MORE: Tony Blair exemplifies this attitude:
"It is a very sad day for the British people but we will hold true to the British way of life.
"It is through terrorism that the people who have committed this terrible act express their values and it is right at this moment that we demonstrate ours."
Well said.
STILL MORE: Slate gathers some London attitude, blogger-style. From the freely expressive, feisty Nosemonkey:
"I tell you what, if this is an 'Islamic' terrorist attack, they're doing a piss-poor job. The pubs are all packed out, people sipping their pints happily, all a tad pissed off, but basically fine with it," he noted at 2:05 p.m. "Nice one, Al Quaeda - you profess to be from a teetotal religion, and you've given the pub trade a massive mid-week boost. … Other than causing the grief of too many innocent people, these cunts will have achieved precisely fuck all. We shall not be moved."
And scroll down to the pictures at 23:20:
Nearly time for bed. All I ask is that we don't forget the others who have died today, from whom those bastard terrorists managed to distract our attention.
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5 comments:
Brendan: Why should we let those bastards dictate to us when to be reflective? Let's be reflective when we chose and let's defy them when we want. They would like to control our emotions. I respect the Brits' capacity to deny them that control.
Brendan: The distinction is obvious: this is a WAR. Diana died in a car accident. There was no enemy to stare down and defy.
Watched BBC Newsnight this afternoon and they showed various newspapers and their headlines. I forget which one (doesn't matter, I suppose), but it was tabloid-size paper with a picture of the bombed double-decker and BASTARDS printed across the bottom as the only headline.
What pluck! And to-the-point, I thought.
Anne: Compare that to this.
I think the confusion regarding whether or not a 'pub' is an appropriate location for commiseration has to do with how you define the term.
If you believe a pub is only a place to knock back a few pints of Guiness with the blokes while chatting up some birds, then it would absolutely be the worst place to be yesterday.
However if, like in England, for you pub is short for 'public house' then it is a community center that also serves beer, and a time like this is for community (and beer).
Other's have said so and brendan continues to defend his position so I guess a resigned whatever is due.
And while on the subject of public/private mourning of events, I still went to the L.A. Opera on 9/13/01 where the audience (mostly Russian) all stood and sang the star spangled banner before it began (not a their usual practice) and there wasn't an empty seat in the house.
Mourning an individual close to you should be private. Raging against an attack against the public should be done as angrily, loudly, and publicly as possible.
The dead are not honored by hushed tones and sobbing alone in the dark, the lives of those lost are best honored by the living doing just that, living.
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