judgement on a group of people when this sort of thing happens.
As Anni and Jon both articulated (and maybe Steve too), this was an above the 'norm' incident.
Gross and disgusting and horrifying.

I would love to think that I am so high minded and brave that I would step in front of a bullet (or knife in this case) for a total stranger or even be as good as Tod, Roll On guy and all that on flight 93, and 'do the right thing' but...
to tell the truth I don't know what I would do especially if my child were with me (as seemed to be the case for at least one other rider).

Something really bothers me about how quick we are to pass judgment in cases like this.
I just need to say that.

Another point I'd like to make is this....
As many situations that I have heard of where the 'on lookers' were frozen or scared shitless to act, I've heard of truly heroic just the opposite.
We had a young(ish...30ager) female police officer at a local 24 hour grocery store (my store!) brutally attacked by a nutcase guy who unsheathed a knife from the store and was apparently eating raw meat in the meat department. When she approached him he turned on her and was stabbed many times but survived because on lookers jumped him and a nurse who happened to be there knew how to slow the blood loss, she will survive even though complete recovery may never be possible.
There have been several other similar type heroics just in my town alone as I'm sure there are most places.
(football players passing a burning car pulling a child out comes to mind too)

We don't know all the circumstances but even if we did
how do we know what is the right thing when you're in the middle of something like that.
How completely horrifying it must have been.

The person who was wrestled to the ground was the one shouting 'hate' speech, not the fellow engaged in expressing his angst by decapitating a fellow Canadian. My bad.
Yours,
Issodhos

Guilty as charged, beechhouse.:-(
Yours in ambiguity,
Issodhos

Perhaps, because the beheadee was a stranger to the others -- unlike Stereoman's flawed comparison to a church congregation in Tennessee? Perhaps because many people have been conditioned to expect the state to deal with such matters -- after all, that is what we pay them to do, isn't it? Perhaps because many people have been conditioned to think that beheaders and other miscreants should be understood and viewed as victims, themselves? Perhaps because there must be a "societal cause" for his actions which causes a hesitancy in the middle class herd? Or, perhaps, because a docile population of sheep is so much easier to control. Take your pick -- or do a combination of the lot.;-)
Yours,
Issodhos
p.s. By the way, I wonder what was up with all that Stonewall vigilante crap.;-)

Actually, the attempts being made to limit the issue to "the bus" seem to me to be a bit disingeneous. It is more about people going to the aid of a person being attacked.
Yours,
Issodhos
p.s. And, though I may be over-working the point, one gun and any rescuers, in this case, would have been well protected.

And yet, how often we see judgement being passed in many threads in this forum on a routine basis without the slightest concern? How is this thread different? And, come to think of it, who has passed judgement on the "good guys" in this scenario? I would say that observation has been made, conjecture has entered into the thread, and humor has been added.
Yours,
Issodhos

One of the interesting things about a herd of antelope or wildebeast or whatever, is that its (and I repeat, "its") primary defense is to run faster than the weakest member of the herd. Such action is routine, but, relative to the numbers within the herd, rare. Your point?
Yours,
Issodhos

I believe that I stated that the majority of bus riders were the elderly, teenagers and youngsters.

In comparison with the numbers of "mass" murders, horrorific crimes such as cannibalism, and just plain old murders with guns in your country; I do believe you might be just a little jealous at the reduced numbers in my country, or you are obssessed with finding fault with a smaller culture that consistently ranks higher in global 'quality of living' scales than yours?

OA, I would grant you a point or several. But I truly believe that what's happening here is the sort of fascination we find with "man with the hook" stories. It's gruesome and grotesque and best of all, it didn't happen here.

It will be the subject of summer-camp stories for years to come; this thread is just the fore-runner.

It will probably take zombies and/or a flesh-eating disease spread by cooties to get people to let go of this one.