So Many Cowards

[Ian]

So many of these idiotics cowards running around.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34023361

Something to think about when you train your martial arts.

[jimmy]

[GrahamB]

Clinch, takedown , pin

[Andy_S]

Maybe we read different stories. The story I read was about a bunch of brave, decisive and decent blokes subduing a wannabe terrorist with a gat.

Who were the cowards in this scenario?

Now If I had been there, I would have catastrophically shit myself, broken down and blubbered for mercy - but I was not.

[Ian]

Who were the cowards in this scenario?

The terrorist himself. The three Americans were heroes, of course.

Someone threw a pipe bomb at the subway stop I visit twice a day. These fools irritate me.

[Ian]

Rear naked choke. Figures.

http://m.mixedmartialarts.com/mma-news/ ... J-student/

[Trip]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM_jZAFV73A

Alek Skarlatos Interview - Primer on Gunman's First Bullet Failed

[Trip]

All three friends credited each other with helping stop the gunman.
"The gunman would have been successful if my friend Spencer had not gotten up," Sadler added.

"I trust both my friends very much," Stone said. "If it wasn't for them I would have been dead."

Stone said he put the attacker in a chokehold, but the gunman kept pulling more weapons. The attacker started jabbing at Stone with a box cutter and all three friends began punching and hitting him to subdue him.

“He seemed like he was ready to fight to the end," Stone said. "So were we."
Stone said he choked the attacker unconscious while Skarlatos hit him in the head.

Stone, who had a black eye and had his left arm in a sling after undergoing surgery to reattach his thumb that the attacker slashed with his box cutter, said that once the gunman was hogtied on the floor, he went to help another passenger and used his fingers to stop bleeding in the passenger's neck. Stone said he doesn't know when he is going back to the United States, but said he will first go to Germany for medical care.

According to Sadler, the trio were initially sitting in a different carriage, but a bad wifi connection led them to get up and move to what became the scene of the attack.

"We often use the word hero, and in this case it is appropriate," U.S. Ambassador to France Jane Hartley said in her introduction of the trio. "They are truly heroes."

She said they "demonstrated the very best of America in their selfless actions."
The trio will be received by French President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace on Monday, officials said.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/american-heros-thought-survive-rushed-french-train-gunman/story?id=33259428

[Trip]

France train attack: Spencer Stone was 'napping' before tackling terrorist

[Andy_S]

SNIP
The terrorist himself. The three Americans were heroes, of course.

Someone threw a pipe bomb at the subway stop I visit twice a day. These fools irritate me.
SNIP

Terrorist are a lot of bad things, but I would not call them cowards. A coward is someone who runs from a confrontation - not somebody who starts one. I suspect that this guy was on a suicide mission from the get go: You cant expect to whip out an AK and spray down a train without anticipating some very considerable comeuppance.

Of course, I am not condoning the action of the terrorist and I applaud the actions of the three chaps who manned up and took action. (From what I can see of it, the three young Merkins were the main actors, I am not sure how the British suit managed to get himself included among the admirable trio. Did he just turn up and put the boot in when the guy was already on the deck?)

As an aside: Due to the actions of the 9/11 terrorists, I think pretty well anyone who tries to hijack any form of mass transport had better anticipate significant passenger resistance. To put it another way, suicide attackers have skewed the field for all other terrorists...

[Ian]

Terrorist are a lot of bad things, but I would not call them cowards. A coward is someone who runs from a confrontation - not somebody who starts one.

To me, anyone who preys on the weak, innocent, uninvolved, unarmed, unprepared... is a coward, and should be dealt with accordingly.

[grzegorz]

Terrorist are a lot of bad things, but I would not call them cowards. A coward is someone who runs from a confrontation - not somebody who starts one.

To me, anyone who preys on the weak, innocent, uninvolved, unarmed, unprepared... is a coward, and should be dealt with accordingly.

I agree to me these people are no different than someone who goes into a movie theater, a school, a base, a church or Sikh temple and goes around shooting random unarmed people who just happen to be there. Those people believed they were justified in their actions too.

At least maybe Europeans will take one day from making fun of Americans, alright well maybe half a day anyway then they can return to business as usual (we deserve it anyway).

[Andy_S]

SNIP
To me, anyone who preys on the weak, innocent, uninvolved, unarmed, unprepared... is a coward, and should be dealt with accordingly
SNIP

I'd guess that you are confusing "predator" "perpetrator" or "aggressor" with "coward."

Here is Merriam-Webster on "coward:"
one who shows disgraceful fear or timidity; someone who is too afraid to do what is right or expected : someone who is not at all brave or courageous

I'd add that "cowards" are not and should not be dealt with as severely as "perpetrators." If we follow your reasoning, everyone on the train who did NOT man up and take on the attacker should suffer the same punishment as the terrorist himself.I don't respect cowards, but they are not nearly as bad as terrorists or criminals - this is one difference between the sin of omission and the crime of commission.

My guess would be that in most civil emergencies (terrorist attacks, fires, disasters) the majority of people act in a cowardly manner but are not punished. People who act with courage and fortitude are in a minority. Three guys in the train carriage stood up and took bold action. How many did not? Dozens? Scores?

[Ian]

Sorry, I don't care to debate semantics.

[Iskendar]

Or to put it differently: