“Oh believe me, people are willing to look away.”

Its a terrible story all too common im sure, and i hope the guy rots.
I think your being a little unfair to those people though, in this day and age to intervene and challenge a guy clearly as unpleasant as that presents a very high risk of physical assault indeed, a risk many people would consider not worth taking to stop a purely verbal exchange. Many people have faced the consequences of ‘disrespecting’ those who have no respect for others, people are scared.
All the best to you.

I’m very sorry that you had this terrible experience. You were very brave. Did the burger bar have CCTV?

in this day and age to intervene and challenge a guy clearly as unpleasant as that presents a very high risk of physical assault indeed

I’m pretty sure that’s always been a timeless danger I’m afraid.

Sue. I am writing as an occasional commenter, an anarcho-libertarian right-winger and proud of it. When I saw the title of this come up on my RSS reader I rolled my eyes. “Oh great,” I thought, “another PC article by the ‘more outraged than thou’ brigade.”

Then I actually bothered to read it.

I am sorry for my presumption, and I am very sorry for all you have experienced. Very moving, very sad and it made me angry for you. I just hope I can turn that into something a bot more useful.

Thank you for writing this.

“… in this day and age to intervene and challenge a guy clearly as unpleasant as that presents a very high risk of physical assault indeed…”

E.g. – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/7291985.stm

“A 15-year-old boy kicked and stamped to death a woman because she was dressed as a Goth, a court heard… [The woman] was begging the gang to stop beating [her boyfriend] when they turned on her…”

You are correct that most people look away – as the above proves, this is often (sadly) the right thing to do.

The alternative is some form of vigilante justice, which I would actually support (especially in this instance), but which most commentators abhor.

“But they didn’t did they? Not one of them? They heard every word, they watched a big strong man bully a small, sick woman in the most abusive and disgusting terms, but no-one said a word. Not one single person.”

Because (IMHO)

a) they didn’t want to get smacked or worse (“who knew where it would end up”) by an obvious evil bastard

b) who would then, if convicted, get a derisory sentence – maybe not even a day behind bars

Now the more we have of b) – derisory sentences for assaults on public spirited people, the more emboldened the bad guys are, and the less likely the good people are to intervene. One feeds on the other. If people knew that anyone beating them up for intervening was likely to spend several years inside, I think more people would be emboldened to intervene.

The sad thing is that it’s mainly the liberal Left who are responsible for the derisory sentences which facilitate this guy acting like a pig (and people being afraid to call him on it).

forgot to say. Round my way the disabled spaces in supermarkets etc always seem to be occupied by expensive 4x4s, with fat drivers who don’t look disabled.

@ 6.

It takes a special type of sick mind to read that story and immediately think right which other that I do not like can I pin the blame. So in your mind it was the ‘ Liberal Left ‘ to blame. It really defies belief. The curious thing is this pig and you would probably be in full agreement on so many social and political issues. What a strange coincidence that would be.

Everytime we shy away from fighting abuse such as that outlined by the author we take a step away from achieving equality for all and an end to oppression. Well done Sue for making your stand and shame on those who sat in silence.

People with hidden disabilities often face worse prejudice than those with visible disabilities because their situation is not obvious, and this is even more the case when they are of high intelligence but something is going on to mark them out.

You’ll get a person who is “weird” “doesn’t fit in” enough to be turned down for jobs, but to the untrained eye is “normal”-looking enough to be judged and personally blamed.

Well they wouldn’t have would they? He was loud and pushy and 6 foot three. What do you expect of other people and why?Tell me that won’t you. Did you expect them to put themselves in danger or make themselves the butt of hostility just because you chose to get angry over being inconvenienced? People are afraid of aggression and you go to seek it out and expect them to follow you. Life’s tough. Even for those without visible or invisible disabilities. Grow up and suffer with grace.

@8

It takes a special kind of sick mind to read what is an attempt to understand and explain why good men did nothing that day – and interpret that explanation as the product of some personal flaw.

I think the staff should have refused to serve him and chucked him out, but I don’t see what any member of the public could have done that wouldn’t have just led to an escalation. You can’t really expect people to volunteer for a beating from a 6’3″ maniac in order to stop a stranger being sworn at.

Horrible story, but much too harsh on the bystanders.

It’s asking a hell of a lot for people to stand up and confront a 6? 3? psychopath, you know.

If he’d physically attacked you, then people would have been morally obliged to intervene – and who knows whether they would have done or not.

