Meditations on Duty

Social media has seen something of an uptick in women asking, “Where are the men?”

It’s not just in a general sense, though. It’s a link to a news report of a woman having a flat tyre on a road somewhere and hours going by where no-one would stop to help her, and in the comments somewhere one of the distaff side of the species asks, “Where are the men?”

Or a report of a woman assaulted on a train, and none of the bystanders intervened — a female commenter will post, “Where were the men?”

Well, that’s a question for a very convoluted situation, and one of the answers is here:
Daniel Penny disputes he held Jordan Neely in a chokehold for 15 minutes on NYC subway

This is not a statement as to whether Daniel Penny was justified as to what he is charged with. That is up to a — hopefully — unbiased jury to decide.

No, this is an indictment — pun intended — on a local prosecution that has literally released — without requiring bail of any kind — known felons with felony charges; has downgraded felony charges by repeat offenders to misdemeanors;  and has refused to seek charges against known felons with long felony histories.

Yet this same local prosecution dropped the hammer on a man with no previous criminal history.

In Kenosha, Wisconsin a known criminal with previous violent charges and a current felony warrant for sexual assault got stupid with a knife while being arrested for that felony sexual assault warrant and wound up getting shot. Which is what happens when you engage in knife-related stupidity at cops.

During the resulting mostly peaceful demonstrations sodding riots in which forty businesses — which had absolutely nothing to do with the shooting of an idiot felon — were burned out of business, another 100 were damaged to the tune of probably about 50 million dollars, and a teenager with no previous criminal history wound up shooting 1) a paedophile felon with a history of multiple sexual assaults on minors; 2) another felon with a record for felony strangulation of a domestic partner and felony false imprisonment; and 3) A man who pointed a gun at him who also had an expunged felony conviction and misdemeanor weapons convictions.

Of course, local prosecution dropped the hammer on the teenager with no previous criminal history, while excusing the rioters.

Every day we are bombarded with news articles about District Attorneys campaigning for “No bail requirements”, “Reduced sentencing”, “Alternate sentencing”, all of which appears — in some cases outrighted stated — to give felons and habitual criminals a leg up.

We are continually shown footage of riots in major cities and at universities where the rioters arsonists, and violent thugs are treated with kid gloves.

Just or otherwise, there is a very definite perception that District Attorneys would much rather throw the book at someone with no previous criminal history, while the felons and violent thugs get deals.

On the other paw, for a man to be even hinted at any variety of sexual offence, whether it be harassment or outright rape, is to be guilty until proven innocent.

And to certain parts of the howling Internet mobs you can never be innocent — and they will make it a crusade to destroy your life.

In 2018, a Texas DPS trooper named Daniel Hubbard made a standard DWI arrest. The arrestee accused him of sexual assault. The Department of Public Safety released over two hours of dashcam and bodycam footage which conclusively proved that Trooper Hubbard acted completely professionally throughout the contact and arrest.

Despite lying about the sexual assault, the woman whose bogus claims about being raped by a Texas trooper has never been charged.

Brett Kavanaugh made the unfortunate decision to accept the honour of being nominated as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court. What happened thereafter was … educational.

I find myself in a position that I’ve never been in before. All of my life I have known that if people needed to be helped, I should help them — I’ve literally been a Boy Scout. All of my adult life I have known that if there is gun-fire, I will run to that sound and protect people.

I … don’t know anymore.

It’s already started. If Rita isn’t with me, I will not stop to help a female stranger, or children. I will call local law enforcement and have them sent there, but without Rita being present I will not offer aid on my own. That goes double if there are children involved.

And that mortifies me, but the risk of having my life destroyed with false allegations is not worth it.

For the first time in my life I do not know what I will do if gunfire erupts in a public place where I am.

If a spree shooter attacks a public place where I am, or am near — I will get family and friends to safety, but after that I literally do not know.

Do I run to the sound of gunfire and solve the problem? I’ve already been the victim of wrongful prosecution once, do I risk that again? Do I take a chance going up against a protected class, and earning the “mostly peaceful” wrath of the howling mob, and a legacy media that lives for stirring up rioters?

The thought of engaging a murderer and losing was one that never bothered me. To take on a mass-murderer and get injured, crippled, or killed was a price that I have contemplated, and accepted.

To take on a mass-murderer and possibly have my name dragged through the mud by the Media; to be prosecuted by a District Attorney who may have political aspirations; to be investigated by a Grand Jury who would indict a ham sandwich if the DA wished it; and to be heard by a jury who cares more about feelings than facts …

I don’t know. And that shames me.

