TTC Lacks Security
I am totally shaken. On the subway on my way over to feed Kathy’s cat while they’re away at a funeral, it finally happened. Some deranged 6th Century Mohammedan lost it and began screaming ALLAHU ACKBAR, calling everyone racists, and talking about Bin Laden and rising up.
Like good little sheep, someone pushed the yellow passenger alarm, stopping the train in the station. The little mid-train conductor man stepped out of his booth to see what was happening. We tried explaining to him that there was a potential terrorist on the train wit us, to call the police. Thew little Asian fellow appeared not to understand a damn word we were saying, decided there was nothing to see, and got back on the train.
Meanwhile Mohammed continued to rage about Allah on the platform where many of us stood. (obviously I got off the train - I wasn’t going to stay stuck on there with an Islamic madman). No security came. The train left with Mohammed pounding on the closed doors, saying he had a metropass and a right to free speech (the irony was not lost on me). When the next train came, he got on it.
I would like to know if this is part of the city of Toronto’s protocol to deal with a terrorist threat on the underground. This guy was a lunatic who was unarmed - what if the next one is packing? Will the same level of incoherence apply to TTC staff?
If anyone in Toronto is at all interested, here’s a pic I managed to grab of the guy.
Bet he passed those immigration psych tests with flying colours..
Don’t worry about the security not coming, they would most likely have arrested you for complaining..remember, there is no trouble in David Miller’s magic kingdom that cannot somehow be blamed on ‘whitey’..
Comment by Kursk — March 24, 2009 @ 5:16 pm
[...] This from Girl on the right. The suprise? it took this long. [...]
Pingback by Man loses it on Toronto Subway, screams alahu akbar and invokes Bin Laden | Vlad Tepes — March 24, 2009 @ 5:19 pm
But he did have a metro pass, obviously giving him the right to delay the train for 15 minutes.
Wasn’t that crazy?
Comment by Steve — March 24, 2009 @ 6:45 pm
You really must provide your information to the police. This stuff is no joke. These nutbars really do behead people.
Comment by Robert — March 24, 2009 @ 7:00 pm
I wonder if CSIS would be interested in this.
Comment by SUZANNE — March 24, 2009 @ 7:10 pm
I have a) filed a complaint with the City for their lack of terror protocol, and b) filed a police report.
Please feel free (other bloggers) to circulate this fucker’s photo.
RG
Comment by Right Girl — March 24, 2009 @ 7:12 pm
maybe he was checking to see how lax the security is. Maybe he was really planning a Madrid scenario here? Who knows…. All I know is that we’re defenseless in Canada against these assholes.
Comment by winston — March 24, 2009 @ 7:41 pm
This is how a State become lawless. When evil is excused.
Comment by Revnant Dream — March 24, 2009 @ 7:42 pm
Gosh, glad you’re okay. My heart would have been thumping wildly. Hope your complaint gets somewhere, but don’t hold your breath.
Comment by natasha — March 24, 2009 @ 8:06 pm
As a former Muslim (now converted Christian), I feel I have to say something.
The author of this story seems to be spinning more than a little yarn here; perhaps a little bit of propaganda mixed with a little hate. I’m sorry but when you make comments like “Some deranged 6th Century Mohammedan….” and “Mohammed continued to rage about Allah…” you really take away from your own credibility.
I’m not saying that this guy wasn’t a real threat; I wasn’t there. But based on what you wrote alone though, all he really did was make some noise. I question how different that is from the occasional whino who graces his/her presence as they preach about how society wronged them and how the world is coming to an end.
The only difference between the whino and this guy is the message they’re preaching. Based on what you wrote, to accuse the person in this photo of being a terrorist is downright preposterous. Unless you have facts that you’re not disclosing in this piece, it’s just speculation. Speculation that is most likely inaccurate.
Speaking of terrorism, I hope your readers don’t get lost in the irony of you bashing somebody for expressing his beliefs. You know, as guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms? (Section 2, part A). If you had your way, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms would be for select individuals.
That would make YOU the terrorist.
Peace out….loser.
Comment by Yousaf — March 24, 2009 @ 10:02 pm
I thought of that “crazy wino” scenario. But how many crazy winos have been responsible for mass transit terror attacks since 2001?
RG
Comment by Right Girl — March 24, 2009 @ 10:10 pm
So what you’re saying is lump a group of people together, and treat them all the same.
And that’s not terrorism?
You don’t have to be responsible for “mass transit terror attacks” to be a terrorist. Being a terrorist can be as simple as the stroke of a pen drafting laws that terrorize a group of people, as you would have.
Your ideology is no different than what happened at the Nazi concentration camps. They too lumped a group of people together and treated them all the same as well. How many “mass transit terror attacks” do you think they were responsible for? None.
Your ignorance is of what terrorism is, is quite disturbing.
Comment by Yousaf — March 24, 2009 @ 10:14 pm
“I’m sorry but when you make comments like “Some deranged 6th Century Mohammedan….” and “Mohammed continued to rage about Allah…” you really take away from your own credibility.”
You forgot to quote the rest of the sentence. Here it is, “lost it and began screaming ALLAHU ACKBAR, calling everyone racists, and talking about Bin Laden and rising up.”
Certainly sounds like the rantings of a potential terrorist to me.
Comment by black creative — March 24, 2009 @ 10:32 pm
OK, so he “lost it and began screaming ALLAHU ACKBAR, calling everyone racists, and talking about Bin Laden and rising up.”
THAT’S your act of terrorism? Try again. That’s called disturbing the peace, at best.
Keep trying.
Comment by Yousaf — March 24, 2009 @ 10:42 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxNEiZhpinY
Comment by BillyHW — March 24, 2009 @ 10:56 pm
It is true that nobody died or was hurt. But he did scare the crap out of at least a few people. If someone starts going ape on a subway and invokes Bin laden, I’m going to be scared and I’m going to think: “potential terrorist”.
You may not consider that a literal “act of terrorism” but it was certainly very frightening. “Disturbing the peace” is an understatement.
Comment by SUZANNE — March 24, 2009 @ 11:17 pm
Suzanne,
I guess this is something we’ll have to agree to disagree on. But I’d like to offer a challenge to you (and all those reading this post). I want you to watch this video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byOtxwl8iEI
That young woman in the video suffers from Bipolar disorder. She’s riding the subway (somewhere in the States) so you can see how this video relates to our conversation. After this video was posted on YouTube, she became an overnight star (not the good kind of star either). She was verbally bashed, her reputation was dragged through the mud & her family suffered greatly. A short while after, her boyfriend went on the air for some radio station to explain her condition. Apparently, she didn’t take her meds.
Despite all that, if you read the comments on the YouTube website you’ll see that people commented by calling her crazy or a bitch or whatever crude name they could think of.
Here you have someone screaming on a mass transit system, rising a commotion and disturbing the peace. But let me ask you this : How many people accused her of terrorism? At the time of this post, out of 6659 video comments ONE user labeled her actions as terrorizing the passengers. A couple other posts mentioned she could be picked up on terrorism charges saying her behavior was worst than terrorism, but she wasn’t accused of being a terrorist.
Out of 6659 (at the time of this post) only ONE person calls her a terrorist? Why do you think that is? Close to seven thousand commenters and only one calls her a terrorist? I’ll tell you why…because she’s black. She doesn’t fit the stereotype of a terrorist. You know…the brown skinned person who wears baggy clothing, speaking some foreign language.
Sure…in that video if you pay close attention to the comments, you’ll see the word “nigger” or “bitch” peppered numerous times. But terrorist? I don’t think so.
The truth is, racism has (and will always be) at an arms length. We love our racism, but we refuse to accept that. People like to consider themselves educated or open minded, but the truth is….deep down, we all like to label groups.
Brown people are terrorists, the blacks are criminals, the hispanics are border jumpers, whitey is responsible for keeping the rich people rich and the poor people poor. The list goes on and on.
The person who posted this article is just exhibiting her racism, although she has not journalistic integrity to back up what she’s saying. She’s a coward.
Comment by Yousaf — March 24, 2009 @ 11:48 pm
Yousaf; I generally don’t like to judge folks without more exposure to them but in your case I’m making an exception… You’re a jihadi apologist sack of shit. I’ve got 10 bucks that sez that you’re a part of the same goon squad that’s been chasing comedian Crowder around.
Comment by Richard Evans — March 25, 2009 @ 12:01 am
Richard,
“I generally don’t like to judge folks….” blah blah blah. The calling card of today’s modern biggot. As soon as they hear a valid opinion that’s different from theirs, they have to resort to name calling.
Crawl back under the rock from which you came out of.
Comment by Yousaf — March 25, 2009 @ 12:06 am
Actually Yousaf, I get to tell people to crawl under rocks (or back to their caves) around here. Not you.
RG
Comment by Right Girl — March 25, 2009 @ 12:08 am
Relax RG….
It’s not like I accused you of terrorism.
Comment by Yousaf — March 25, 2009 @ 12:09 am
Yousaf
It’s not racism to suggest that people who scream “allahu akbar” and invoke Bin laden are potential terrorists. I don’t know of many bi-polar people who blow themselves up or fly planes into buildings, but there has been a detectable pattern of radical Muslims blowing up themselves and/or others in the cause of jihad. When you have a pattern, you are not going to ignore the pattern because it’s politically correct, especially when you think your physical security is at stake.
Brown people are terrorists, the blacks are criminals
It wouldn’t have made an ounce of different to Wendy if the guy had been pale as a Swede. You scream “Allahu Akbar” and start singing the praises of Bin Laden, that suggests to me you think that killing people in the name of jihad is acceptable, and maybe even a duty, and that you might carry out that mission. It is completely irrelevant whether you are black or white. People like that definitely are scary.
People like to consider themselves educated or open minded, but the truth is….deep down, we all like to label groups.
I label people who approve of Bin Laden as potential terrorists or enablers. I’m really funny that way.
The person who posted this article is just exhibiting her racism, although she has not journalistic integrity to back up what she’s saying.
She took the picture. She filed a report. Something tells me you just don’t believe her because you don’t like what she has to say. It happened to her on the subway. What was she supposed to do: do an interview with the guy? It’s her story. You either believe her or you don’t.
She’s a coward.
If you’re not a little scared when some guy goes ape and screams allahu ackbar and starts talking about bin laden, good for you. Ignorance is bliss.
Comment by SUZANNE — March 25, 2009 @ 12:21 am
Well,
For the record, I don’t condone terrorism nor do I think it’s acceptable to look the other way when we are presented with the signs of terrorism.
But after reading this article, I honestly don’t feel that this guy was a terrorist, nor was I convinced he was even a threat. At the most, he was obnoxious and a nuisance.
If someone screams out “Allah Akbar”, to me it’s no different if somebody screams out “Jesus loves you”, which by the way somebody did to me in passing a few months ago when I ignored them handing out church flyers. Anyways, that’s neither here nor there.
As for invoking Bin Laden….I guess I had to be there to appreciate the severity of the threat, because when I read that….it comes across as a joke (honestly).
But I think you’re kidding yourself when you say “It wouldn’t have made an ounce of different to Wendy if the guy had been pale as a Swede.”
I remember when SARS hit Toronto. People came on 680 news saying how they were ashamed to admit it, but they wouldn’t sit next to asians on the subways or the busses.
