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November 30, 2008
Diffused Responsibility and the Mumbai Massacre
There's a very good post about the apparent failure of police to act aggressively to stop the Muslim slaughter of innocents in the Massacre at Mumbai.
What's interesting is how willing people are to continue to propose and accept a centralized solution to a distributed problem. For instance, there is apparently a proposal now for creating a new global anti-terror taskforce. This is a horrible idea. They'd be stuck on the airport in a thunderstorm in London while innocents were slaughtered. This is a supremely bad idea.
My thoughts are that, in general, what we need is a distributed solution to a distributed problem. Namely, if the terrorists can pop up anywhere and start shooting people, then everyone has to be prepared to defend themselves.
As far as police are concerned, in general, their main concern is that they go home at the end of their shift. If you watch the show COPS, you'll actually see them saying this every so often. It's a job to them. A paycheck. And there's no real reward for heroism or valor when you're working for public sector. So they punch the clock for their shift, and if they have to cower behind their squad cars for hours like they did at Colombine or Virgina Tech or San Ysidro, then so be it.
One of the things I did not see mentioned in the article is diffused responsibility. "Diffused Responsibility" is a social phenomenon that applies to groups of people. What it means in a nutshell is that the cops all think, "If no other cops are shooting, then who am I to open fire?" and "If no one else is charging into the building after an active shooter, then why should I?"
Muslim terrorists are a nasty, global problem and they're not going to go away any time soon. The only thing you can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
At the end of the day, you are responsible for your own security. You and you alone. If you think the police are going to protect you, then you are sadly mistaken. When seconds count, the police are just minutes away. ;)
Posted by Rob Kiser on November 30, 2008 at 11:01 PM
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