But, personally, I’d say they’d be wrong to put themsleves in danger until that point, because it’s not obvious that anything much would have been achieved. Stepping in might easily tip the guy over the edge and make the situation more likely to turn violent.

I think many of the bystanders felt equally as powerless as the victim. To be fair, we have allowed these bullies away with it so long that the majority of us are now afraid to stand up for fear of violence.

Like it or not, there is a distinct ‘class’ Not really an ‘underclass’ in economic terms, quite the opposite in fact, but a class nerveless of people who live by a code of violence. If they want something, they take it and use violence to back up that claim. In some cases, it is something like the ‘right’ to park in a disabled bay, or it could just be that they ‘demand’ the right to play music on their mobile phones on public transport and everything in between.

I have to be honest here, and I am not (deliberately) making a cheap political point, but I associate most of the Libertarian Right with this type of attitude. I don’t know this guy from Adam, but my gut instinct is that when we scratch the surface of this guy we will find the same attitude that many of the thugs around here do. ‘No-one tells me where I can or cannot park’, ‘I am not part of society, I look after myself’, ‘Fuck Government’, ‘Fuck authority’, ‘Fuck the common rules’, ‘Never apologise, never explain’, ‘Never give a fuck about anyone else’. ‘The strong against the weak’, ‘the powerful against the powerless’ and everything else.

Laban Tall @ 7

with fat drivers who don’t look disabled.

Yeah, because the best way to decide if someone has a disability is to ‘merely’ attain if they ‘look’ disabled or not. Would you be astounded to learn the ‘House’ does NOT actually represent the most efficient methodology in diagnosis of major illnesses?

Look, I understand that among your people, coming out with halfwitted statements is a prerequisite of acceptance, perhaps you cannot call yourself a ‘Right Wing fuckwit’ unless you make 5 totally idiotic statements a week or something, but surely to fuck you accept that being disabled is a more than being fat? You don’t think that being extremely unwell may actually cause outward symptoms, including obesity, for example?

Or is just being a cunt too important for you to think for yourself for once?

Jim,

I have to be honest here, and I am not (deliberately) making a cheap political point, but I associate most of the Libertarian Right with this type of attitude. I don’t know this guy from Adam, but my gut instinct is that when we scratch the surface of this guy we will find the same attitude that many of the thugs around here do. ‘No-one tells me where I can or cannot park’, ‘I am not part of society, I look after myself’, ‘Fuck Government’, ‘Fuck authority’, ‘Fuck the common rules’, ‘Never apologise, never explain’, ‘Never give a fuck about anyone else’. ‘The strong against the weak’, ‘the powerful against the powerless’ and everything else.

Case for the defence – Libertarianism is not about fuck the common rules, but about having the minimal rules required (which would, in most opinions, include not reacting with violence), and is certainly not about the strong or the powerful against the weak or the powerless – most Libertarians conclude (as do I, who is not a Libertarian in that I allow more of a role for government) that the weak and powerless are generally made more so by the state and by corporations.

In this case, Libertarians should stand up and tell the idiot concerned he is out of line. But in judging himself able to judge others (if that is what said idiot did) then he clearly shows himself not a Libertarian or anything like it – simply a self-centred thug and a bully, which is generally a type which does best under totalitarianism regimes.

Surprised he didn’t come over all apologetic when he realised the extent of the illness. Probably he’d left it too far and had to hide his embarrassment with abuse.

@6. Sometimes people do get derisory sentences, it’s true. But those are the ones you read about. You don’t read about those who get the full whack. In fact, in some studies people seriously under-estimate the sentences issued out. I’m not sure why this poster thinks the ‘liberal left’ would prefer to see people get ‘derisory sentences’ – I think most on the liberal left would prefer violent thugs to be imprisoned and much has been said, by the liberal left, against the derisory sentences some of these violent men end up with!

Watchman @ 17

and is certainly not about the strong or the powerful against the weak or the powerless

Then you must be reading different bloggs than me, because when you take away all the fluff and nonsense out of the top five ‘Libertarian’ bloggs, that is basically what the message is. ‘If you are too poor to afford basic provisions, then fuck off and die.’, difficult to see any other message you can get from what they have written. You don’t have to far to find one of them suggest that the disabled should have their ‘Right’ to parking spaces removed. What better way to remove parking space rights, than to actually park your van in one and then shout abuse at any disabled person who challenged you?

that the weak and powerless are generally made more so by the state

That is obviously rubbish, given that these pricks are always banging on and on about the poor getting ‘too much rights’ via the State.

Your very brave, I hope this was all caught on cctv, please keep me informed. Best wishes.