This isn’t about being politically correct. If you’re going to label people as something, then at least have the proof. Yes there is a “pattern of radical Muslims blowing up themselves and/or others in the cause of jihad”, but does that mean every Muslim who feels the bitter sting of racism and is not afraid to speak out against it a terrorist? Please.
If you want to take proactive measures, if you’re that concerned about safety…then by all means implement safety measures that affect ALL passengers and/or ALL people. If the TTC was to implement mandatory x-ray scanning (as some airports now do), I’d say great.
Implement mandatory x-ray scanning for someone who MAY be Muslim, therefore MAY be a terrorist, because you don’t want to ignore a trend…that’s wrong. Treat everybody the same.
Comment by Yousaf — March 25, 2009 @ 12:38 am
Scary…And the liberals say profiling is wrong. Have they learned nothing? If I’d heard some lunatic screaming like that, my first thought would be that he’s going to do something to endanger everyone. Hell, he’s lucky someone didn’t tackle him and shut him up permanently when he started shouting his nonsense. I don’t know about Canada, but if we could keep them off the planes, trains, and buses in the US, it’d make life a whole lot more comfortable for the rest of us.
And no, I’m not a racist…Just don’t trust people who start shouting Bin Laden’s praises in public, or begin speaking Arabic in situations where they know it’ll arouse suspicion.
Comment by Wes Derby — March 25, 2009 @ 12:40 am
So when you say “but if we could keep them off the planes, trains, and buses”, define “they”.
Comment by Yousaf — March 25, 2009 @ 12:48 am
Don’t answer that Wes. Just don’t. I’ve got HRC bees buzzing all over this place.
RG
Comment by Right Girl — March 25, 2009 @ 12:50 am
That’s ok.
You don’t have to say it. We all know who “they are”. But you’re not a racist, right?
Perhaps “they” should have their own subways, buses, and planes. Or perhaps you can seat them at the back. Oh wait, that’s already been done; putting them at the back.
Keep trying junior. One day you’ll learn.
Comment by Yousaf — March 25, 2009 @ 12:56 am
That sounds unpleasant and scary.
Yousaf, having spend a fair bit of time on the Silver Rocket there is no question that you get all kinds. And you get people who have had outstandingly shitty days.
Unfortunately, Islam has thrust itself into the news with assorted attacks on mass transit. Winos and schizophrenic - who statistically may very well account for far more incidents than Islamists - have not.
Anyone, black, brown, white, yellow, green: ranting at other passengers will make them uncomfortable. The explicitly political, and Islamist content of the rant, will exacerbate the discomfort. The trouble being that Islamic whack jobs have an annoying tendency to self detonate or open fire in confined spaces. Often with accompanying shouts of Allah Ackbar and such like.
The good news is that we live in Canada so our Lady of the right did not have a gun, the bad new is that we live in Canada so our Lady of the Right did not have a gun…would have saved laundry.
Comment by Jay Currie — March 25, 2009 @ 12:58 am
Jay,
I agree with a lot of what you’re saying. It’s just sad that we (society) keep hitting these road blocks (racism).
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe society is not racy. I’d love to believe that; I really would. Until we learn to judge people by what they actually do and not what they MAY do (due to preconceptions of their race/skin color/religion) I guess we’ll just have to deal with it.
Comment by Yousaf — March 25, 2009 @ 1:07 am
Er, didn’t T.O. spend a fortune of Albertan money on getting cameras installed? Now it needs people like you to snap photos of the people they let get away?
Comment by Feynman & Coulter's Love Child — March 25, 2009 @ 1:09 am
The post was unnerving enough. THEN I read the comments. Yousaf, please, you beclown yourself at the risk of everyone’s safety.
Comment by Two Dogs — March 25, 2009 @ 6:00 am
Well, let’s be frank.
We have Wendy’s narrative as our only evidence that anything at all happened.
Wendy despises Muslims and several flavours of foreigner: note that her narrative slides in a nasty little anti-Asian dig, as an aperitif. Wendy is attempting to develop a career as a slightly lower-budget Shaidle, who in turn is trying to market herself as a lower budget Coulter - the go-to bloggers when you need a bit of nastiness to spice up your panel.
Wendy is also on fairly serious antidepressant medication (which she has acknowledged).
I have no idea what, if anything, actually happened. At the most, some guy was yelling something. But given that Wendy is a semi-pro propagandist, I don’t attach much weight to her version of events. Sorry.
Comment by balbulican — March 25, 2009 @ 6:23 am
Nothing to see here, folks!…
My kids love the subway. Every time we go into the city for an event (fewer and further between these days) I try to fit in a subway ride somehow, because they love it. I of course, spent enough years……
Trackback by The Lasso of Truth — March 25, 2009 @ 6:37 am
Question: What is the difference between this guy and some crazy Christian Fundy screaming the end of the world is near?
Answer: One is brown and one is white.
Yer welcome.
Comment by southern quebec — March 25, 2009 @ 7:43 am
“I don’t attach much weight to her version of events”.
That sounds like weasel language for “she’s a liar” written by a person who lacks the integrity and honesty to just say it plain. You must be a bureaucrat balbie. You sure do talk like one.
My 2 cents on the issue at hand - which is not (sorry balbie, Wendy’s integrity or honesty, nice try at misdirection though) - Anyone who shouts Allahu Akbar anywhere in Canada should be punched in the face really hard. So should anyone who shouts heil Hitler, for that matter. A rose by any other name……
Comment by INP — March 25, 2009 @ 8:34 am
I find the attempts by Yousaf to excuse this fellow’s behaviour quite amusing. To put forward an analogical argument suggesting that a religious fanatic should be understood in the same way as someone who suffers from an acute psychiatric disorder - well, how funny is that!
If “Yousaf” genuinely believes that his analogy is a good one, then he must argue that we should treat Koran readers in the same way as we treat seriously ill psychiatric patients, and keep all Muslims on a strict regimen of mind-altering drugs that stop them from hurting themselves or anyone else around them.
Notice that (obviously) this is not my analogy, nor would I argue for that. I am merely pointing out what the logical consequences would be if we were to accept Yousaf’s way of thinking about this event.
Comment by Nick — March 25, 2009 @ 8:40 am
It’s not racist to defend Canadian values. We tend to look poorly on people praising Osama bin Laden and generally threatening people on a subway car. But Yousef like most left wing people are more concerned about the poor darling’s feelings than the safety of the hundreds on the train.
Comment by mark — March 25, 2009 @ 8:43 am
I’m glad you’re okay, Wendy.
I watch everyone on the subway very closely. At any sign of craziness, I get off. I am prepared to push the yellow emergency bar if needed.
If someone started yelling Allahu Ackbar and ranting about bin Laden, you can bet your ass I’d be pushing that yellow bar, and I wouldn’t care what the person looked like except to identify him/her to the police.
Not all Muslims who yell Allahu Ackbar — and invoke the name of the most-wanted terrorist on the planet while ranting about “rising up” — are terrorists, but given the track record of terrorists who have yelled Allahu Ackbar just before and during murderous rampages, we have a right to be on the alert for potential danger. It shouldn’t be surprising that the two are sometimes linked in our minds, especially when we’re out in places that have been targeted by jihadists, such as subways. It’s common sense.
It is up to the police to assess the threat. So maybe he didn’t have a bomb; maybe he was just off his meds and had the potential to push someone onto the tracks. He was obviously unhinged.
Good work getting his photo and taking the time to file the police reports.
Better safe than sorry.
P.S. I’ve met Wendy and the last thing I’d accuse her of is being a coward.
Comment by Joanne — March 25, 2009 @ 8:50 am
I am not surprised at this incident. As a senior and as you know, because I was so horrified I began to blog about it and read about what is really going on with immigration in free democracies…. last year I was assaulted in a subway station by a news stand vendor because I used My english version of a koran to block a sneeze from going all over others, my arms heavily burdened with packages. This happened as I was exiting…I was grabbed, my book torn, my arm twisted, called a whore, a bitch, told the book belonged to him…told he would kill me…and at the hospital with a swollen wrist and ankle, the police threatened me with a hate crime….and subsequently for almost a year I was harassed, threatened with sexual assault., each time I would sneak by the stall, chased, verbally abused on and on and on…my son, a lawyer, came to town to try to reason with the extremist lunatic, even after the first assault the police did nothing…and after several months and taking a video of him threatening me they still did nothing…and when he had people from the mosque follow me, they still did nothing…when a large stone was hurled at my head they still did nothing….so why…would you expect they would do anything about this lunatic you encountered on the train. The subway system is filled with workers who are extremists…rogers and bell have thousands of workers who are tamil tigers and enter our homes casually…the last guy who came to my place went on and on about the tigers and I spent half an hour lecturing him about his responsibily to his children in a free democracy where his allegence to this terrorist group could have serious repercussion on the life of his children…Police are too busy chasing after gun criminals…
When will all those extremist lunatics learn to use guns and finally get the attention they crave for their extremist backward barbaric causes.
Comment by M.E. — March 25, 2009 @ 8:50 am
I’m not a Canadian, don’t play one on TV, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night (although I DO play hockey). It seems to me that NOBODY should be yelling and screaming on the subway, be it Allahu Akbar or Jesus saves. (Orr puts in the rebound!)But to suggest that someone is not right in the head for being worried about a Muslim rant on the subway is silly. Making judgements on the basis of observed fact is not racist, it’s just good sense!
Comment by ganderson — March 25, 2009 @ 8:56 am
Ahh — if this man had been shouting “fire” in the absence of a conflagration he would have been arrested, pronto Toronto.
This matter is similar. Whatever happend to ‘disturbing the peace’?
Comment by ex Toronto Canuck now safely in USA — March 25, 2009 @ 9:09 am
A riddle by ’southern quebec: “Question: What is the difference between this guy and some crazy Christian Fundy screaming the end of the world is near? Answer: One is brown and one is white.”
Uh, no. the difference is that Christians are not moving to Muslim nations and then committing mass murder there while shouting “jesus rocks”.
Comment by INP — March 25, 2009 @ 9:12 am
I was in London in September 2005, attending a university graduation ceremony at the Barbican Centre. I flew down to Heathrow and took the tube in. Sitting across from me on the way back was someone who was the mirror image of the photos and CCTV clips we’d been seeing of the 7/7 suicide bombers - right down to the backpack. We made eye contact and I’m pretty sure this fellow knew what I was thinking. One strange move, and standing up and shouting out the Takbir would have qualified, absolutely, and I would have acted immediately. You’d better believe it! Racism? No. Survival? Yes. It’s that simple.
Comment by Nick — March 25, 2009 @ 9:17 am
Seems to me that it was a good Christian that took down the building in Oklahoma.
Nick, “We made eye contact…” someone has been watching too many Chuck Norris movies… hahahaha
Yelling “fire” is not the same as a Fundie screaming the world is ending.
Comment by southern quebec — March 25, 2009 @ 9:47 am
balbulican,
I was there so I can corroborate Wendy’s version of events. When the train stopped, the guy burst out of the car I was about to get into, pushing people out of his way as he shouted Allah blah, blah this and Allah blah blah that. What was interesting was the look on people’s faces. Some appeared deeply disturbed and worried about the rhetoric, while other seemed indifferent to it, likely imagining it as simply the ravings of a mad man.