LawDog

I call it like I see it.
Women in Texas

43 thoughts on “Meditations on Duty”

  1. After breaking my elbow helping a stranded motorist, my wife made it clear that I am to call professionals for help. I am not to risk myself in any way. And, like you have pointed out, the risk now is much greater. Like you, I can’t take the risk.
    But, I will stop and help others in areas with no cell coverage. However, It will be fully in view of my dashcam (a great investment for many reasons).

      1. And, really, it doesn’t matter. One can have all the evidence on your side but if the jury is tampered with or hates you, you are toast.

        Lawfare works because innocent people generally don’t have deep enough pockets to wait out for the not-guilty verdict and the raft of appeals that will follow.

        President Trump almost lost bigly in New York because the judgement against him in the real estate case matched almost perfectly the amount of actual cash Trump had access to.

  2. I think the question you need to think on is to whom did you owe that duty? Do they still exist and if so how do you tell them apart from the howling monkeys that will try to eat you alive?

    If that duty was to society does that society still exist?

    There is no shame or failing in duty to something that no longer exists.

    1. BINGO!!!!
      My small country town where I live? You betcha! I owe these people something. Our society accepts and expects it.
      The big city 45 minutes away I shop at once a week? Nope.
      My little country town does not have the howling monkeys, they live in the big city. Thats why the city is the way it is. Society is downstream from culture.
      Its funny how everyone puts the cart before the horse in these things. They blame society for what culture does.

    2. I have come to a similar conclusion, albeit with regard to a slightly different question that concerns voting.

      I appreciate very much that people died to provide the right to vote. But what if the world they fought for no longer exists? What if the things they died in the service of have been eroded away, leaving only the dusty, hollowed-out shell that we continue to worship at?

      I hate that these questions have now made themselves relevant. It is true: the world I was trained for no longer exists.

  3. This is the world that women wanted. They told us that for the last sixty years. If they’re unhappy with what they got, they shouldn’t have asked for it.

    (While I know that there are those who didn’t, the majority DID and there was no pushback at all until only recently. Yes, it sucks, but no one did anything because they couldn’t be bothered – the price of silence is always deadly)

  4. I stopped helping about 15 years ago, just not worth the risk, especially if there are children – just scares the heck out of me. I have drawn into my shell and plan on staying there.

    Agree with JVS, it’s the world that the “women” wanted. Said they didn’t need men in their lives – consequences for that decision is here.

  5. Realistically, a stranded motorist might not be stranded, accomplices can be near, and without a second armed person, you may be putting your life at risk.

    Good men are keeping a low profile, always ready to protect their family, and if society wants to allow women to wallow in the mire of feminism, they won’t get in the way. Until those willing to sacrifice what is good are punished for their actions, there really isn’t any method to change the way things have become.

    1. Actually a guy at work back in 85 thinks he may have dodged a bullet like that. Female, car hood up…but as he was slowing down something felt funny, she looked too dramatic or something so he kept his eyes open wide and spotted the dude waiting in the shadows.

      1. I (a female) had the opposite situation. While driving down a very windy mountain road with no guard rails with an immediate 100 ft. drop off, I saw a man with his hood up on the side of the very narrow road. I was a local coming back from mountain camping, and he had out of state plates. Despite my concerns I did stop to help, and I was very glad I did; his wife and little girl were in the car, and they had lost their brakes, but were going to try to ‘coast’ down the road, which would not have been survivable. I gave them all a ride to the bottom and to the gas station 20 miles away. Happy ending. I did have my Glock and lead sled dog with me, but never needed them, and I did pray for guidance on what to do first. This was 30 years ago.

        1. “This was 30 years ago.”

          And that is what makes all the difference. 30 years ago was wholly different from today, in attitudes and outcomes…

    2. This. I also stopped stopping to assist. If my wife is with me I’m putting her at risk and if I’m alone, I’m putting everything we have at risk. Nowadays everyone has cellphones and where I live and travel coverage is everywhere.

  6. I’m with you on that, Ian.
    I don’t know, either.

    I’ll also agree with those who argue that this is “what women wanted”. I know that not all women wanted it, but the vast majority took the easy path of accepting the denigration of men and the devaluing of gentlemanly behaviour.

    There is a price for most things. The price for having good men do good things, is ensuring that they are properly rewarded. We are not something you can keep for emergencies behind a pane of glass.

    My mother and grandmother despised feminism, because they had lived through World Wars and understood that their safety depended on men on the Western Front and New Guinea.

