In Praise of Chivalry

     New York City waitress Madison Tayt experienced something that has become all-too common on public transportation in major urban areas. In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter; and do I really need to keep typing that phrase), she complained that a “man on the subway was repeatedly harassing a woman, being disgusting, invading her space,” and, worst of all, “all the young, fit guys around just stood silent and looked at the ground.” 

    Tayt added: “shit like this is why i have zero respect for men. absolute cowards with no backbones or sense of justice who can see an objectively bad situation and cant do the bare minimum of at least telling someone to knock it off.” Well, now.
    That little tirade was issued the day before Daniel Penny’s trial got underway. Penny, if you do not know or remember, is a former Marine who fatally choked out Jordan Neely, a menacing homeless man with a mile-long arrest record, before Neely could harm passengers on a New York subway train. Given that Penny is now a pariah facing up to 15 years of prison, Tayt should not have to wonder why “young, fit guys” these days increasingly choose to forgo heroics—and it is not because they are cowards. It is because people like Tayt, who was always bitching about someone or something on her Twitter account before it was discontinued, have created a culture that condemns heroism as a vestige of, say it with me now, “toxic masculinity.” 
    Penny did not lace up his shoes looking for a fight that day. In fact, he was reluctant to jump into action and only did so when it appeared Neely was about to hurt someone. The grand jury testimony of subway passengers painted a terrifying scene. The New York Times reported:

One passenger believed he was going to die as Jordan Neely approached him. Another heard Mr. Neely say, “I want to go to prison,” and she shielded herself with her son’s stroller as Mr. Neely made “half-lunge movements” at others. A third heard him say, “Someone is going to die today.” One witness, a daily passenger, told the jurors, “I have encountered many things, but nothing that put fear into me like that.” Another said that once Mr. Penny confronted Mr. Neely, their movements on the ground together “really just looked like a struggle,” adding that it did not look as though Mr. Penny had control of the situation.
  
    Nevertheless, the media portrayed Neely as a beloved Michael Jackson impersonator who struggled with mental health. Really, Boss?  A Michael Jackson impersonator? Largely omitted was that he had been arrested 42 times (that's FORTY-TWO TIMES for those of you on the West Coast) on allegations ranging from assault to criminal trespass. In 2015, he was arrested for attempting to kidnap a seven-year-old girl. Witnesses saw him drag the little girl down a street. Not long before his encounter with Penny, Neely was released from a lovely stay at Rikers Island, where he was serving time for (deep breath now) punching an old woman, shattering her nose, fracturing her orbital bone (no doubt singing “We Are The World” the entire time), and pleading guilty to second-degree assault. 
    The reward Penny received for intervening on behalf of others against this enemy of civil society, was to be vilified as a violent psychopath who was likely motivated by racial hatred, not only by the liberal and left-wing commentariat but also by people like Tayt. 
    Last May, in another post on X, Tayt confessed to a sense of guilt for only “bringing up violence against women at the expense of another marginalized group especially following the murder of Jordan Neely, it’s propagandistic.” Oh, please. The irony is profound. 
    Maybe Tayt has had a change of heart over the last year, although we wouldn't know, seeing that her X account was shut down. But the co-host of a podcast called “The Young Turks,” a Ms. Ana Kasparian, did have a change of heart after being sexually assaulted by a homeless man. Kasparian said she broke with the left and the Democratic Party after her former fellow travelers gave her all kinds of shit for publicly disclosing the incident. Sorry, but these people need to grow up. And you know who you are. 
    “So, I opened up about this on the show, not really thinking much of it, and before I know it, I’m starting to get these messages, and it’s like really, really harsh stuff,” said Ms. Kasparian in an interview. “And it’s about, how you are painting a picture of the homeless community. You know, how could you be like this? You know, these are your unhoused neighbors, and they need help.” 
    A wise man once said that a “conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged by reality,” and I think that probably accurately describes Kasparian. But people like Tayt are likely to continue to be victims of their own ideology. Certainly, there will be moments when confrontations with reality cause their healthy instincts to surge to the surface. Invariably, however, people this far-gone are going to interpret reality through an ideological framework that sees people like Daniel Penny as a threat to society. 
    According to this ideological framework, men are bad, especially when they do manly things—even and especially if those things are in the service of order. I’m reminded of the case of John Rote, another New Yorker who, like Penny, made the mistake of attempting to defend civil society. 
    Rote pulled a gun on a vagrant who had been harassing a woman—demanding money from her and even following her and trying to snatch her bag. Rote saw what was happening, yelled, “Get the fuck away from her!” and then drew a pistol and fired a warning shot that scared off the attacker. 
    Was what Rote did reckless? Of course it was reckless! But it was a manly thing to do, helping a woman in harm’s way when no one else would. Recklessness and masculinity go hand-in-hand. It’s part of the package, because men can be idiots. Sometimes things go a little sideways. Other times, if not most of the time, it can save lives. 
    And what was Mr. Rote’s reward? The woman he helped turned around and criticized him for using a firearm. Again...REALLY? The press ran comments from everyday New Yorkers mocking Rote. One subway rider said the incident was proof of the need for stronger gun control in America. Rote, in fact, was arrested thanks to a tipster—the supposed “real Good Samaritan” in this story. Disgraced Mayor Eric Adams (who no sane person would elect "chief dog-catcher") and other city officials, including the former chief of the Bergen County Police Department, derided Rote as an incompetent, wannabe vigilante. In the end, Rote, who does not have a criminal history, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, a class C felony, and misdemeanor menacing. His life is now worse in some respects than that of the vagrant he stopped. 
    People like Tayt have only themselves to blame for men ceasing to act like, well, men. It's a problem now afflicting Western Culture in general. Across the pond, a survey of 1,000 adults for St. John Ambulance in the United Kingdom found that one in three Britons are afraid to give women CPR because they are concerned about touching their breasts. I am not making that up. And the fact that this is so galactically stupid it deserves a laugh out loud Dave Chappelle routine, is a sad commentary as to where we are in these strange times. I mean, think about this for a moment; these men would rather be bystanders than be accused of conducting themselves inappropriately during a life-threatening emergency. Go ahead...talk amongst yourselves. Rote and Penny know about that all too well. 

    As the culture has been degraded, whether it be by our politicians and religious leaders, or the use of, shall we say, infantile language in every day conversation, whether it be the use of the word "like" in every sentence; or worse, the use of the word "fuck" in every day conversation by young people, like they're popping M&Ms, I harken back to a more civilized time.

    So, Ladies. The next time we serendipitously meet on some street as we happen to be window shopping at the same time, or having lunch in the various boroughs around Bucks County, do me a favor; don't giggle, or laugh out loud, or even recoil in horror - or the heavens forfend, call the feminist police when I doff my cap, or bow my head slightly and politely as we meet; or as I put out a crooked arm for you to hold on to as we walk on a slightly uneven sidewalk. Oh, and I'm going to hold the door open for you, whether it be walking into a store or restaurant, or escorting you to your car so that you are safely on your way. All of these gestures are only meant with the utmost respect to a friend and a lady. They are phrases and actions that used to be called...chivalry. Chivalry is one of the cornerstones of a civilized society. I would like to suggest that you hold out for the best that men can offer you. Although that might be akin to hoping for wisdom and greatness in the Oval Office...but I digress. Do not give up, ladies. And do not recoil if the pursuit of chivalry sometimes take a dramatic turn. More often than not, we are just trying to defend what separates us from the beasts.

Write to Peter: magtour@icloud.com