Patterico's Pontifications

8/24/2007

Another Kitty Genovese

Filed under: Crime,General — DRJ @ 5:38 am



[Guest post by DRJ]

St. Paul MN prosecutors said a “security video from an apartment hallway shows at least 10 witnesses ignored a woman’s cries for help” as a man beat and sexually assaulted her for nearly 90 minutes:

“It shows one person looking out of her door probably three times,” [Police spokesman Tom] Walsh said. “It shows another person walking up, observing what’s going on, then turning and putting up the hood of his sweatshirt.”

This reminds me of Kitty Genovese, the 28-year-old New York resident who was stabbed and left to die as her neighbors did nothing:

“Kitty Genovese: It was a name that would become symbolic in the public mind for a dark side of the national character. It would stand for Americans who were too indifferent or too frightened or too alienated or too self-absorbed to “get involved” in helping a fellow human being in dire trouble. A term “the Genovese syndrome” would be coined to describe the attitude.

Detectives investigating Genovese’s murder discovered that no fewer than 38 of her neighbors had witnessed at least one of her killer’s three attacks but had neither come to her aid nor called the police. The one call made to the police came after Genovese was already dead.”

I think these cases are anomalies. Most Americans are not this callous or cowardly.

17 Responses to “Another Kitty Genovese”

  1. There is an unsettling cultural aspect to this story. The guy accused of the sexual assault is a 25-year old Somali (Muslim), who now has a spokesman from the ‘Somali Justice Advocacy Center’. The socio-economic makeup of the neighborhood and apartment residents is not provided, so the reader is left to make assumptions (“No Snitches”). What I have noted above will be explained away by the MSM, and common-sense contrarians. That is also unsettling.

    TimesDisliker (d4655c)

  2. This represents the worst of our culture: one that would – for 90 freaking minutes – heinously prey and devour a person and forever ruin their life – and the complete lack of courage and bravery of the onlookers. If they cannot stand up either individually or collectively (which would have been most effective in ending the attack) to one perpetrator, how in God’s name do we think our country as a whole would stand against a common enemy. This is very disheartening.

    It begs the question: did any of these cowards even have the stones to call 911 from the safety of their apartments?

    Dana (b4a26c)

  3. As so often happens, it seems that the accepted view of the Kitty Genovese case may not be accurate.

    Check out

    http://www.oldkewgardens.com/ss-nytimes-3.html

    zara523 (ba5a7c)

  4. That is also unsettling.

    And predictable. When will this multiculti madness end?

    Patricia (824fa1)

  5. “Most Americans?” Hah! Far too many who come here from places like Somalia aren’t and don’t want to be “Americans.” Note this tidbit from Frontpage (via Michelle Malkin):

    One board member for both schools has even co-authored an article advocating an educational policy of “selected acculturation” and “accommodation without assimilation” to “encourage Somali youth to develop an adversarial identity that will put them at odds with mainstream society” – thus trapping the students in a cycle of perpetual cultural alienation and isolation.

    They also bring some really disgusting habits. Latinos who come in from South of the Border have a lot more in common with us than those from places like Somalia. While some Latinos demand we change our culture to suit them, far too many Somalis make that demand. (Note: preview is broke, so I’m not sure how the formatting of this ends up.)

    Ranten N. Raven (0102f7)

  6. “I think these cases are anomalies. Most Americans are not this callous or cowardly.”…..I have to agree, otherwise it wouldn’t be so shocking and dispicable. It wouldn’t be unfortunate for the names of all of those cowards to become public and subject to the derision and ridicule that they all so justly deserve.

    Edward Lunny (85f233)

  7. Look outside the window, there’s a woman being grabbed
    They’ve dragged her to the bushes and now she’s being stabbed
    Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain
    But Monopoly is so much fun, I’d hate to blow the game
    And I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody
    Outside of a small circle of friends. – Phil Ochs “Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends”

    Horatio (f61519)

  8. Barf.

    Leviticus (3c2c59)

  9. I agree with the comments above pointing out this isn’t American culture. These are Somali Muslims…because we promote the idea of multiculturalism, they don’t integrate, the kids don’t learn our morals and ethics and it becomes a little Somalian island in the midst of America….

    Stacy In Tucson (b99466)

  10. How many leftists are going to use this incident of the rotten corruption at the heart of America in general, and blame white male Christian Republicans for the acts of these Somali Muslims?

    Daryl Herbert (4ecd4c)

  11. I think these cases are anomalies. Most Americans are not this callous or cowardly.

    I disagree. The Genovese case is anomalous indeed, but only because a few Americans are better than this, not because most are. In most cases, of course, there won’t be 38 witnesses on the scene to begin with, but if there are, the typical outcome is for individuals to actually do something, while the 35 do exactly what all 38 did in the Genovese case.

    Xrlq (246745)

  12. The evils of multiculterealism

    krazy kagu (5e1710)

  13. XRLQ,

    I agree that only a handful of people might rush out to physically confront an attacker but do you truly believe 35 of 38 people would not even call 9-11? Perhaps in some communities – like this one, apparently – but I don’t think that’s common.

    DRJ (bfe07e)

  14. The perp, and the sheep that live in the apartment building are NOT Americans. The place is overrun with Somalians–who I suppose are predisposed to put up with 90 minutes of assault and rape and cries for help in the hallway.

    Disgusting.

    Folks like that don’t belong amongst the rest of us. Neither do those coming to the aid of the perp–his deeds are recorded on film for Pete’s sake!!

    Gabby (1566d8)

  15. I do not give a flying fark what race, color, creed, or nationality these witnesses were. Their actions, or rather lack thereof, were cowardly, amoral, and should be the object of scorn, derision, and being publicly outcast and scorned. For starters.

    JD (815fda)

  16. Here’s another link for those of you who didn’t bother reading Zara’s link:
    http://www.answers.com/topic/kitty-genovese
    38 people did not do nothing while watching a killing–the New York Times lied. Surprise, surprise.

    andycanuck (eebdb5)

  17. As usual, krazy kagu makes a fool of himself by opening his digital mouth… and Gabby follows suit.

    “The place is overrun with Somalians”

    -Gabby

    Ha ha. Hee hee. Yeah…

    This reminds me of a movie called “Tune in Tomorrow”, where Peter Falk actively reviles Albanians. When asked “Why Albanians?”, he replies “Why not Albanians?”.

    Come to think of it, Albanians get a bar rap in “Wag the Dog”, too.

    Leviticus (35fbde)


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