The Normalization of Savagery
The fact is, America does have a crime problem.
Ketanji Brown Jackson, potentially America’s first chief justice who ascribes to the ideology of anarcho-tyranny.
Yesterday, I read a story that sickened me to my core:
What happened to Frickey was unspeakable and the ages of her murderers will stun you:
Four teenagers have been arrested and charged in connection to the carjacking of a 73-year-old New Orleans-area woman who was dragged to death Monday.
The identities of the suspects were not released but New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Shaun Ferguson described them as a 17-year-old male, one 16-year-old girl and two 15-year-old girls.
"Look at the nature of the crime," Ferguson said during a Tuesday news conference. "Look at the brazenness, in broad daylight, with no regard to this woman hanging from the vehicle."
…
The carjacking occurred around 1:30 p.m. on Monday in the 300 block of North Scott Street, authorities said. During the incident, Frickey became entangled with her seatbelt when the suspects tried pulling her out of the vehicle, Ferguson said.
Her arm was severed as she was dragged about a block, authorities said. She died at the scene. Her vehicle was recovered several hours after the carjacking.
Linda Frickey woke up and went about her day not realizing her life would end several hours later in such brutal fashion. We can only hope she was right with family, God (if she were a believer), and everything else she held dear in life upon her passing. Her life mattered.
When you read a story like this, it’s very difficult not to harbor some measure of hatred in your heart. The line between good and evil runs down the middle of all of us, but murdering someone in the manner in which Linda Frickey was involves a level of callousness and disregard for life that any civilized person would find tough to descend to. We’ve become an increasingly “no judgment” society, but most of us don’t wake up and decide to carjack someone at the cost of an innocent person’s life. I’m (not) sorry, but we just don’t. Moral relativism or not, this is evil and, when confronted with evil, it ought to be crushed, even when it comes in the form of teenagers.
Crime and savagery are as old as time. All the same, a fundamental expectation of civilized living is that this sort of thing is supposed to happen less often. The country currently appears to be gripped in a crime wave that may still pale in comparison statistically to past crime waves, but the manner in which these crimes are committed is what’s most alarming. Take a look at this incident yesterday in wealthy Beverly Hills:
Then there was this incident in New York, where a 90-something-year-old woman was punched in the head by a total stranger (she survived, thankfully):
Then there was this incident where a man was shot for the crime of invading someone’s personal space:
What do all of these incidents have in common? They all occurred in broad daylight and in plain view of witnesses, many of whom were too paralyzed with fear to intervene. Even in the “bad old days” of the ‘70s through the ‘90s, cities like New York were still relatively safe during the day, before becoming risky to walk around once the sun went down. This is a point seemingly missed by those all to eager to remind the rest of us that crime is statistically lower still now than it was 30 years ago - at least, back then, there was a certain level of predictability to it. Today, there seems to be no deterrence against violent criminals committing brazen robberies or savage assaults against people just going about their daily business.
For example, a man who had smeared human waste on a woman on a subway, was charged with a hate crime, and still roaming the streets, was arrested again after he threw a dumbbell through a window at a business. It took three serious felonies before authorities realized he probably shouldn’t be a free man:
Meanwhile, a man who decided to confront shoplifters in Alameda, CA (across the bay from San Francisco) is now confronting the prospect of being charged with assault:
Such is the nature of anarcho-tyranny - the Regime either can’t or won’t deal with criminals, largely out of some misguided sense that even savages are entitled to proper treatment, but will still hold accountable law-abiding citizens for daring to take the law into their own hands. Nobody likes vigilantism, but arguments against it resonate only under the rule of law.
The stories I cover in this post are only scratching the surface. The fact is, America does have a crime problem. Nor does it matter that things were worse 30 years ago. Are New Yorkers to not worry about crime until they’re back to the days of over 2,000 homicides per year?1 How many people need to be assaulted, harassed, or killed before being concerned about crime is no longer socially incorrect? Take a look at NYC violent crime statistics going back to 2009. It’s not hyperbole to say crime is going up:
Finally, as I displayed on this graph in a previous post, nationally, violent crime rates are very clearly on an upswing:
Statistics are very critical in terms of convincing both the public and policymakers that crime is becoming a major crisis in the country, but even that may be hard to come by. The other day, the FBI announced it would not be publishing 2021 numbers due to insufficient data. Personally, I think more than enough data is available with which to draw conclusions (particularly when it comes to that reported by the cities and individual jurisdictions themselves), but the lack of nationwide data will dampen the urgency with which the country and the broader media views this as a crisis.
Lest anyone dare accuse me of doomerism, no, I’m not suggesting our society is on the verge of collapse or that we can’t get through this. Societies are like humans: fragile, yet resilient. One look at Latin America and you have all the proof you need to show that civilization can exist in even the most seemingly unlivable circumstances.