The guy held up the train for almost 15 minutes as he strut around on the platform, entering and exiting the subway cars screaming about his right to free speech, bin Laden, racism, etc. I had an appointment to get to (no surprise I was late) but I seriously thought of getting out of there.
These were not simply the rantings of a mad man, but of someone who’s mind was deeply infected by Islamist jihadic thought. Was he about to blow us all up? Probably not. But it was not irrational to think he might try. It was very scary.
Comment by Steve — March 25, 2009 @ 9:50 am
Hardly man. How else would one express it if one stands beside someone else on the tube and looks over just as they look back at you? It’s an expression, that’s all it is. And lest you try to ignore the rest of the post, and the point of the post: this was not long after the terrorist attack on 7/7. People were a little bit jumpy, and I was no different. I actually worked with someone who had been on the tube on 7/7, and had arrived at their work (in a hospital) and just as they came on shift, the casualties started arriving.
Still at least we all know that you don’t have a set. If you were in a packed tube, train or bus and a terrorist event kicked off I suppose you’d just sit there and say oh dearie me, look at that fellow expressing his deeply held cultural beliefs. Well, hahahah right back at you; that’s a cowardly, pathetic position for you to take.
As I said, given the context, if that guy had jumped up and started yelling out the Takbir I would have stopped him from getting his hands on his rucksack. As I said already, that move would not have been inspired by racism but by the inbuilt human desire to keep breathing. There were a lot of other people on the tube that day. A mum with her young kiddie, sitting along the way. Would I act in that sort of situation? Yes I would.
Comment by Nick — March 25, 2009 @ 10:41 am
Seems to me that it was a good Christian that took down the building in Oklahoma.
And he was universally condemned. And no one danced in the streets. And Christians did not call on others to imitate those acts, and overthrow the government and install a Christian theocracy.
SQ, this is crap. Muslims have been responsible for far more acts of terrorism than Christians.
The issue is not whether one or twenty acts of terrorism makes a whole group guilty. Of course not. People conveniently label pro-lifers as violent, even though the vast majority of pro-lifers are very peaceful and seek to persuade through peaceful means.
But some whackjob kills an abortionist or bombs a clinic, and suddenly the whole movement is tarred.
When such acts happen, pro-lifers condemn those acts. I remember pro-life groups even put up some money to find the culprit of such terrorist acts.
The number of anti-abortion people who support violent acts are very small and they are condemned by their peers.
I can also point to Quebec separatists. They have used violence in the past, but that didn’t make all of them violent.
However, in contrast, there are millions of Muslims around the world who support the use of violence. When Muslims commit acts of terrorism, they dance in the street and celebrate. The voices of condemnation are rather muted. I don’t hear of any Saudi Sheik putting up millions to find those responsible.
There is undeniably a strong culture in support of violent acts of terrorism among Muslims around the world. I don’t think all Muslims are violent. Not by a longshot. I live in a neighbourhood with lots of Muslims.
But if any of those Muslims ever started preaching sharia and praising Bin Laden (whether he was screaming like a lunatic or not) I would consider them a terrorism enabler. That’s not racist, that’s common sense.
To know whether this is racism, take out the race factor. If the guy wasn’t brown, would Wendy have had the same reaction. My personal feeling is yes.
It’s so convenient that Muslims come from different countries, and when people object to terrorist or terrorist-like behaviour, the “race” card is played. It’s a nice deflection that turns people away from the danger of potential terrorists. I’m not one to see a terrorists under the bed, but let’s not be naive. There are people in this country who plotted to behead Stephen Harper in Ottawa. There are people who have gone to Afghanistan to train to be terrorists. It may be a small number, but these small number of people have caused death and destruction in a number of cities around the world.
Comment by SUZANNE — March 25, 2009 @ 11:09 am
lol,
I wonder how all of those feminazis in our canadian “english departments” will feel in a few decades’ time when they are compelled to wear veils and forced to know their place? It’s so typical of so many women in our culture: they want to fight yesterday’s battle against their fathers (largely because that requires no courage whatsoever insofar as the battle was won decades ago) but they retreat from fighting the real battle that is beginning to emerge.
And let’s be clear about one thing: young white males in our universities generally tend not to attack women with rusty scimitars or to hold ninth century attitudes towards all things feminine - but they are a favourite target of cowardly feminazi types who conveniently overlook real sexism and real oppression in favour of ripping the one group that magnanimously (and evidently mistakenly) ceded power to them two generations ago.
these women are slimy, dishonest and unprincipled cowards; they deserve to suffer under the caliphate
Comment by blaine — March 25, 2009 @ 11:10 am
Sorry for taking up your blog there, Wendy.
Comment by SUZANNE — March 25, 2009 @ 11:10 am
You’re damn right I would have had the same reaction. Chechens are lily white, and have responsible for untold amounts of carnage.
RG
Comment by Right Girl — March 25, 2009 @ 11:11 am
From Wikipedia, re: Allahu Akbar
“This phrase is recited by Muslims in numerous different situations. For example, when they are happy or wish to express approval, when they want to praise a speaker, during battles, and even times of extreme stress or euphoria.”
Note: “during battles and even times of extreme stress or euphoria” - like just before blowing the shit out of everything.
I have yet to hear of any instance where someone yells “Jesus loves you” and then blows themselves and others up. And when you add the wild rantings invoking Bid Laden to the Allahu Akbar exclamation, it leaves nothing to the imagination.
Comment by natasha — March 25, 2009 @ 11:45 am
Must not have been any paleo-males™ on the train…oh well, life with metrosexuals™ can be exciting as well, but in a dissimilar way.
This ass was creating a disturbance and breeching the peace and IF there were complaints he should have been asked politely to Shut TFU and stop disturbing passengers…his failing to comply with a polite request for civility should have resulted in the conductor (the only lawful authority on the transit car), aided by any remaining paleo-males on the train, in swiftly incapacitating him, frisking him for weapons, zip-tie his hands, then duck walking him off the train at the next stop into the waiting arms of peace officers….where he could clarify how his presumed authority from Allah and OBL gives him the right to break the Queen’s peace and harass/threaten her subjects….or maybe tell them why he’s off his meds.
Wendy: My first reaction to this situation is the same as I would have in any confined public place where a nutter starts jibbering to some disembodied audience in animated delusion. Little warning bells should have gone off in the heads of transit staff when the detached reality this nutter showed became abusive…you should have reflexively thought of the same type of disjointed mumbler that sawed the head off a passenger on a greyhound bus recently….remember there are a lot of schizos walking around without diagnosis or public subsidy to stay on their meds these days due to the evil Tory recession.
You ladies carry some sort of hand bag, use it to stow a formidable defensive weapon (an aerisol can of +10% Oleoresin Capsicum has saved many ladies a bad injury)and a cell phone to tell the cops where to find the gagging goblin you just hosed down. I make sure my daughter carries and knows how to counter a physical attack with it … don’t rely on metrosexuals™ to save you from a foaming stabbing schizo…all they are good for is wetting their Tommy John Jeans as they conduct an orderly evacuation off the car while the nutter is occupied decapitating you.
Comment by WL Mackenzie Redux — March 25, 2009 @ 12:54 pm
Further to Natasha’s comment, Allahu Akbar means “Allah is greatest”. That’s a world away from “Jesus loves you”.
Comment by Joanne — March 25, 2009 @ 12:56 pm
Oh Yousef, enough of your B.S. Islam is not a race. Islamists have proven themselves an extreme danger to travellers. Shouting Islamist propaganda on a subway is, at best, provocative. At worst? We’ve seen it with our own eyes. Excusing it as just the kind of stuff that happens, like winos and other crazies is nonsense. We don’t get to joke about hijacking in airports and we shouldn’t have to put up with this.
Comment by Thomas LaBelle — March 25, 2009 @ 1:06 pm
Great Post Suzanne! You’ve stated so many retorts to the islamic apologists who try to lump Christians (and pro-lifers specifically) with islamic fascist terrorists.
Comment by Roger — March 25, 2009 @ 1:32 pm
“Question: What is the difference between this guy and some crazy Christian Fundy screaming the end of the world is near?”
Answer: One wants you to be saved; the other wants you dead.
Comment by Ricardo — March 25, 2009 @ 7:04 pm
“I was there so I can corroborate Wendy’s version of events.”
Wow, what an absolutely astonishing coincidence, Steve.
Pfffft….
Comment by balbulican — March 25, 2009 @ 7:07 pm
“…while the nutter is occupied decapitating you…” “These nutbars really do behead people…” etc, etc, etc…
Do you folks actually enjoy living in a state of delusional terror? Does this somehow inflate your sense of self-importance? Help you reify that state of hallucinatory paranoia that makes Wendy hallucinate cannibal Somalis when she sees Monte Solberg meeting businessmen?
Are you even aware that the last decapitation in Canada was committed on a Greyhound bus by a Christian psycopath?
Jesus, people. Give your collective heads a great big shake.
Comment by balbulican — March 25, 2009 @ 8:04 pm
Yousaf wrote:
“You don’t have to say it. We all know who “they are”. But you’re not a racist, right?
Perhaps “they” should have their own subways, buses, and planes. Or perhaps you can seat them at the back. Oh wait, that’s already been done; putting them at the back.
Keep trying junior. One day you’ll learn.”
Tell me honestly, Yousaf. If you had been on that subway, what would YOU have done? Would you have been positive the guy shouting Allahu Akbar was no more threatening than someone muttering “Jesus Saves”? Running through your mind, what would have been your estimation of the odds that nothing would happen to you if you just stayed on the same subway car with him? Versus on the car with the Jesus guy?
Comment by Boadicea — March 25, 2009 @ 8:47 pm
I’m extremely right-wing in most senses of the term. I believe Islam as a religion is shit.
This however sounds like a severe case of mental illness in a completely secular sense. Yeah, the TTC guard should have called authorities (the loony bin), but it doesn’t sound like “terrorism” or an “uprising” in any sense, unless it’s a matter of the lunatics taking over the asylum…
Comment by grey — March 25, 2009 @ 9:35 pm
If I may inject a note of practicality here. You have just experienced the reality behind the phrase “call 911 and die”. Several points occur to me.
1. Wendy, your phone picture indicates you got -way- to close to this guy. From that range he could stick a pencil in your eye before anybody could do a damn thing. A guy freaks out on the subway, you do not stand around and watch him for 15 minutes. You HAUL YOUR ASS to the exit, and you call the cops from there. That is what cell phones are for.
2. Steve, you’re an idiot for letting Wendy screw around with a cell phone in front of a dangerous maniac. Girls need to be reminded of their mortality by us men who know how bad a punch in the face hurts. Sorry if that ruffles any little PC feathers out there, but I’ve seen too many chicks write checks their boyfriends had to cash in blood. Next time, drag her ass to the exit. Pain hurts, act accordingly.
3. You seem surprised by the TTC guy’s reaction. Are you kidding me? He’s got a solid metal door that locks. Hell yeah he went back in the booth. Called security, who looked in the CCTV screen, decided they didn’t want any new bruises today and waited for the crazy person to get tired.
4. He’s not white. Therefore he’d have to actually stab somebody before any cop or transit dude would lay a hand on him. A white crazy they’d have bounced off the floor and had you on your way in 5 minutes.
5. Did you notice that -nobody- on the platform confronted the guy? Important safety tip, they would have let him kill you too. Really.
