Don’t Become a Target

Are there lessons we can take away from the two senseless killings that happened in September?

Not Advised

A possible lesson, writes Francis Menton, aka The Manhattan Contrarian, is that the world is just irretrievably filled with anger and hate, to the extent that the best that sensible people can do is withdraw into their bunker, keep out of blue states and away from people who follow leftist and woke ideology, stick to a limited circle of family and friends, and avoid dealing with the broader world to the maximum extent possible.

The Manhattan Contrarian does not embrace that approach. He understands that, along with a lot of anger and hate, there also is an equal or greater amount of goodness and beauty.

… the thing that makes life worthwhile is participating in the fray: trying to improve things.

Francis Menton, as readers probably have already guessed, lives in Manhattan, “deep behind the enemy’s political lines, posting his contrarian positions publicly and participating in various ways, however fruitless in the short term, to move the political needle here at least a little…”

Readers wonder, Mr. Menton, if that’s dangerous – you’re living in Manhattan?

Francis Menton: Maybe a little, but not in any way that I can immediately perceive. I’ve certainly never received any death threats or really any threats. Maybe that’s because I haven’t been particularly effective …

As Menton explains about Charlie Kirk, Kirk took the business of confronting the left on their own turf to a new level all his own

In (Kirk’s) case it was clearly risky, as he was well aware. He went to the places that the left thought were their sacred sanctuaries, college campuses, and organized thousands to resist indoctrination in the official religion. He was the ultimate heretic against a powerful religious cult. He faced constant threats and physical confrontation. He kept at it as a happy warrior. It took great courage to do what he did.

Francis Menton suspects that even if Kirk had known that an assassin’s attempt was only a matter of time, that knowledge would not have slowed him down.

OK, Mr. Menton, Kirk was unusually brave. What about the case of Ms. Zarutska, killed by a violent and psychotic career criminal on a public transit facility?

You note, with nearly all large cities in this country under the control of Democratic administrations that are explicitly lenient in treatment of recidivist criminals. Surely Ms. Zarutska’s case teaches that it is best to avoid public transit facilities in big cities entirely if possible.

You have lived in Manhattan since 1975 (about 50 years). During that time, you have taken the subway an average of about 15 times per week. By your estimate, that’s a total of between 30,000 – 40,000 times over that period. Yet you say you never experienced an incident where you felt at risk?

Mr. Menton, are you just lucky in your naivety, or are there basic rules you follow?

Situational Security

Francis Menton: Maybe there is luck involved, but I give credit to following a few simple rules.

• Always be aware of your surroundings. Yes, you can read a newspaper or look at your phone, but you must not fail to keep track of who is around you.

• The people who are dangerous, in my experience, always broadcast their danger in obvious ways. Often, they are agitated, fidgety, walking up and down energetically, lying across several seats, talking to themselves or even shouting. They present themselves in ways that overtly signal hostility, which could include facial expression, hairstyle, tattoos, clothing, lack of clothing, or other such things.

• Your first mission in situational awareness is to spot any of these people who are near you. And then — you promptly put as much space between them and you as possible. Subway stations are plenty big enough to do this. If you are on a platform, you can put a couple of hundred feet between yourself and such a person in a fraction of a minute. If you are in a train car, go to the next car. You do not need to be conspicuous or obvious about this. Just quietly get it done. Then go back to reading your book. But always keep half an eye out to see if that person, or another such, gets near.

• If the person of concern is particularly aggressive, once you have gotten far enough away, you can call 911. I have only done this rarely.

If readers dare to watch the video (not advised) of Ms. Zarutska on the Charlotte train, you’ll note she violated all Mr. Menton’s rules.

Brown is … obviously a person of concern: he is fidgeting regularly; his facial expression is dubious to say the least; he has dreadlocks halfway to his waist; and he is wearing a hoodie that is pulled up over his head even though it is a warm August night.

He is clearly signaling to the world to be wary. She should have promptly and inconspicuously put some distance between herself and this guy.

Ms. Zarutska definitely didn’t follow Menton’s advice. Instead, she sat in front of Brown, where she couldn’t see him. She can’t hear him either, as she’s wearing earpods while scrolling her phone.

Mr. Menton, you write how you doubt Ms. Zarutska is a regular subway rider.

Menton: Brown gave at least four clues that he was in trouble (the fidgeting, the facial expression, the dreadlocks, and the hoodie).

I am not meaning to suggest that Ms. Zarutska bears even the slightest blame here. But this incident can provide a valuable lesson for the rest of us on how to conduct ourselves in a dangerous world.

… definitely Charlotte and its courts and prosecutors bear substantial blame for not keeping this obvious menace in custody in light of his long record of prior violent acts. But even much stricter bail and incarceration policies than were followed here are never going to remove all dangerous people from the streets and the trains. You need a modest degree of wariness to survive in this crazy world.

Is there any reason to ever use the subway, Mr. Menton, or to ever visit New York City?

Both provide a great opportunity to observe the range of humanity — the good, the bad and the ugly. If you stay cloistered among “your kind,” you’ll end up with a very warped view of what the world is about.

And if you come to New York and refuse to get on the subway, you could find many places inconvenient and expensive to visit, and you’ll miss out on half the reason you had for coming.