Monday, July 18, 2005

Who ya gonna call?

When something tragic happens, on a large scale, it creates incredible unity. Unity of different races, classes and religions, is the cliched way of describing it, but it goes much deeper than that. Unity between grumpy old men at the local pub, who never say a word to each other, but on a day of such tragedy can look at each other and without saying anything can understand what the other is thinking. It unites the two busy strangers on the tube who before wouldnt have even acknowledged the other, but now have a shared oneness. The man at the paper shop is united with his customer as he hands over the day's news (which will become tomorrows chips wrapping) for 30p.

When 9/11 occurred (or 11/9, if I'm going to be pedantic) the world was United. It was America and the rest of us against them, whoever they were. They were faceless extremists from the East, on a mission to kill innocent Americans to get the world's attention. It was sickening and wrong, and we could easily hate them. We didnt want to understand or rationalise their actions because they were 'other', they were not us.

In London last week we suffered an attack, a much smaller scale, or proportional maybe, but a mass killing of the innocent nonetheless. Again, to get the attention of the world. To show the world that they were a force not be reckoned with. The difference is this time they are us. British people killing British people. There have been plenty of 'We are not afraid' campaigns being thrown around, and I wouldnt expect anything less from us lot. The truth is, I am afraid. I am afraid that some 19 year old British kids up in Leeds think it would be a good idea to go down to London with a back pack full of explosives and blow up a load of innocent people... That is scary, and I dont know how anyone could escape that kindof fear. Something does need to be done though... whether it be said in the mosques, or by our Tony, but something, before this spirals out of control.

2 Comments:

At 4:56 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Having known Scott for a short while and had many disputes with him on a regular basis I'd have expected to at least partially disagree with anything he wrote just because we tend to but his heartfelt and quite eloquently executed thoughts reflect my own almost in their entirety.I LIVE and work in London and am exposed to quite immediate danger on a daily basis but never have I felt fear at any stage. Britons are made of much hardier "stuff" and we can only hope that these fearmongers may just realise that their voices will be less heard the longer they continue to intimidate us. I do, however, agree that the real fear IS apparent when you see British born and raised people that perpetrate these atrocities. Coming from a predominantly Muslim background, I KNOW how insular these people are and until they start to embrace the West and allow people to understand them, they can't be expected to raise their own "cultureless" kids without truly knowing what their needs are. I say cultureless because they are being taught contrasting doctrines and have lost all identity altogether. That truly IS fear inducing

 
At 1:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Life, as easy as it is created, is just as easy to be lost, though who gives us the right to take away somebody’s loved one, somebody’s friend, somebody’s relative?
What happened in London a couple of weeks ago wasn’t just barbaric, it was sick. And in my eyes those responsible for such a terrible incident are not humans, as I refuse to be connected to ‘them’ in any way shape or form. Fortunately for me, I wasn’t around when the Hitler saga was happening, and I can’t for the life of me imagine what those people were going through when they were being bombed. Though I am around now, and although these bombings are not the size per potion as the Hitler saga, it’s scary enough never the less.

Once over, we could have left our doors unlocked, left our children with our neighbours, and we could have nipped to the shops without having to worry. As for now, we can’t do any of those things. A short trip to the shops soon becomes a constant look over your shoulder, as you’re wondering, what if, a short journey in the car interrupted by the dazzling lights of an ambulance or a patrol car starts to make you grip the steering wheel as goose bumps suddenly come over you. What has this nation become, where is the humanity in those or ‘them’ responsible for such vicious attacks? I am only 19 years of age, though I truly believe that a world war or mass destruction, killing thousands of innocent people will not happen in my life time. Though once I am gone, who knows what the future has planned? And this in a way scares me, because I don’t want to leave loved ones behind knowing they may be harmed in this terrible place we call our home.

Your piece was very well wrote Scott and it was a pleasure reading it. As for the smoking issue, I have no problem what so ever with smokers, I for one have never even tried it so who am I to criticize people for saying its good, or they enjoy it? As long as you’re happy in doing what you’re doing, that’s all that matters. I’m looking forward to reading your next piece, all the best.

 

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