    1. You highlight a good point, and there are a million parallels.
      Not all blacks like or agree with thug culture, but they kept silent while it… did what it did.
      All the people who were middle-of-the-road with the KungFlu just kept quiet.
      This current situation we find ourselves in is because a majority didn’t care enough that there was massive voter fraud (when you get back more ballots than you paid to have printed, its not up for debate).
      Apathy, silence, whatever its cause, the quote I recall most is something about Evil triumphing because good men were silent. This is exactly where we are.

    2. It is alway important to be who you want to be, and not to become what you hate because of others. How easily Satan fools us into bad behavior because he persecutes us when we act in godly fashion! Then men become effeminate do-nothings, and women become more estranged, and now here we are. It is a vicious cycle. What we do here on earth follows us into eternity; do accordingly.

      1. Which goes back to the comment about “To whom do you owe your duty?”
        If you believe your duty goes to God, then I know He’s still there and will always be there. My duty to Him cannot waver, for He is ever faithful.

        If your duty is to something human, then, yes, it can go the way of the dodo bird, because people are sinful and foolish. And the questions above in the post are perfectly valid. (Heck, they’re valid either way.)

        Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who teaches my hand to war and my fingers to fight. In Him shall I trust (even more so than Colt).

  7. While I readily admit all of the things LawDog and the other commenters have pointed out are true, does the risk of bankruptcy and imprisonment outweigh the personal hell I’d put myself through if I didn’t try to help?

    1. And that is really the crux of the issue. We’re WILLING to help, we WANT to help, but can we afford to take the chance TO help. That is a decision that every man must make for himself. There’s no GOOD answer, just varying levels of bad ones. And, we have to live with our decisions. Good Luck to you. May you find the wisdom to make a decision that you can live with.

    2. In most places, there is no requirement to render aid for any instance. Those few places where you are required to render aid generally have ‘good samaritan’ laws. Those places are few and far between.

  8. This kills me.

    As someone who spent a significant portion of his childhood in Alaska, and the rest in rural Oregon, I was always taught that if you saw someone on the side of the highway with flashers on, especially if its winter, and doubly so if you’re outside of a town, you stop and at least check on them, because if you don’t, odds are good you’re going to hear about that person’s (or persons’) body being discovered by state troopers on the following day’s news. Cell service is at a premium in rural Alaska, and tow trucks can be up to eight hours away, depending on where you’re at.

    Throughout my life, I have saved at least six people on the side of the highway, all of them being at least twenty miles or more from civilization and four of them in winter; three out of the four occurred in temperatures lower than 20°F.

    The most recent one, during the mid-January cold snap in northern Montana, a northbound trucker from California, picking up a load of cattle from a Hutterite colony west of Chester, broke down on Highway 223 between Chester and Fort Benton when his (untreated) diesel fuel gelled up and clogged the fuel filter on his brand-new Kenworth. It was -54°F out; he was twenty miles from Fort Benton and attempting to warm his fuel tanks by lighting a rag on fire underneath them (!!). It was close to midnight, and we were the only traffic on that road that night. Fortunately, I keep spare diesel fuel treatment on hand, and after giving him that and helping him bypass his fuel filter (in addition to letting him warm up in the car), we got him going, and Emma (who was driving me back to -my- frozen diesel truck, crippled by an asshole coworker who unplugged my block heater so he could use the extension cord while at work) and I followed him into Chester to make sure he got to civilization safely.

    Pretty sure that guy would have been a popsicle by the next time someone passed him on the road.

    During my own highway shoulder escapades, I can’t think of a single person who’s stopped in the past three years that wasn’t a member of law enforcement. And that’s sad.

    If it were just me, I’d continue to stop anyway. The Samaritan Juice is worth the Risk Squeeze, in my mind. But I got a wife and a kid now that I have a duty to take care of, and that changes things. Is it fair to risk their futures in order to try helping my fellow man?

    I still stop, but damn if that question does not linger in my mind every time I do.

    1. The closer ppl live to real environmental threats and hardhip, the higher the societal trust.

      What’s possible/appropriate in rural Alaska is suicide in Crenshaw @LA, Northeast DC, South Chicago etc.

  9. Food for thought.

    Would probably not stop anymore.

    Way too much risk of something bad happening. Concensence would bother me but it would still be risky.

  10. Lawdog, I completely understand your quandary. I too was in the habit of helping others in need. Unfortunately, these days, you never know how someone is going to react. Sometimes they’re grateful, sometimes you’re accused of improper / illegal behavior. It’s really a strange world now.

  11. You shouldn’t be shamed by these thoughts. We as a society should be shamed because we’ve allowed things to deteriorate to this point.