6. Welcome to Toronto. This is what annoying dickweeds like Bloblobican and the rest of his imbecile compatriots have wrought. Violent lunatics free to wander and disrupt life. Awesome. Way to go, boys.
Most important lesson to be learned here? The cops are really not going to help you. They will come by later to retrieve your corpse and mop up the squishy bits. Absorb this truth into the marrow of your bones. You Are On Your Own.
Comment by The Phantom — March 25, 2009 @ 9:44 pm
So let’s recap.
What we know for sure is that some guy yelled sometning in the subway.
We have a woman on antipsychotics who hates Muslims reporting that that she felt threatened by the aforementioned guy yelling in the subway. Her supporters who also hate Muslims congratulate her on having escaped with her life. Lots of drivel about decapitation, escaping with one’s life, etc, etc, etc.
What surprises me is the way that you guys all seem to actually ENJOY walking around in a state of abject terror. Maybe you need a hobby. Do a little volunteering in the community or something. Anything to get out of this cycle of self-obsessed, paranoid hysteria.
Just a friendly suggestion.
Comment by balbulican — March 25, 2009 @ 10:16 pm
southern quebec says: “Question: What is the difference between this guy and some crazy Christian Fundy screaming the end of the world is near? Answer: One is brown and one is white.”
One is a harmless crazy Christian and this guy could have been a head chopper.
Comment by MarionN — March 25, 2009 @ 10:23 pm
Yousuf - me thinks you have not converted. Me wrong ??
Comment by MarionN — March 25, 2009 @ 10:24 pm
Guess we will just have to wait for a little spilled blood.
Mind you, these incidents (which are actually quite common on TTC operations if you bother to get to know a few TTC personel) do polarize our bourgeois and proletarians who are dependent upon public transit. They live in fear, and have done so for some time.
Does watching a gangbanger empty his bladder on a subway car make you more or less favourable to diversity? Does the stench of piss act as a consciousness raising stimulant?
While the lefties have control of the media, academia, the judiciary, and the bureaucracy, and in so doing control ‘the message’, these daily incidents still make their impact upon the urban proles, and the commuting bourgeois. What is the reaction of these people? Political correctness forbids them from uttering anything in public that is not poltically correct. but they can act in private, and communicate to those people that they trust. When you see a gang steal a few bikes, when you step over piss on the subway, when you are running out of fingers to count the innocents killed by coddled leftist sub-groups, just what sort of attitudes are being cultivated in the urban plebs and suburban bourgeois?
Comment by Fenris Badwulf — March 25, 2009 @ 10:29 pm
One of my hobbies is martial arts, Blobby. That’s because I’ve seen the crazy guy before. It was kinda painful.
But you go on pretending, ok? I’m sure nothing bad will ever happen to a nice liberal boy like you.
Comment by The Phantom — March 25, 2009 @ 11:11 pm
Thanks balbulican for calling me a liar. You can believe what you want to believe.
And Phantom, we really have to consider Wendy as a sort of modern-day war correspondent. She will do whatever it takes to get the story, even if it puts her in harm’s way. I don’t think anyone could have pulled her away from this one. And she did get the story, whether balbulican believes it or not.
Comment by Steve — March 25, 2009 @ 11:36 pm
“Wendy as a sort of modern-day war correspondent.”
I don’t think getting on the subway qualifies! Oh, maybe it does if you are a member of the 121st Keyboard Kommanding Kommissaires. Who says wingnuts don’t have a sense of humour?
Comment by southern quebec — March 26, 2009 @ 5:57 am
Apparently expressing any concern is immediately labeled as paranoid racism.How many times do we have to point out that Islam is not a race.Due to the actions of hundreds, no , thousands of muslims,I consider it a violent twisted political philosophy disguised (and not very well) as a religion.I trust the sons of mohammed as much as the koran tells them to trust me.Apparently we’re supposed to wait till they blow up before we become concerned.the supposedly “racist” attitudes of many of the commenters on this blog are a direct (and understandable) result of the actions of the islamists ,and the a direct result of the inaction of the supposedly moderate muslim majority.Just heard on the radio another car bomb has killed scores in bahgdad,there’s a good chance that any time I turn on cnn I’m going to see several thousand pakistanis baying for blood.But lefties tell us we should ignore all these patently obvious facts and cuddle up to their warm and fuzzy multi-culti illusion .Personally I prefer making judgements (oh God ,now I’m being judgmental,the ultimate secular sin!) on the basis of reality and observed facts.
Comment by cdajoe — March 26, 2009 @ 7:05 am
“Do you folks actually enjoy living in a state of delusional terror?”
Mandatory seat belts and bike helmets = delusional terror in your realms of dementia Bubby. TO’s murder rate is not a delusion. My inlaw’s mugging there was not an illusion. But that’s not what’s really bugging you is it? If I’m paranoid then you are in toxic denial, putz.
BTW I see you still have not sought help for that megalomanic arrogance and self righteous sophistry…really, get help … you’re not comfortable in your own skin, and it shows.
Comment by WL Mackenzie Redux — March 26, 2009 @ 7:18 am
First point - It would appear that while many males live, work and play in toronto, there is a distinct lack of men. Just like montreal - what is it about cities?
Bringing me to my second point: Balb fuckface - I work with and assist mentally ill people in the community and your inferences contained here are brutally offensive and show a lack of compassion one would expect from a low born shit stained perverted child molesting cockholster. Hope to meet you some day.
Comment by Security — March 26, 2009 @ 8:33 am
Steve, do you let the kids ride in the car with no seatbelt?
See, here’s the thing. You have to weigh broken cheek bone and loss of multiple teeth vs. blog post. That’s one shot in the face from a guy that size on a female like Wendy. BANG! Instant two weeks off work and $10k worth of dental reconstruction. Plus it -hurts- every fucking day for a year. Then forever after every time the weather changes.
I think you’ll agree on reflection it would be better to piss her off by dragging her to the exit in a hammer lock. Women are stupid sometimes. That’s why they need us. We need them when -we- are stupid.
You do not screw around with these demented people. You get out, and the -only- reason to tangle with them is if they are between you and the only exit. In the subway, that is almost never the case.
Something else to remember is that quite apart from the danger involved, your every move is being recorded on CCTV. Your actions will be reviewed, judged and charges laid against YOU by a person with the exact ideological mind set of Bloblobican and southern quebec. Are we learning?
Now, for all the cowboys in the audience, something you should know about people acting demented in public places. They are either schizophrenic or on major drugs, or worst case, both. They do not feel pain. At all. You can kick them in the balls and they -will-not-notice-. I say this as someone who has tangled with one of these once upon a time. I was LUCKY.
If you saw a bear on the subway you wouldn’t mess with it, would you?
Comment by The Phantom — March 26, 2009 @ 8:47 am
Phantom, The guy was 220 pounds. I was not going to mess with him. Some people did tell the guy to shut up only to be called racists. It was sheer coincidence that I even met Wendy on the platform. I haven’t seen her for maybe a year. If she was in serious danger, we all were. Was I to drag everyone out of there against their will?
Comment by Steve — March 26, 2009 @ 9:38 am
Nope. Just your friend. F- the rest of ‘em, let them be the ones to call 911 and die.
Its your job as a guy, Steve. Gotta know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. Nut job on the subway? Its a no win vs. loose big situation Definitely fold ‘em.
And yes, you all were in serious danger, and that’s assuming he -wasn’t- an armed terrorist. Really. A bear would be safer.
Comment by The Phantom — March 26, 2009 @ 10:09 am
And still the committed lefties are trying to convince everyone, nothing to see here. Just a silly threat. Just a subway car or a bus blown up or a couple towers down. Just a couple hundred people shot down in the streets and hotels of a major city. If someone had have miraculously stopped Atta and company before 9/11, these same fools would be laughing at all those showing concern and saying, “Some youngsters with boxcutters? What could they have accomplished. Really?” Ha ha.
Comment by Thomas LaBelle — March 26, 2009 @ 10:18 am
“Thanks balbulican for calling me a liar. You can believe what you want to believe.”
Oh, I do. Given that Wendy didn’t mention your presence in her “report”, that didn’t mention your presence until I questioned her “report”, and that you added nothing to her story, I think you’re probably bullshitting. But of course, I can’t know.
What’s most amusing about this is the way you have all formed a little community to reinforce each other’s terror. Despite the wonderfully dramatic fantasies above about decapitations and Madrid and scouting missions and evil MOOOOSSSSLIMS - what happened, at the very most, was that some guy was yelling. That’s it. That’s all.
The entire goal of “terrorism” is to punch beyond the weight of the “terror” organization’s actual capacity by engendering fear in the target population. And you poor shmucks are delightedly playing along - you’ve just amplified a loony on a subway (not Wendy, the OTHER one) into a threat to the Security of the Western World. Osama would be delighted.
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 10:26 am
Ha ha, Scream Alahu Akbar in a crowded subway and the “tolerance-R-Us”/”Islam is fabulous” crowd comes out en masse to call all critics bigots and scare mongers. Quietly mantion to someone outside an abortion clinic that Jesus loves than and get carted off to jail. This is the society that we have allowed left wingers to foist on us. Hope you are enjoying it.
Comment by INP — March 26, 2009 @ 10:33 am
Blobby, is it that you think a loony on the subway isn’t dangerous in his own right, or is it just that you’ve got this uncontrollable urge to fling poo all the time?
Comment by The Phantom — March 26, 2009 @ 10:36 am
“I wasn’t there.” — Comment by Yousaf — March 24, 2009 @ 10:02 pm
You are right — you weren’t there!
Furthermore, you’ve managed to invoke Godwin’s Law …and, also slip the name of the “Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms” in the hope bolstering your “right” to rebuke. Most (real) Canadians would look upon you in askance with your subtle attempt of intimidation.
“As a former Muslim (now converted Christian), I feel I have to say something.”
What I hear with your qualifying assertion of being a “converted Christian”, is that this now gives you some self-righteous authority to speak on the matter.
Frankly, I don’t believe you’re a “former Muslim”, and furthermore, who cares what religious affiliation you aspire too. Through your unproven words, you’re straddling both sides of the religion angle….so now you feel empowered to speak on the matter with “some authority.”
Incidentally, I’m quite familiar with the Toronto subway system, stemming from the days of the 1960’s, long before enforced political-correctness, multiculturalism and the 3rd world invaders who are now slowly degrading our once-great city.
….and no, I will not…repeat NOT, add that silly, white-guilt disclaimer at the end of a critical commentary of non-white immigrants that reads something like “I’m not racist, but…..”
Comment by I AM Canadian — March 26, 2009 @ 10:46 am
Phantom, you claimed a modicum of intelligence when last we chatted. So either pay attention, or stop playing to the peanut gallery.
Loonies on subways ARE dangerous in their own right. What I am laughing at here is the elevation of the aforementioned Loonie to the status of “terrorist”. As in:
- “Maybe he was really planning a Madrid scenario here?”
- “I have a) filed a complaint with the City for their lack of terror protocol.”
- “Certainly sounds like the rantings of a potential terrorist to me.”
- “The subway system is filled with workers who are extremists…rogers and bell have thousands of workers who are tamil tigers and enter our homes casually…”
- “You’ve stated so many retorts to the islamic apologists who try to lump Christians (and pro-lifers specifically) with islamic fascist terrorists.”
A crazy person yelled. Wendy apparently got within a couple of feet of him and took his picture.
