How are George Floyd and the murder of Henry Nowak a symptom of broader tribalism? Victor and Sami Winc discuss further developments surrounding the Henry Nowak case, and similarities to the George Floyd case. Hanson dives deep into the Henry Nowak murder trial and the subsequent public outrage over bodycam footage, which showed police handcuffing the dying teenager after accepting a false racism claim from the killer. He contrasts the case heavily with the aftermath of the George Floyd incident, arguing that Floyd’s death involved career criminality and drug intoxication. Victor Davis Hanson frames the police response as a symptom of a broader tribalism and DEI inclusion standards that have infected Western institutions. They also discuss developments in the war with Iran.
At about 1:07:45 Victor says:
“So my point is that yeah you can translate it but something’s going to be lost in translation; sometimes a lot lost. I have a lot of books, usually they’re translated in 10 or 12 languages… and I can tell you a lot of it doesn’t seem right to me.”
Corroborating this, the first English translation of The Gulag Archipelago was pretty bad, either because the translator was careless and in a hurry or because he just wasn’t that fluent in both Russian and English.
And there is always the possibility of malicious translations: The German translator of Jerry Pournelle’s novel The Mercenary was a communist. Disliking Jerry’s conservative views, he removed every bit of politics and dialogue that made the story make any sense, leaving little more than the violence. Confronted at a convention, he defended himself by saying “But you are a fascist! You should sound like a fascist!” [Jerry was a Korean War vet and was instrumental in organizing the first anti-ballistic-missile study group.]
The Henry Nowak case is outrageous and sickening for a number of reasons:
1) Why does British law make an exception to its knife law for religious reasons? Surely, a plastic replica of the ceremonial dagger used to murder Henry Nowak would work just as well.
2) Why did the police automatically believe the perp’s canned accusations of racism against Henry Nowak? They should’ve done a reasonable investigation instead of just taking what they were being told at face value.
3) Why was Nigel Farage excoriated for suggesting the Nowak murder was evidence of a “two-tier justice system.”? Does anyone really believe that had a Sikh man been lying on the ground complaining of being unable to breathe that the police would handcuff him and accept without hesitation the word of his white skinhead attacker?
The police were playing CYA and should’ve used some common sense in this tragic incident; The Labour government is playing CYA and should address flaws in the law and stop gaslighting everyone about the two-tier justice system; And the British people should vote more wisely in the next election.
The Nowak killing is stunning. Starmer’s response in criticizing Vance’s plea for civilization is even worse, if possible. Apparently, this is what a decline of civilization looks like.
For years the study of the rise, decline, disappearance of civilizations was fascinating.
Now, it doesn’t seem so. In fact, it’s a bit frightening.