Remind me, liberals, why it’s not OK to want to wish pain and misery on burglars

I hesitated about writing this post, because I will be sticking my toe out from under the liberal canopy, which always causes a chilly little wind to whip up from certain quarters. I am essentially a liberal. With some of my life experiences, it would be very weird and hypocritical if I wasn’t, but there are moments when I wonder exactly which tribe I belong to.

The other day a friend on Facebook reported that he had been woken in the night by a loud bang, and got up to find his French windows had been forced open. Thankfully the intruder must have heard him get out of bed, because they had fled by the time he saw the damage. Lots of people sympathised, but very few people said what they thought of people who try and break into other peoples’ homes, nor what they would like to happen to them. Months ago, this topic was big in the media on the back of the case of Munir Hussein, who was ambushed at his home by three men, who then tied him up, along with his wife and three children. He managed to break free, chase one of the intruders down the street with some other men, and beat him so badly the burglar ended up with brain damage. He was sent to prison, but after an outcry (but near-silence in my corner of Facebook, I noted), had his sentence suspended. I remarked aloud at the time that anyone who breaks into another person’s home ought to be prepared to leave in a box, and got just one ‘like’ from a girlfriend of mine. Interesting, no?

I’m not sure what’s going on here. I once read a very smug article in the Guardian by a male journalist who said he didn’t get why people got so worked up about burglary, because it’s just a DVD player, and you can buy another one, right? This man had clearly never felt vulnerable. And David Cameron’s comment about how burglars should ‘leave their human rights on the doorstep‘ may have been a cheap vote-catcher, but I’m pretty sure that’s how I’d feel if I’d experienced an attempted break-in like my friend, let alone a full god-knows-what.

If someone is trying to enter your home, with you in it, or not caring whether you’re there or not, you have no idea what’s on their mind. Just a few valuables, maybe. But what about opportunistic violence? What about rape? Some say it’s ‘Tory’ to give people the right to defend themselves in their homes, because of course this is ‘all about property.’ Again, whoever says that has clearly never felt vulnerable. Celeb Mylene Klass was reprimanded by police for waving a knife at an intruder outside her house, as if it was incumbent on the vulnerable not to antagonise the nasty, stupid and vicious.

To force entry to another person’s home violates a fundamental law of humanity, doesn’t it? Or have I totally misunderstood something? If you didn’t invite them, then what are they doing there? There’s something smug and superior about the way a certain kind of bien-pensant looks down on the frustrations of those not in the intellectual club, and I’m not comfortable with it at all.

I once read an article by Jane Bussmann, in a guide to survival at festivals. At one point she described someone’s lament at having their tent nicked by a bunch of scallies: ‘Oh,’ they wailed, ‘How I wish I wasn’t middle class, so I could blame them, not society.’ I laughed out loud. That’s what’s going on here, I think.

So, liberals, remind me why it’s wrong to want to cause pain and harm to someone who’s just done it to you? Or at least stop them doing it? And please don’t tell me you’re all Christians, because l’ll just laugh. I’d put money on more people agreeing with me than would ever admit it.