Now, Wendy has blogged about experiencing suicidal feelings on the subway. She’s talked about looking at a group of Somali businessmen talking to Monte Solberg, and fantasizing them as murderous cannibals hacking him to bits. Wendy is, to put it kindly, not someone whose narrative I trust here.
And on and on and on….
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 11:04 am
balbulican follows the same rules that all leftists follow: female trumps male, brown trumps white, homo trumps hetero and Islam trumps Chriatian. If Wendy were brown or Muslim and was accosted by some white Christian screaming “repent of die in hellfire” Balbie would be front and centre to support her. When you’re a leftist you have to be consistent from time to time, but, as balbie knows, not all that often.
Comment by INP — March 26, 2009 @ 11:07 am
I’m sure that made perfect sense to you, INP.
Sorry, Phantom, you were saying…?
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 11:20 am
Balby! Actual common sense?! You get another notch up the Phantom Scale, my boy. From annoying dickweed to just annoying. Even I, racist NeoCon that I am, must admit that after 15 minutes of yelling and running about the chances of nutjob being an Islamic terrorist are slim.
Nor am I defending our gracious hostess. Taking that picture was f-ing stupid Wendy, you should have been moving -away- from the bear.
Still Balby, in an environment where a Swiss Army knife will get you jailed at the airport or kicked out of school anywhere in the GTA, the “restraint” shown by the TTC authorities toward a large man running about screaming ALLAH AKBAR! is remarkable. As in, worthy of being remarked upon.
I understand the workings of TTC security and the Metro cops. That doesn’t mean I agree with them or think its a good thing. It isn’t.
Comment by The Phantom — March 26, 2009 @ 11:50 am
Promoted from annoying dickweed to annoying. My goodness. Well, Warren Zevon clung to life for a year in order to see the next James Bond movie - I shall now struggle on through this vale of tears in the hopes that I may someday earn a promotion to the next tier, whatever it may be. “Ann”?
Crazies are crazy. Most aren’t dangerous, but why on earth take a chance - especially within three feet of a large pit containing large, moving masses of metal?
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 12:24 pm
whatever balb…I guess making the third comment insinuating I shared the experience was part of the conspiracy.
And really, unless I followed Phantom’s advice, my presence was not relevant to the story, although it might have been good for a few clicks to my dormant, “wingnut” blog.
Comment by Steve — March 26, 2009 @ 12:24 pm
It does my heart good to see people like balby can strolling about without a care in the world. Really, it’s good to know that there are people wandering about with “multiculturalist fantasy” software running inside their minds. And here’s why - if any real men or women are on a public transport system, or walking along the street on the way to their work, and they see some wingnut screaming out the Takbir, and lifting up the flap of their rucksack, they will act accordingly. And they’ll know that they’re right to do so. Because wishy-washy dreamers like balby can’t do that … and won’t.
People like balby remind me of a Mark Twain story called “The Mysterious Stranger.” One of the characters was supposed to be made happy for the rest of his life by the stranger. He made him daft instead, daft as a brush. Not an ounce of sense, but he went through life happy all right. People like balby have fallen victim to a similarly Satanic turn of events. They reach the stage where they just can’t help themselves, as Evan Sayet has pointed out, they invariably turn away from what is good and embrace what is evil. That’s what they do. That’s who they are.
Comment by Nick — March 26, 2009 @ 1:10 pm
Oh and balby - there may not be any werewolves in London, but as we have found out to our cost, there have been, and there still are, Islamic terrorists. And not only in London ..
Comment by Nick — March 26, 2009 @ 1:13 pm
I bet he was a polygamist too. (’click’ - shameless self promotion)
Comment by INP — March 26, 2009 @ 1:21 pm
Dude, you’re free to see a Islamic Terrorist under every bed and reflected in every lunatic on the street. Live in terror to your heart’s content - as I noted above, that’s precisely the reaction they’re trhying to provoke in you.
As for the Satanic cast of my mind and my inevitable embrace of evil…golly. And so soon after losing my Dickweed designation. Don’t tell Phantom.
Seriously, Nick…hyperbole much?
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 1:24 pm
Toronto is a third-world city now being run by third world people. How can we leave a country like this to our kids? Beyond sad.
Comment by Mark — March 26, 2009 @ 1:30 pm
Do you folks actually enjoy living in a state of delusional terror? Does this somehow inflate your sense of self-importance? Help you reify that state of hallucinatory paranoia that makes Wendy hallucinate cannibal Somalis when she sees Monte Solberg meeting businessmen?
Are you even aware that the last decapitation in Canada was committed on a Greyhound bus by a Christian psycopath?
I understand that he did it because he heard voices in his head.
Radical Muslims don’t do it because of voices in their heads.
They deliberately seek to kill people in the name of their religion. It is part of their jihad.
I don’t live in a “state of terror”. There’s a Muslim family across the street from me. A Muslim family two doors down, and a whole bunch of families around the corner in my neighbourhood. They don’t cause any trouble and I don’t resent them or want to send them off. These are not the ones I worry about.
I’m worried about the ones who think killing people to advance sharia.
The guys who think that Bin Laden is a hero.
The rest of the Muslims, I’m fine with.
As I said: there are Muslims who want to commit terror. They did it in the US (more than once, I might add) they did it in Britain and in Spain. In fact, they fire-bombed a Synagogue in Montreal.
Pointing to the other guy doesn’t make your case, balb. It does not disprove that some Muslims do seek terror. As I’ve shown the culture of terror among Christians is extremely marginal. The culture of terror among Muslims, much less so, as witnessed by the numerous acts of violence committed in the name of Jihad in recent years.
And I think pointing to Wendy’s use of anti-depressants (if that’s the case) really contributes to the stigmatization of mental illness. Not very progressive of you. They *do* stabilize people, you know.
Comment by SUZANNE — March 26, 2009 @ 1:41 pm
Yeah and I suppose all those suffering under the Blitz and hiding in bomb shelters were just giving the Nazis the reaction they were looking for? Unfortunately, this fool in question didn’t get the reaction he so richly deserved and that is the point, I would think. Take away my Swiss army knife and multi tool when I’m trying to board a plane but we can’t prevent moham … er … muslims to pray and shout their warcry in airports or subways where they can scare the crap out of fellow travellers just for a good laugh. A bunch of merry button pushers, one way or the other, eh?
Comment by Thomas LaBelle — March 26, 2009 @ 1:51 pm
“Pointing to the other guy doesn’t make your case, balb. It does not disprove that some Muslims do seek terror.”
Very true, SUZANNE, very true. As do some Roman Catholics, Tamils, Hindus, Basques, Shining Path, Aum Shinrikyo members, and others. My point is that crazy guys muttering in a subway are usually not terrorists.
As for Wendy: I consider her an extremely untrustworthy witness for reasons that she herself has set out on this site. Frankly, your assessment of my “progressivism” is of less than no interest to me.
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 1:56 pm
This is the first sentence of Brigitte Gabriel’s introduction to her book, “Because They Hate”:
“Radical Islam’s modern war of world domination has been picking up momentum, with its universal rallying cry of ‘Allahu Akbar’ accompanying each act of terror and destruction.”
Comment by Joanne — March 26, 2009 @ 1:58 pm
Yousaf is obviously a 45-50 year old white guy who still has it in for “the man” because he lost his union job and his steady welfare check and a woman wouldn’t touch him even if HE wore a burkha.
Comment by Doug — March 26, 2009 @ 2:01 pm
Thomas, I realize the conceptual difference between an enemy air force mass bombing a city during wartime and a crazy person muttering in a subway is a pretty subtle distinction.
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 2:03 pm
Meanwhile in Philadelphia…
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6378918
more story here…
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2008/09/disturbing_musl.html
Comment by Dano — March 26, 2009 @ 2:06 pm
See my point, Phantom?
Your ideological friends have inflated an encounter with a street crazy into the heroic thwarting of a terrorist attack. Which, of course, is precisely Wendy’s intent.
I certainly don’t expect to convince or illuminate. I just find the spectacle of folks succumbing to terrorism (i.e., allowing themselves to be terrified) as both sad and funny.
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 2:07 pm
My my y’all are chatty.
1. Phantom, you’re sweet to worry. But please don’t. By the time the pic was taken I had ascertained that he was a “crazy” but not armed. And the pic was taken from some distance. I live in a big city - I know how to dodge madmen when needed, or I wouldn’t have lived this long. Also, I am not afraid of belligerent assholes.
2. Balb, Steve was there. The original photo showed the whole crowd, including Steve in the foreground. None of them were relevant nor should they have their faces splashed on my blog. So I cropped everyone out. The original photo went to the authorities.
3. My main issue isn’t so much about this one particular freak - it is with the lack of protocol. Hence, you know, the title of the post being “TTC Lacks Security” and not “OMG A Muslim Got on the Subway!!1!one!!” We have seen on several occasions in various cities - cities just like ours - around the world, that someone gets on public transit, screams about Allah, and detonates. Since 9/11 and 7/7, cities around the world have put into place protocols for dealing with the FALLOUT of such an attack - Toronto at least doesn’t have a protocol for dealing with the THREAT or PREVENTION of one. That’s not acceptable.
4. Do I live in fear? No. But I live with the knowledge that I need to be aware. This isn’t Mayberry. As a woman in a city I am constantly aware of threats of muggings, rapes, shootings… and now terror. I don’t want to be a victim, and so I keep my senses sharp to make logical deductions from every situation I am in.
5. How come only lefties (with the exception of Balb) and trolls use fake email addresses? What are THEY afraid of. Hmm? Yousuf? Anyone?
RG
Comment by Right Girl — March 26, 2009 @ 2:08 pm
If Steve was there, then I owe him an apology. Steve, sorry.
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 2:16 pm
“Thomas, I realize the conceptual difference between an enemy air force mass bombing a city during wartime and a crazy person muttering in a subway is a pretty subtle distinction.”
Your use of the word ” muttering ” made me laugh out loud. he was screaming in support of terrorism and pounding on the doors of the subway. If I were there I would have done the same thing wendy did.
Comment by MissAlyss — March 26, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
Good for you. And would you then have concluded that this was an impending terrorist attack?
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 2:29 pm
balby, if that is the reaction “they” are trying to provoke from me then they have failed. I don’t live in terror of anyone, or anything.
Frankly, your repeated assertions that I and others frequenting this site are living in terror speaks to your own frame of mind, and no one else’s.
There is absolutely no rational basis for your holding such an absurd belief. As I have already pointed out to you, there have been several Islamic terrorist attacks in the UK already. I know someone who had to deal with casualties from one such attack.
And the Home Secretary has just informed us that such attacks are now more likely than ever. Lovely, eh? Just what you want to read in the paper when you’re having your cornflakes!
The doctors who drove their jeep into Glasgow Airport were yelling out the Takbir as they went about their religously motivated business. They were stopped by the actions of the local bobbies, and members of the public who ran to help them.
Those people would not have done so if those doctors had behaved as one might expect doctors to behave, and merely boarded their plane to fly off to Spain for a week in the sunshine. Thheir religious beliefs would have been unknown, and would therefore have been of no consequence. But they were in an obviously drugged-up state and yelling out the Takbir. Oh, and they’d driven a jeep loaded up with gas bottles and six inch nails into the front of Glasgow Airport. Kind of a give away, that. Kind of lets everyone know that you’re up to no good. So there obviously comes a point when one’s behaviour signifies that one is engaging in a religiously inspired terrorist act. Where is that point though?
