The latest incident in which liberal white Westerners ignore obvious Third-World dangers and get themselves killed

(Note, Oct. 7: Clark Coleman explains the Hartley’s risky behavior as an outcome of the liberal psychology.)

Karl D. writes:

I just saw Tiffany Hartley—the widow of David Hartley who was shot in the head by Mexican pirates on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake on the Texas-Mexico border—being interviewed on Fox News. While crying her eyes out, she explained that the couple knew the risk of going over to the Mexican side of the lake, but she said that their motto in life was “No fear.”

While I have no idea if the couple were liberal or not, I think that sums up the liberal mindset. When approaching potentially dangerous situations, simply cut off one’s rational brain and one’s instincts and say, “No fear.” As if those words were some magic spell that will protect you from reality.

LA writes:

Here is full coverage of the incident at the Mail. The Hartleys, who have been married for eight years and were high school sweethearts, were jet skiing (I don’t know what that is) on Falcon Lake. A gang of bandits attacked them in three boats and shot David in the back of the head. Tiffany tried to rescue her husband by pulling him onto her jet ski, but the bandits were shooting at her too, and she faced the agonizing choice of being killed along with her husband or fleeing for her life.

His body has not been recovered. In fact, it is not known for sure that he is dead.

For more stories on suicidally naive and careless whites who get themselves killed by nonwhites, see “Black and other nonwhite violence against whites: a grim collection.”

- end of initial entry -

David M. writes:

A jet ski is a form of water transport. It houses a small but powerful motor. One stands or sits upon it, and grips a control handle for steering and operating the throttle. I have never ridden such a craft, but they look like they can be one heck of a lot of fun. Ridden in a sane manner they are great, but as with anything, there are selfish folks with them who cause nuisance for others.

If you would like to see one, look up a brand called Sea-Doo. They are made by the same folks who make snow machines under the name Ski-Doo.

Karen writes from England:

You have a huge collection of these incidents on your website now. You could almost write a book of them, but they all share the same characteristic. Reckless behaviour by whites. There is almost a death wish about these white people who persistently put themselves into dangerous situations and they seem to get some sort of kick out of taking these risks. It is as though they have to keep pushing the boundaries and take greater and greater risks with Third World places and peoples. Mexico is lawless, like most of the Caribbean, and yet this couple take off unprotected on a lake with nothing more than a jet ski making them sitting ducks for the pirates.

There is something incredibly childish about this behaviour and the naiveté of taking places and people at face value. It often strikes me that Western people have become so reliant on technology and so accustomed to living in a safe environment that they have lost the capacity for adaptation to their environment. I often notice when traveling in the Third World how many Third World peoples are much more alert and smarter at picking up danger signs, be it from wild animals or wild people or dangerous drivers. They have retained a watchfulness and alertness that many deskilled Westerners have lost.

October 7

Clark Coleman writes:

Given that radical individual autonomy is central to liberalism, and we must not accept any limitations on our autonomy, we must all adopt the “No Fear” mantra like all good liberals. To avoid certain neighborhoods, to decide not to ride your bike through the worst neighborhood in New Orleans at 2:00 a.m., not to cross over to the Mexican side of the lake, to cross the street to avoid a gang of thuggish looking young men, is publicly to admit fear and to admit that your freedoms are limited by external forces beyond your control. Thus, you are no longer a self-defining, fully autonomous individual who can define your own existence however you want it to be.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 05, 2010 09:50 AM | Send