    That said, I made the same decisions some years ago. I’ll do what I can without placing myself in jeopardy. This old hide may not be much, but it’s all I have.

  12. I too was raised as a Boy Scout, and tried to practice the ethos. But I worked for thirty years in a “Gun Free Zone”, a major medical center where I would have been fired on the spot if I carried at work. I used to tell my co-workers that I had a very bad attitude about that. That if I heard “pop-pop-pop” down the hall, that I WAS GONE! I would vanish faster that a cartoon character in a puff of smoke.
    As for the other scenarios discussed above, I have thought long and hard in the years since getting a CCP about what I was willing to do, and in what circumstances. I agree that the culture I grew up in no longer exists in most places, and I will protect what is me and mine, but no further. I find that sad and disgusting, but I will harbor no guilt over it.

  13. 45 years ago on a late Sunday afternoon I was driving north on I-95 (in typical very heavy traffic) in the Bronx on my way back home to upstate NY when I spotted a small car stuck on the shoulder with the hood up. It was a BMW 2002, same as I was driving, and I pulled over to see if I could help. Turns out it was a young doctor and his pregnant wife and the car had lost its fan belt. I always carried a bunch of spare parts and tools in my trunk and had a fan belt. I installed it, was thanked profusely for my help and declined their offer to pay for it, and sent them on their way. I’m not sure if I’d do the same thing today….

  14. I get it.

    It goes against every fiber of my being, and I shame myself as a coward for that, but…

    In this so-called Post-Modern Age, when you Do What’s Right, and do it perfectly, you’re damned for it. I can’t accept the risk that I will be figuratively tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail for stopping a villain from committing villainy, especially whilst villainy is excused.

    May they all commit acts of self-gratification with a rusty entrenching tool and die of tetanus for it. For their actions will destroy civilization.

  15. You should feel no shame.

    Your only duty is to yourself and your family…not to a society or government that hates you and everything you stand for.

    I wasted 21 years of my life defending this nation that is now unrelentingly dedicated to screwing me over, undermining my beliefs and subjugating me to the whims of “elites” who probably couldn’t change their own tire.

    My goal in the twilight of my life is to retire to the remote mountain hideaway my wife and I purchased a few years ago, put signs on the property line that read “if you can read this, you’re in range” and studiously ignore the rest of the world until I die. I’d recommend for the rest of the world to show me the same consideration or it will get ugly.

    Where are the men? Most of us are keeping ourselves to ourselves as you’ve demonstrated for decades that’s what you want us to do. The rest are pretending to be women.

  16. Where are the men?
    Yes. So many are exactly where LawDog and commenters here state – not getting involved lest they draw the ire of someone evil in a position of power. This is where Progressives want the men – or in their ranks as enforcers. You take your strength and serve the “elite” or you keep it close to you and nurture it for the time to come.

    But, whatever you do, don’t let them keep you from passing it on. Raise your sons and daughters to honor it. Tell others about it and evangelize them into it. Build the ranks.

    Strong men can rebuild a civilization.

  17. Our national culture has changed. We used to be a high-trust culture, made possible by an homogenous population that, for the most part, all held a set of universal beliefs. That has been completely undermined by :

    1) A political movement that deliberately aims to undermine the rule of law. If you can’t make your way to the top of the existing society, then change society so you can.

    2) Importation of a large number of people who don’t share the widely-held norms of the host society. Virtually all if these new people come from low-trust societies that believe, if you can get away with something without getting caught, it’s OK to do it.

    Absent a civil war or a Second American Revolution (a “Scouring of the Shire”), coupled with mass deportations, I don’t see a good way forward for our country.

  18. Why have men stopped?
    The patriarchy in the west died in the ’70s. Yes, men had more authority, but that authority came with responsibilities. Men no longer have that authority, it is unreasonable to expect them to carry the obligations. Responsibility without authority is slavery.

    Whether I help someone in need or not is a personal choice for me and dependent on circumstances. I do not feel any obligation to assist folks in dealing with the consequences of how they’ve voted and the choices they’ve made.

  19. I completely understand, and I find myself at war with myself over this.
    I’m old enough to remember when the area where I grew up was mostly small towns and farming communities, and folks helped each other as a matter of course. That was an unspoken understanding that that’s how we all get by — “there but for fortune . . . ”
    And now it’s changed. With economic/legal/tax/etc. pressures, people move here where those pressures seem to be less, and we’re becoming communities of strangers. And this is one of the ways Evil wins, by driving wedges between us and destroying our faith in each other. When only the authorities can help, it’s only a matter of time until those authorities mostly help themselves, and too many of those others who would help are questioned as to motive, or outright victimized.