Irrational behaviour, yelling out the Takbir, all while aboard a crowded public transport system … given the context, it clearly is not unreasonable for one to ask oneself - is this another 7/7 here? (Without going around in a state of terror beforehand, one could be sitting reading a book, listening to an iPod, thinking about work, whatever. As one does throughout the day.)
As Right Girl has said, the original idea was that the people responsible for public safety aboard the tube system seemed incapable of dealing with this situation.
So I say again - we’ll leave people like you to run the “multiculturalist fantasy” program inside your mind, and wander about all happy and contented, as the fellow in Twain’s story did once Satan played his little trick on him. Meanwhile, back in reality, there are some of us who, like the members of the public who ran to help the bobbies at Glasgow Airport, would act to prevent something like 7/7 from happening again.
Oh and if you want to comment on Evan Sayet’s talk, I suggest you watch it first. He’s got people like you nailed.
You might not realise this, and if you do you might not want to acknowledge it, but so do the Islamists.
Comment by Nick — March 26, 2009 @ 2:30 pm
Balbulican:
It’s good to see you are still at work spreading truth, love and joy among the benighted masses.
The funny thing about radical muslim terrorists, at least from what I’ve read, is that, until they’re actually ready to, you know, slaughter the innocent, they tend to be quite close-mouthed about the business. No sense scaring off potential victims and ending up with only a few virgins to torment in the afterlife. Seems like what we’re dealing with here is another species altogether - a loudmouth muslim arsehole grievance monger with a deep seated persecution complex. Very annoying, undoubtedly, and possibly physically dangerous, but not quite the same creature as the cold blooded bastards who carved up Mumbai or Bali or a kajillion other places. What was required in this situation was one fair sized gentleman ballsy enough to drop said heavy set aggrieved ranter via a quick clip to the temple. Problem solved. And an Allahu to you to sir.
Comment by Occam's Carbuncle — March 26, 2009 @ 2:30 pm
Well obviously some of the MEN don’t seem to think this was a serious incident, however as a WOMAN I find this incident very disturbing. May I remind you of the Greyhound incident - the man was quiet but obviously waiting for the right moment to kill. There was a deadly knife incident on a bus in Edmonton in 2008 (someone died - I saw the covered body on the side of the road). A woman raped and killed in a bathroom cubicle in a transit station in Edmonton, etc. Anyone who acts weird, shouts nonsense (no matter the language or which God is invoked) should be treated as a potential threat. You either report the incident or exit the subway station, bus, train etc. I have the luxury of owning a vehicle and I DO NOT RIDE THE TRANSIT. Unfortunately my son goes to work everyday by bus - I constantly tell him to be aware of his surroundings and to not engage strangers, be they Christian, Muslim or Buddhist.
Comment by fernstalbert — March 26, 2009 @ 2:31 pm
Yousaf
‘Jesus loves you’ versus ‘Allahu Akbar?’ - isn’t that the Islamic war cry before they press the button or grab the steering column of a jet or behead someone?
But yeah Yousaf i see your point, theres no real difference. Keep spining dude.
Comment by Agent Smith — March 26, 2009 @ 2:33 pm
“Question: What is the difference between this guy and some crazy Christian Fundy screaming the end of the world is near?
Answer: One is brown and one is white.
Yer welcome.
Comment by southern quebec”
Been to church lately s.q.? Here in Toronto visible minorities crowd the pews, hoards of ‘em, God bless ‘em. For the record in all my years on the TTC i’ve yet to come across the scenario u paint.
Yer welcome
Comment by Agent Smith — March 26, 2009 @ 2:34 pm
Um, considering the subject he was screaming about for no reason at all, yes,I would have considered the possiblity. See, Im not the type of person that is in complete denial that we are at war with terrorists. so I realize and accept the possibility I could be put in a situacion like that.
Comment by MissAlyss — March 26, 2009 @ 2:41 pm
Can I also point out to balby that although you say that there is a distinction between the Luftwaffe bombing Coventry (for example) and some crazy fellow muttering to himself on a train, your original position was: “Live in terror to your heart’s content - as I noted above, that’s precisely the reaction they’re trhying to provoke in you.”
Clearly the people you should be comparing to the Luftwaffe are whoever you think “they” are - not the fellow on the tube, who you do not believe is one of “them” at all. Your response to Thomas is illogical. If you understood that before you posted it, then you were being dishonest as well. A poor show all round, really.
Comment by Nick — March 26, 2009 @ 2:41 pm
It’s a test.
He got away with it .
Look for an escalation.
Good thing you weren’t wearing your Infidel Hat.
Kick Ass Wendy.
Comment by richfisher — March 26, 2009 @ 2:43 pm
Wow. That was long, Nick. You guys have a fondness for speechifying, don’t you?
My response is shorter.
a) When I see a guy behaving irrationally in public, I avoid him. I don’t suspect him or terrorism. I suspect him of being crazy, drunk or stoned. So far I’ve been right.
b) Wendy has acknowledged being “totally shaken”. She felt under terrorist threat. Most of the other respondents in this thread agreed that her fear was justified.
I leave it to you to judge who’s living in fear to the greater degree.
I have been personally and directly affected by terrorism twice: once in the 1960s by the FLQ, and once in London by the threat of an IRA subway bomb. I am pleased to say that neither experience left me quaking at the site of Québecois or shamrocks.
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 2:45 pm
And just to clarify: the people who died on 7/7 “succumbed to terrorism” balby my boy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/05/london_blasts/victims/default.stm
Again: you can run the “multiculturalist fantasy” program provided to you by your masters in your mind all day long, and it might feel good and comforting, but it’s not reality. Click on that link. That’s reality.
Comment by Nick — March 26, 2009 @ 2:48 pm
“I am pleased to say that neither experience left me quaking at the site of Québecois or shamrocks.”
Good for you. The site of muslims or mosques dont leave me quaking either. BUT, a man yelling, screaming and pounding on subway doors in support of terror ( because, you know, Ive kept up with the news since 2001 ) would shake me up and make me want to file a police report.
Comment by MissAlyss — March 26, 2009 @ 2:56 pm
> For the record, I don’t condone terrorism nor do I think it’s acceptable to look the other way when we are presented with the signs of terrorism.
> BUT…
It’s the “but” that tells you all you need to know about the writer.
Comment by Darrell — March 26, 2009 @ 2:58 pm
RG has a very valid point. Consider airport security before and after 9/11. If somebody shouted about Bin Laden rising up in an Airport after 9/11 what do you think security would have done? Why shouldn’t the TTC have similar protocols after 7/7? Does it have to happen on this side of the pond before we get serious about security?
Comment by Pragmatist — March 26, 2009 @ 2:59 pm
Nick, let me administer a brief test to you. Can you distinguish between these two thoughts?
a) There are several criminal networks of terrorists in the world, and we need to be vigilant, investigate them, and enforce the law.
b) The world is reeling on the brink of total collapse as a vast, evil, hidden international conspiracy of people who hate me are well on their way to bring about my demise and the destruction of everything I hold sacred, and have the means to do it.
If you can distinguish between those two perspectives, then there’s still hope. If not - well, better buy a gun and start shooting crazies.
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 3:02 pm
I’m not the one who likes “speechifying” balby. (On the other hand, I have, among other pieces of paper, a philosophy degree, and I can type at something like 90 wpm, so yes, I do come up with the occasional longish post, lol … )
There is obviously a distinction to be drawn between recognising a potentially dangerous situation and “getting a fleg” and living in a state of perpetual “terror” - which is your claim.
Again: I don’t live in terror of anyone or anything on this planet. You can believe that or not, I don’t care which. But if I was walking through Dyce Airport (let’s say) and some crazy Muslim with a Koran in one hand and a backpack in the other started dancing about and yelling the Takbir … it’s not at all irrational to experience fear. That rush. (Read Geoff Thompson: he’s good on this particular scenario.) It’s hardwired into us, the fight or flight response, as I’m sure you know. My own life experience tells me that I’d choose the former. I would act.
What is irrational is to take one’s experiencing fear in a potentially dangerous situation, and feeling shaken afterwards (as the adrenalin rush wears off) - experiences which are natural to human beings - and from that claim that someone is living in a state of perpetual “terror”. This is your actual claim, which you have made repeatedly on this thread. It speaks only to your own state of mind.
That is all it does.
Comment by Nick — March 26, 2009 @ 3:02 pm
Can anyone out there tell me what race a Catholic is?
No?
Didn’t think so.
ISLAM IS NOT A RACE. I wish I could scream this louder than what my keyboard allows. Good grief.
Comment by Eskimo — March 26, 2009 @ 3:06 pm
“BUT, a man yelling, screaming and pounding on subway doors in support of terror ( because, you know, Ive kept up with the news since 2001 ) would shake me up and make me want to file a police report.”
Well, there you go. As it turns out, the dude was either (a) a terrorist foiled by Wendy’s courage, as some have opined above, or (b) a loon. I vote loon. You may adopt the more terrified interpretation if you choose: I’m simply pointing out the choice you made.
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 3:06 pm
“What is irrational is to take one’s experiencing fear in a potentially dangerous situation, and feeling shaken afterwards (as the adrenalin rush wears off) - experiences which are natural to human beings - and from that claim that someone is living in a state of perpetual “terror”.”
Let me clarify. Wendy experienced an event which she found subjectively frightening. As discussed above, Wendy is prone to emotional disturbances, has described delusional experiences which verge on the psychotic, has spoken of dwelling on suicide in the subway, and has expressed her hatred (her term) of Muslims. All of those elements may or may not have affected her emotional response to this incident.
I don’t think the crazy posed a threat. And the evidence (i.e, her survival, the subway’s survival, and the survival of the city of Toronto) suggest I was correct - especially given that she brandished a camera in his face and escaped unscathed to blog again.
But instead of concluding that she was probably mistaken, Wendy is seeking support for the world view that cast the crazy as a terrorist - and finding it, en masse, above.
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 3:17 pm
balby, the interpretation you are adopting of what people are saying to you is irrational. I have already pointed out this choice that you continue to make, time after time ..
Experiencing fear in a potentially dangerous situation is natural, and perfectly normal. Fight or flight. (Again: read Geoff Thompson.)
It is irrational to go from that natural response to one’s immediate environment to the claim that one is living in perpetual “terror.” That jump is clearly illogical.
You can keep on choosing to make that assertion if you wish. I’m simply pointing out to you that your irrational choice speaks only to your own state of mind, and no one else’s.
Comment by Nick — March 26, 2009 @ 3:18 pm
“You may adopt the more terrified interpretation if you choose: I’m simply pointing out the choice you made.”
ok, Im not ” living in terror, ” its called common sense. But if Iam ” living in terror” as you say, then you would be a FOOL for not taking a threat like that seriously. espacially since youve supposedly been in a situacion like that before.
Comment by MissAlyss — March 26, 2009 @ 3:20 pm
“Experiencing fear in a potentially dangerous situation is natural, and perfectly normal. Fight or flight. (Again: read Geoff Thompson.)”
Oh, absolutely. A woman walking along down a darkened street at night is likely to experience fear when she hears footsteps behind, and to imagine a drooling, slavering assailant creeping ever closer. And sometimes that’s precisely the right response.
