Woolwich: The result of 40 years of teaching people to feel, rather than to act.

The three women who stood up to the Woolwich killers

With three exceptions, those members of the British public on the scene when jihadists murdered Lee Rigby and then beheaded him showed that they still had the capacity for horror, but that they had lost their ability for action.  They tweeted, they photographed, they videotaped, they exclaimed, they emoted . . . and that was all.

The three exceptions were three women.  Two were a mother-daughter team, deeply devout (I assume Christian, although the article doesn’t say), who believed that “no man should die alone,” and who therefore sat with Rigby’s poor, mutilated body:

Gemini Donnelly-Martin, 20, and her mother Amanda Donnelly, confronted the suspected killers and asked the attackers if they could be by Drummer Lee Rigby’s side.

Their refusal to be cowed by the terrorists won praise from all quarters, including Downing Street.

[snip]

Amanda’s son Simeon, 22, said the two women acted out of love.

He said: ‘My mother was just driving past and she saw something and wanted to try and help.  ‘She just showed a bit of motherly love. She just did what any mother would have done.

‘She felt that could have been me lying down there in the street. She just felt for the poor guy.

‘No man should have to die like that in the street with no-one around him.

[snip]

Gemini said that they had simply done what they thought was right.

She told the Daily Mirror: ‘We did what anyone would do. We just wanted to take care of the man. It wasn’t brave. Anyone would have done it. It had to be done. They (the killers) said women could pass.’

‘The only thing people need to worry about is that poor man’s mum. We are grateful, though, for what people are saying about us.’

When it became apparent Drummer Lee Rigby was beyond their help, they shielded his body from further desecration by his savage attackers.

Amanda, 44, insisted she be allowed to pray for the dead man even when confronted by one of the killer. Kneeling at his side, she cradled him gently, seemingly unfazed by his horrific wounds.

Gemini said “we did what anyone would do.”  But the fact is that, in today’s England, what anyone would do was . . . nothing.

The other person to act was Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, who went right up to one of the killers and just confronted him:

At the same time, Ingrid Loyau-Kennett remonstrated with the fanatics, despite her fears they would attack again.

The Cub Scout leader and mother of two asked them to hand over their bloodstained weapons and listened to their hate-filled tirade about wanting to ignite ‘war in London’.

She selflessly tried to draw the men’s attention, later saying: ‘Better me than a child.’

It’s deeply disturbing that London’s streets could muster so little action.  These women’s bravery and compassion — behavior that would be exemplary in any circumstances — stands out especially clearly given the stark, frozen backdrop against which they acted.

Loyau Kennett talking to a killer

In modern Western cultures, people are inundated with “feeling” phrases about fellowship and compassion and diversity and any other navel-gazing term you can say.  But they are told — always — don’t act.  Feel, but don’t do anything.  You might get hurt.  You might hurt someone.  You might get sued.  It might be a cultural misunderstanding.  You might be viewed as an overbearing white imperialist, or a sexist, or a racist.  Whatever you do, please be sure that your feelings are in accordance with all that is light and good under diversity and political correctness, but for Gaia’s sake, don’t just do something, stand there.