    What’s the answer? I wish I knew how to answer that on a larger scale. If we can’t find those answers as a society we’ll have no society and no civilization. Principles of faith are good, but that’s exactly what’s under attack by that Evil that separates us. How do we learn to stand together again?

    Goatroper

  20. Social media has seen something of an uptick in women asking, “Where are the men?”

    And at the same time, social media is seeing an uptick of women asking other women, “If you’re in the woods, would you rather meet a bear or a man?” And respondents overwhelmingly choosing the bear.

    Apparently all men are potential rapists, and so a lot of women believe wild bears are statistically safer. Or something.

    At this point, if a female-type is asking on social media, “Where are the men?” my gut-instinct response is, “Running away from you.”

  21. On the other side, if I have a car problem, do I accept help from a stranger, or do I hunker down and wait for outside aid that I have called and that I know personally (or professionally and that can be vouched for)?

    Even ten years ago, I’d have gladly talked to a stranger who pulled over and offered a hand. Now? Hard to say.

  22. Retired LEO here. As much as I want to run to the sound of gunfire, there are too many people getting criminally charged.
    Wife and I are getting close to full retirement, and looking for a place in rural Texas. Someplace where men can still protect and be praised for it, not prosecuted.

    Like you, I struggle with this. My whole life, from 16yoa on, has been service and saving lives. But now they have changed the rules.

    These liberal hellholes can rot as far as I’m concerned. A career criminal shoots a guy on the subway, and he’s released.
    Daniel Penny restrains a guy threatening to kill people and is charged with murder and bound over without bail.
    Screw you. I’m not going to risk bankrupting my wife for the rest of her life, defending criminal actions and civil suits. You made your choice, now you’re going to live with it.
    And I’m moving to where I can be who I was raised to be.

  23. This exact thing is why I got roadside assistance on my vehicle insurance. $5 a month, short a few pennies, but worth it to not have to worry about having a flat or needing a jump or a tow. Ten or even 15 years ago, I would have had no problem just standing by my car looking helpless (when it comes to most car stuff, I sadly am – idiot lights were meant for me), and within minutes, a man, alone or with someone, would stop to help. These days, I don’t have any trust for that kind of thing.

    Thirty years ago, I was driving in my home state of Michigan, from Traverse City where I’d been visiting friends for a couple of days, back home to the Flint area, when I had a flat in the middle of nowhere just south of Cadillac. No street lights. No traffic. 8pm. Two lane pavement. Nearest house I’d passed was half a mile back. No cell phones in those days to speak of, and I definitely didn’t have one of those bricks that passed for one in the car – not that there would have been coverage where I was at that time!

    So I’m left with snacks and drinks and no idea how to change my tire in the complete and utter blackness of that night. I could do it, but no lights! Left praying by the side of the road for some angel to help. A truck stopped behind me – husband, wife, and teen son – and the husband wouldn’t even use my jack (can’t blame him, it was the scissors jack came with the car). Absolute angel in the middle of nowhere, changed my flat for my spare, and got me back on my way. Stopped soon after at my grandparents in Clare so I could get the tire repaired in the morning, but it was awful spooky knowing I was alone with no way to get help and having to rely on a stranger and his family.

    These days, I’d be grabbing my cellphone, hoping for enough bars to get through to the roadside assistance folks so I could give them my GPS location. And all it took was a few decades of my fellow women not wanting male help, among other things. Christ on a crouton.

  24. “None of us know our end really, or what hand will guide us there.

    A King may move a man, a father may claim a son.

    That man can also move himself. And only then does that man truly begin his own game.

    Remember that howsoever you are played, or by whom, your soul is in your keeping alone. Even though those who presume to play you be kings or men of power.

    When you stand before God, you cannot say “but I was told by others to do thus” or that “virtue was not convenient at the time.” This will not suffice. Remember that.”
    King Baldwin. “Kingdom or Heaven”

    Tell God before His throne on the day of Judgement, having been scourged and hung upon a cross for you……that you did not aid the widow, or save children in peril….because you were afraid of being sued.

    Hold no pretense of honor, courage, or manhood if this is the defense for inaction used.

  25. The event highlighted with the photo at the top of the article was faked. FAKED. There is not enough space here to go into all of the details and reasons that this, and many other, splashy events are being staged for youtube consumption these days. And, yes, the media and the authorities are in on it. Suffice it to say that all of the fear and atomization that the commenters are expressing is proof that the project is working its desired effect. People are feeling afraid, helpless, and not willing to help other. They will rubber stamp high taxes for “security” and the suspension of civil liberties, or what’s left of them.

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