However, when it turns out that the footsteps did NOT belong to an assailant, it’s a bit bizarre to then go home and blog about one’s near death experience.
A crazy yelled on a subway. Wendy believes in the ubiquity of Muslim Terrorists Out To Kill Her, and got extremely upset. It appears she was not, in fact, in danger. Several folks in this thread share her sense of drama.
Fairly clear to me.
However, when the well dress
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 3:31 pm
“Im not ” living in terror, ” its called common sense. But if Iam ” living in terror” as you say, then you would be a FOOL for not taking a threat like that seriously. espacially since youve supposedly been in a situacion like that before.”
Well, you’re alive, and I’m alive. And I spend less time being scared than you do. So…?
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 3:34 pm
Yes, I’m alive. And I have learned what History has taught me. You’re alive and remain foolish. Thank god he was just practicing his freedom of speech and didnt have a bomb. If he would have or had been at an airport, it would have been a completely different story.
Comment by MissAlyss — March 26, 2009 @ 3:54 pm
“Thank god he was just practicing his freedom of speech and didnt have a bomb.”
Yup. Or crazy, drunk, or stoned. But far be it from me to begrudge you your life of terrified vigilance.
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 4:04 pm
Try yelling that at a US airport and it won’t matter your skin color, ethnicity, age, gender, you are going down.
That aint racism, thats security.
Maybe he is just a ranting lunatic that didn’t take his meds. No matter. Terrorism is terrorizing and that is what he did. You can throw in the red herrings all you want. The racism, the color, the language. Thats all smoke. At the end of the day he terrorized people with his rant.
Yousaf can spout off all he wants about how bad we are in this intolerant society. He is entitled to his opinion. But quite frankly, I don’t have any tolerance for that type of behaviour and I don’t care what Yousaf thinks about it or me.
Comment by Smitherenzes — March 26, 2009 @ 4:19 pm
The fact no interviened show us how the liberal leftarded mentality of victimhood has seeped into mainstream society. We’ve been indoctornated into sheeple who do nothing whilst a mad man rants and raves whilst flaying around.
Comment by Rose — March 26, 2009 @ 4:34 pm
Oh come on! You agree with the obvious and well understood fact that people have an inbuilt “fight or flight” real time response to their immediate surroundings.
You have nothing to say about the argument that it is illogical to go from that to the assertion that one lives in a state of perpetual terror. And there is nothing you can say, for the assertion which you keep making is in fact deeply illogical.
You say that such a response (inbuilt, instinctive) can sometimes be the right one. Again: it is an inbuilt, inevitable response to a situation of potential danger.
What I suspect you mean to say is that sometimes a situation might appear dangerous but it will turn out not to be. Whoopy doo, what a fantastic piece of thinking that is.
Two points: I and many others have pointed out to you that there have been many terrorist attacks on “soft” targets during the last few years. If one sees a crazy Muslim ranting and carrying on aboard a public transport system like the tube it is not at all irrational to wonder if the fellow is doing a 7/7 and from that it does follow that one’s “fight or flight” response will automatically and unconsciously kick in. As we have already discussed, you have nowhere to go with that.
Your throwing ad hominem insults at the person running this board is irrelevant. The facts are that the previous paragraph can apply to any sane and rational person - even a follower of the Islamic faith, for as we all know these terrorists will happily kill people they do not regard as “true” Muslims: see Lawrence Wright’s “The Looming Tower” on this particular matter.
Your assertion that the author of the original post was not in any actual physical danger seems to me to be beside the point. To begin with, the crazy fellow wasn’t challenged, and who knows how he would have reacted if a uniformed guard had done so. Secondly, and more importantly, how would the authorities react if someone did decide to carry out a terrorist attack? That seems to me to be the thrust of the original article. No one came to help the passengers. If they had needed help, where was it? Nowhere.
You seem to think that anyone in a similar situation will magically discover within their own mind the correct answer to the question: What’s going on here? Maybe if one has the “multiculturalist fantasy” program running in one’s mine, that answer is provided for you. But for normal people who deal with reality, it can be difficult to know whether the Islamic fanatic in front of you, waving a Koran about and yelling the Takbir, is merely practicing the “religion of peace”.
And waiting to see what he’s got in his rucksack? Well yes, you’ll get your answer. But that’s a risky game to play.
Comment by Nick — March 26, 2009 @ 4:46 pm
Man, check out the typos in that post. I really need to get some sleep, I’m getting too old for these night shifts, lol …
Comment by Nick — March 26, 2009 @ 4:47 pm
Well, again, I can respond in a lot less time.
The accuracy of Wendy’s narrative and the validity of her emotional response to the incident are relevant to the discussion. I have raised points that Wendy herself has acknowledged. You don’t think that a loathing of Muslims and a state of emotional imbalance might colour the narrative? Might predispose someone to an excessive and inappropriate reaction?
And of course, aggressive behaviour will trigger a fight or flight response in any primate. That’s not the point. Please reread paragraphs 2 and 3 at 3:31. There’s nothing odd at being frightened by an aggressive crazy - fear is the correct response. However, it’s ludicrous to come home and try to present this episode as an instance of terrorism averted. Is that not clear?
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 5:14 pm
How is what this nut did any different than yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre? It’s an attempt to incite panic isn’t it?
Yelling “Jesus loves you repent your sins” isn’t quite on the same level IMO.
Comment by mecheng — March 26, 2009 @ 5:46 pm
Ex Balbulican and I quote “The art of trolling, INP, consists of not LOOKING like you’re trolling. You really have a lot to learn.
Pot meet black.
Comment by BoomNoZoom — March 26, 2009 @ 6:07 pm
How do you “mutter” at the top of your lungs?
Just askin.
When assessing a threat when confronted by a nutbar would it not be judicious to take into account what they are”muttering” at the top of their lungs?
Just sayin.
Comment by BoomNoZoom — March 26, 2009 @ 6:20 pm
southern quebecer: “Question: What is the difference between this guy and some crazy Christian Fundy screaming the end of the world is near?”
When was the last time you EVER heard “some crazy Christian Fundy screaming” that “the end of the world is near” either in the subway or anywhere else? Not only that, if you ever did, the crazy doesn’t have your annihilation in mind but your salvation. ‘Slight difference there, southern quebecer. Parlez-vous francais? Comprenez-vous anglais? ‘Just asking …
What a dumb analogy. It doesn’t hold up, and neither does your skanky conclusion about black and white.
Comment by batb — March 26, 2009 @ 6:30 pm
Wow. balbulican is going to great lengths to argue that a big brown man who aggressively stalks around a crowded subway screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’ should never, ever elicit any mental reference to Islamic terrorism in any of us. In fact, we should all just admit it - anyone who, for even a momnent, thinks about the British tube bombings or any of the thousands of Islamic terrorist atrocities worldwide when reading Wendy’s post is nothing more than a mouth breathing, knuckle draggin, Neanderthal bigot. Didn’t you get the memo?
Comment by INP — March 26, 2009 @ 7:11 pm
You say you are responding, but you are doing so only in the sense that you are typing some words and sending in a comment.
The time you take to do this is irrelevant. Is what you say meaningful and rational? Does it address what has actually been said?
You acknowledge that human beings have a fight or flight response built in and that if one is in a potentially dangerous situation this will occur, and that this happens unconsciously and naturally.
The point is that one cannot from this observation go on and say that someone who experiences this natural event is in a state of perpetual “terror.” This has been your claim throughout this thread, and it is a deeply illogical assertion. One might even say it is “ludicrous.”
Is that not clear?
Once again you try to use ad hominem attacks on the person who wrote the original article, in order to make some kind of argument. Once again you fail to do so.
Firstly, you argue against yourself by acknowledging that people have a fight or flight response hard wired into them, and that this kicks in whenever one is in a potentially dangerous situation.
Secondly, as I and others have said, there have been many terrorist attacks on “soft” targets in recent years. So if anyone sees a crazy Muslim ranting and raving and carrying on aboard a tube train or a bus, then it’s not at all irrational to wonder if the fellow is doing a 7/7. Any ad hominem remarks you wish to make about the author of the original article are irrelevant, because that applies to any sane, rational person. I’ve also pointed out to you that this also applies to Muslims, since experience tells us that Islamic terrorists have no problem killing people they don’t think are “true” Muslims. Your argument, such as it is, is obviously no good.
Thirdly: the thrust of the original piece was not that this was a terrorist attack averted, that’s clearly a straw man of your own making, and about as rational and meaningful as your continued assertions that people on this website are living in a state of perpetual terror. It was that if someone did decide to carry out a terrorist attack on the tube station, then the authorities seem to be quite unprepared.
Is that not clear?
If you want to respond, please try to do more than tap away at your keyboard for a few minutes before clicking on the “Submit Comment” button.
Comment by Nick — March 26, 2009 @ 7:17 pm
Doesn’t matter that the guy was brown,orange,or green.This is mayor millars everyday shithole,yer on your own,the cops are there to gather stats.
Comment by greyburr — March 26, 2009 @ 7:21 pm
Mark: “Toronto is a third-world city now being run by third world people. How can we leave a country like this to our kids? Beyond sad.”
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing today, driving through the mean streets of sleazy, diverse-to-the-point-of-gross-dysfunction Toronto. I’ve lived here a long time and it used to be a boring but pleasant city.
Now it’s a cesspool. Its streets are a mess. Its citizens, zombie-like automatons, plugged in, tuned out. Its schools, holding cells for Cabbagetown’s future jailbirds — IF Toronto’s Finest ever arrest them for their crimes.
I’ve more than once asked police officers on the street why they haven’t done anything about, say, Tamil Tigers and Hamaz and Hezbollah marching and breathing fire and brimstone against the groups they don’t like, and the usual response is a shrug, an agreement that these demonstrations aren’t a good thing, but an acquiescence to the lie that there’s really nothing they can do about them.
I’ve lived in a third-world country and it is alarming in the extreme to see the similarities of the “new” Toronto with the corrupt dysfunctions in the cities I lived in. If you’d told me that Toronto would soon be emulating third-world crap and corruption, I would have found it hard to believe. Amazing how quickly our multicultural Utopia has turned into an out-of-control-no-centre nightmare.
I’m with The Phantom: If you can get the H*ll out of the vicinity of a nutbar, whatever colour or race, do it. I also agree with him that WE. ARE. ALONE. I’m not sure how we take back our city, heck, our country. What I DO know, is we’re going to have to name the problem, as so many have done here, and risk being called every name in the book.
Otherwise, glug, glug, glug … down into the swamp …
Comment by batb — March 26, 2009 @ 7:21 pm
“Ex Balbulican and I quote “The art of trolling, INP, consists of not LOOKING like you’re trolling. You really have a lot to learn. Pot meet black.”
“Pot meet black”? Good grief. Spare me the semiliterates.
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 7:26 pm
“When assessing a threat when confronted by a nutbar would it not be judicious to take into account what they are”muttering” at the top of their lungs?”
paragraphs 2 and 3 at 3:31.
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 7:28 pm
Nick: you’re tired. Take a break and come back when you’re ready to actually try to hear what I’m saying. Take a tip from Phantom. You seem like you might have a brain - give it a rest, and try again in a bit. Okay?
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 7:32 pm
Hi GOTR,
I cleaned up the nut job’s photo for you.
Would you like me to send it to ya???