What I’m suggesting merely is that our lives will be affected by rising crime and the undermining of rule of law, whether we ourselves are personally victimized by crime or not. Moreover, the U.S. and the West has been so blessed with a relative state of peace and social tranquility, there will be a difficult adjustment period. The same way you need to be extra careful to hold onto your belongings when visiting a foreign city known for rampant pick-pocketing, we’ll all need to be less cavalier in the coming years when out and about in our cities, neighborhoods, and towns. Most of us will be fortunate enough to not be victimized by crime, but, by the same token, it’ll become a less remote possibility.
I keep thinking of that woman in her 90s who got punched in the head by a stranger. Think of all she’s lived through and seen in her lifetime: America and New York at their best and worst moments, when crime was low and when crime was through the roof. Having seen it all, she still never thought she’d get punched in the head in broad daylight, in public view. The saddest part of the story is that punching 90-year-old women could very well end up being becoming a new “normal,” something we all quietly decide to live with because the anarcho-tyrants running this country won’t do anything about it or because it’s easier just to live with the crime and do our best to hide from it. It’s a decision we make with our own daily lives because, well, we’ve got places to go, things to do, and people to meet.
At the same time, increasing crime can destabilize a society. If it begins to affect your ability to go places, do things, meet people, or disturbs your peace of mind, then it’s a problem. Counter-insurgency theorist David Kilcullen explained in his book Out of the Mountains:
Today, the Taliban justice system draws on the movements reputation for harsh predictability and consistency: it attracts people with the promise of fair dispute resolution, just and enforceable mediation, and the prevention of punishment of crime and corruption. [bold mine]
Predictability and consistency are the cornerstones of order, order is the essence of civilization. Rights and privileges don’t dictate social stability, it’s the ability to wake up, step outside your home, take part in economic activity, then come home and go to bed without giving much of a thought whether you’re still going to be alive when it’s all over. I can guarantee you the people who live under the Taliban might live in fear, but they also know they’ll probably keep on living as long as they continue following the rules. This is how most of the world lives. This is why, even in the most dysfunctional, violent, and even war-torn places on Earth, life manages to carry on in some fashion.
This is also why authoritarianism has its appeal. Dictatorships take order to the extreme, exchanging personal freedom for strict predictability and consistency. The saying, “The trains run on time” exemplifies this mindset: under authoritarianism, there is no deviation, because the state permits no room for error. The rules might suck, but it’s better to have rules which everyone’s forced to follow than to have rules which not everyone follows, the logic goes.
This is where the U.S. and the broader West increasingly finds itself. Nominally, we’re still the free-yet-orderly paradises that distinguish us from the rest of the planet. However, it’s becoming clear following the rules is becoming increasingly optional. Also, the state will not go very far to take criminals off the street or to prevent crime, acting decisively only after a considerable amount of carnage has been inflicted. Offenders are far too often allowed to offend again and again before authorities understand the threat they pose to society. Meanwhile, the rest of us must watch our every deed and word, without ever really knowing for certain what the rules are, ensure we keep paying our taxes in exchange for ever-diminishing returns, and defend life and property with the understanding our actions will be heavily scrutinized. We aren’t better than the savages, we’re told.
Hence, the term “anarcho-tyranny.” We’re not a dictatorship, yet we’re a society increasingly under siege from both the government and from social deviants. As I speak, the Congress is in the process of potentially confirming its first anarcho-tyrannical chief justice - Ketanji Brown Jackson - who has become known for leniency towards sexual offenders. As I’ve said before, this state of split-personality can carry on for quite a while without a breaking point. Yet, all the same, I can’t shake the feeling this is all headed somewhere and we’ll get there faster than we know it.
Lest you think *it* can’t happen here, recall last summer in France, when the country was enveloped by a sense of looming civil war. Yes, *that* France, the bastion of liberalism and Western civilization. The issue? Crime and a sense that rule of law was increasingly non-existent in France, not because of an election, abortion, or any other issue. The situation got so bad, retired French military officers and even those on active-duty spoke up, saying they wouldn’t stand aside and watch as their country self-destructed:
The anonymous letter, addressed to President Emmanuel Macron, said: “We see violence in our towns and villages. We see communitarianism taking hold in the public space, in public debate. We see hatred of France and its history becoming the norm.”
…
The letter continued: “A civil war is brewing in France and you know it perfectly well.” If an “insurrection” breaks out, it said, “the military will maintain order on its own soil.”
Civilization rests on feet of clay which needs to be constantly reinforced. Again, I don’t think the U.S. is headed for a civil war, nor do I believe our military would dare attempt to maintain order on their own soil - in fact, I think they’d stand aside and watch it all burn, sorry as I’m to say. But I can no longer rule out a major social cataclysm in the near future for America. After all, if the last few years have proven anything, it ought to be that life changes quickly. And it most certainly has.
Whether a cataclysm's coming or not, nobody knows for sure. So, hope for the best and prepare for the worst. History comes at us fast.
Max Remington writes about armed conflict and prepping. Follow him on Twitter at @AgentMax90.
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Homicides in New York peaked at 2,245 and 2,154 in 1990 and ‘91, respectively.