K
Comment by Rednik — March 26, 2009 @ 7:34 pm
balby,
You really have nothing to say for yourself, have you?
Well there you have it. That little debate didn’t take long. People like balby enjoy sounding off, but whenever you look closely at what they’re actually saying, and they’re oh so predictable btw, it quickly becomes clear that you’re dealing with an empty vessel. These people make a loud noise, but there’s nothing inside.
Comment by Nick — March 26, 2009 @ 7:52 pm
Sorry, Nick, but some of the tangents you’re trying to develop don’t interest me. I’ll stand by the key points I made.
a) There was no terrorist and no terrorist threat, despite Wendy’s attempt to frame the episode that way, and the chorus of eager agreement. You haven’t introduced any argument to establish anything to the contrary, and Phantom, a smarter conservative blogger than you, has quietly conceded that this is simply a crazy person.
b) Wendy’s general loathing of Muslims (which she acknowledges), her tendency to hallucinate enemies (which she has described herself), her depression and medication (which she has described frequently and in depth) make her a somewhat less than reliable witness. Sorry, those are all things she has said about herself. Bummer, dude, but there you go.
I’ll cheerfully respond to any arguments you have that address those points. Otherwise…well, you know and I know you’re playing to the peanut gallery. And that’s fine, you amuse yourself - it’s just not very interesting to me.
Comment by balbulican — March 26, 2009 @ 8:09 pm
Wow, 145 comments at this count. Wendy, maybe you should hang out full-time in the subway. It would certainly give balbulican something to do.
Comment by INP — March 26, 2009 @ 8:19 pm
I’ll cheerfully respond to any arguments you have that address those points. - balby.
That’ll be the day, eh? If you really mean that, and you’re not just playing to your own imaginary audience of fellow fantasits, then go ahead and do so.
And what about the other points you tried to make, which you have quietly conceded are irrational? Let’s just let them slip by as if you never said them, eh …
Hilarious.
Comment by Nick — March 26, 2009 @ 9:13 pm
I’ll take that as meaning you having nothing of substance to add. Thanks.
Wendy, you owe me that $25.00. I TOLD you I could get your thread over twelve squared.
Comment by balbulican — March 27, 2009 @ 6:52 am
Hey Yousaf,,, you want to see some real White Racist ?
Why don’t you come down heya to South Louisi-Yana and yell Allah Akbar in a Wal-Mart ?
Comment by Ratt — March 27, 2009 @ 10:24 am
Veiled-in-black, face-covered woman seen at Heath and Yonge, the heart of posh Toronto, near CFRB. They are bumping up against us to see what we do. I stared at her, she stared at me. I wanted to gouge her eyes out. No face, no clitoris. They might seem “modern” because they carry cell phones, but the cell phone enables their kin to trace their whereabouts. She probably took my picture for her database of non-suplicant infidels. They are dangerous to all women who do not look like them: invisible and faceless.
Comment by crusader — March 27, 2009 @ 10:57 am
[...] TORONTO SUBWAY SCREAMER? Nutbar? Test-run jihadist? “I am totally shaken. On the subway on my way over to feed [...]
Pingback by Steynian 340 « Free Canuckistan! — March 27, 2009 @ 1:55 pm
I’ll take that as meaning you have nothing of substance to add. Thanks. It’s been a hoot, but you seem stuck in your own little world and appear to find it awfully difficult to deal with reality (which includes listening to what other people say to you). People like you are just so predictable. Straw men, red herrings … seen it all before, heard it all before. Ho hum ..
Again: if you ever want to actually respond to any arguments that have already been put forward in response to your ahem, key points, then go right ahead and do so. It might be an idea to actualy read what’s been said to you first. Then sit quietly for a moment and try to understand what you’ve read. Then think about it. Then start typing. As I explained to you already, simply hitting your keyboard and clicking on a button is not really a response to what’s been put to you. It’s just (to use your word) speechifying.
You are dismissed.
Comment by Nick — March 27, 2009 @ 3:28 pm
Shorter Nick: No, I’M GOING TO HAVE THE LAST WORD!
LMAO. You go for it, Nick. Some of what you said made sense, a few posts back there. Kiss kiss. Nighty night.
Comment by balbulican — March 27, 2009 @ 3:39 pm
Whew, read through all this. The SDA link plus Balbul’s presence certainly must take most of the credit for the length.
When I read Yousaf’s comments, I thought to myself that he sounds so much like Balbulican aka Balbul, etc etc in the infuriatingly insufferable smugness of his comments and lo and behold, Balbul appears on the scene. Must be a slow day at the office.
My two cents worth on the issue, it was just some loonie Muslim(mentally ill Muslims exist as well). But security should have hustled the loonie right out of there, no and’s if’s or but’s.
A real terrorist would have been more subtle. All quiet then KABOOOM!!!
Comment by Canuckguy — March 27, 2009 @ 3:40 pm
balbie ridicules and runs. He asks questions without answering any put to him. It is what he does. Let me prove it. I’ll ask a question that he won’t answer. Here it is: “What country in the world has a President with the initials MA who has expressed his desire to wipe every Jew off the face of the Planet; and what religion does he follow?
OK, that’s two questions, but, hey, he’s an intelligent guy, it sould be no problem.
Comment by INP — March 27, 2009 @ 6:58 pm
So sorry, I have a supplemental question for balbulican.
What country in the world… etc………wipe every Jew off…. etc……….what religion ….etc.
Q: And how many people are here in Canada, do you surmise, who admire him and love Ira…(Opps sorry, almost gave it away) their homeland more than they love Canada?
You see, balbie, that’s the reason we fear.
Comment by INP — March 27, 2009 @ 7:08 pm
He sounds like a paranoid schizophrenic - potentially dangerous to those around him.
Yousaf, you fool, I don’t think it’s the fact that he’s black that’s the issue, it’s the screaming about Allah and bin Laden that had people thinking ‘potential terrorist’.
Comment by o.u. — March 31, 2009 @ 5:07 am
balbulican: “The entire goal of “terrorism” is to punch beyond the weight of the “terror” organization’s actual capacity by engendering fear in the target population. And you poor shmucks are delightedly playing along - you’ve just amplified a loony on a subway [..] into a threat to the Security of the Western World. Osama would be delighted.”
Part of the terrorism ‘network’ is ad-hoc ie. some people (sometimes, those who are mentally ill or of abnormally low intelligence) are ‘inspired’ by the Islamic fundamentalists’ genocidal rhetoric to do something violent, even if they don’t belong to any ‘cell’ or other terrorist organisation. We’ve had such cases in England.
Can they be called terrorists? Maybe not in the classic sense.
Are they a “threat to the Security of the Western World”? They’re a threat to the security of individuals - isn’t that enough?
Also, balbulican, the aim of terrorism is to paralyse the enemy with fear, so that the terrorists’ demands are met.
If you notice, the reactions of Wendy etc. cannot be described as paralysis, but rather a motivation to confront and defeat the terrorists and their ideology.
So I don’t think Osama would be as happy as you think he would be.
By the way, this is the only post on this blog that I’ve so far read.
If your characterisation of Wendy’s attitude is correct ie. that she sees all Muslim’s as potential terrorists, then I will have to disagree with her. I can’t speak for Canada, but in England it’s generally recognised that a) the majority of the Muslim population is law-abiding, and b) there is a minority that is fundamentalist and hostile to the state, its institutions and culture.
I think the West’s general reaction, re: 9/11 and the Islamic faith, has been thoughtful, moderate and restrained - something to be proud of. Let’s keep it that way, but let’s not tolerate violence or genocidal ideologies either.
In particular, let’s examine these groups that purport to represent Muslims. In England, finally, the Labour goverment has recognised that the Muslim Council of Britain, which it consults, is actually quite radical, and is generally rejected by most Muslims as in any way representative of them. Sadly, it’s the left-wing newspapers such as the Guardian that have come to the defense of the self-appointed group.
Comment by o.u. — March 31, 2009 @ 6:59 am
INP, I have to seriously disagree with you there.
All the Iranians I know have zero love for the Iranian regime, or MA, or the mullahs.
Comment by o.u. — March 31, 2009 @ 7:03 am
Every time I get on the subway or take a walk in crowded areas of the city, I worry for my safety and the safety of my kids. I agree 100% with the person who mentioned not caring about the skin colour of the person shouting the crazy on a subway. I don’t think many of us are naive enough to think that extremist groups can’t find white (or any other colour of people) to help spread their message. From their point of view, wouldn’t it be even better to get some dumb schmuck from North America to blow themselves up for the cause? What I wish is that North Americans would wise up. Being “politically correct” is going to be the end of us. Do you suppose that terrorist groups respect us for our ‘evolved’ philosophies? I’m sure they are laughing as they put the sights on us. We are easy targets. I would like to see us learn from Israel… to search people before allowing them entry to public places/transport. Why are we not all walking through metal detectors or bomb detection units? I’d rather queue to get on the subway and have my bags searched than never get off of it.
Comment by Amy — August 20, 2009 @ 11:53 pm
To Ms. Right,
Re: “6th Century Mohammedan”, “Thew little Asian fellow appeared not to understand a damn word we were saying”, “Islamic madman”, automatically calling him “Mohammed” etc.
I entirely understand how scary this whole experience must have been. However, your choice of words is quite indicative of your bias and Islamophobia.
To INP,
Re:
“A riddle by ’southern quebec: “Question: What is the difference between this guy and some crazy Christian Fundy screaming the end of the world is near? Answer: One is brown and one is white.”
Uh, no. the difference is that Christians are not moving to Muslim nations and then committing mass murder there while shouting “jesus rocks”. ”
Throughout history (and contemporary times) nearly every faction in humanity has killed in the name or religion. Christians are not immune to this. For example:
- the KKK and other racists using the Biblical stories of Ham, Canaan, and the Tower of Babel to justify enslaving, lynching, subjugating, and assassinating people of colour;
- countless Muslims and Jews were exterminated at the hands of zealous Crusaders when Pope Urban urged Christians that they can reach salvation by killing nonbelievers; and
- some (not all) soldiers who are enlisting to fight in Iraq today are doing so on religious terms with the intention to kill Muslims.
But this doesn’t mean that all Christians see things the same way as those listed above. It just proves that people can do great injustice in the name of any religion when religion becomes twisted and politicized in the pursuit of hegemony. So, let’s not kid ourselves: human beings have a nasty history and present. Humankind has done atrocious things - be they “Christian”, “Muslim”, or whatever.
So where does this leave us?
We need to stop polarizing humanity. The Muslim world needs to realize that the vast majority of Christians are peaceful and have nothing against them. The Christian world needs to realize that the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful and have nothing against them. Both doctrines preach that killing even 1 person unjustly is like killing all of humanity, and that terrorism is forbidden. Now, regardless of any faith’s doctrine, at the end of the day, we all want the same thing: the reassurance to live in serenity and security, free from marginalization, exclusion, or oppression.. with hopes for better days for tomorrow’s children.
I am a visible Muslim woman. If I was there during that man’s insane rant, I would have spoken against him right then and there, and I would have called the authorities to deal with him. He does not represent me nor does he represent the vast majority of Muslims on this planet.
Peace out,
A Concerned Canadian
Comment by A Concerned Canadian — November 11, 2009 @ 4:30 am
this is all b.s
Comment by Sara — December 4, 2009 @ 12:11 am