- Fri Jul 22, 2016 8:15 pm
#469379
I thought there might be some mileage in a thread to discuss various aspects of terrorism both generally, and more specifically in terms of the seemingly ever more frequent instances of atrocity like the one under way in Munich, and others including Paris and Brussels.
Pinning a definition down can prove tricky :
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definit ... _terrorism
But I think for most of us, the recent examples pretty much embody the concept.
I've lived through periods of intensive terrorist activity - notably of the Irish republican variety in N. Ireland and on the British mainland. It's possibly fair to say that people became, not exactly blasé or innnured to terrorism then, but there was a sort of acceptance that these things would happen, and that we had simply to go on with life. The same sort of attitude prevailed after the London attacks in July 2007, but I felt there was a sort of step change in the UK zeitgeist that had seeded itself after 9/11.
And now, I find myself getting rather worried about the latest turn in the obscene progress of Daesh, or IS or ISIS or whatever they should be titled. Namely, the increasing frequency of savage attacks on soft targets - murderous assaults on large groups of people gathering in public, usually for purposes of entertainment. The Bataclan concert venue, Promenade des Anglaises, a Munich shopping mall.
I expect I'm not alone in, despite myself, imagining a similar scenario unfolding at a venue in my locale. The Bullring centre, perhaps, or a sporting occasion, even a cinema or theatre. I know that I shouldn't but you just can't help it.
In the words of King Theoden, "What can men do against such reckless hate? "
Theoden had Gandalf and the Rohan lads riding to the rescue. Where's our Gandalf?
Pinning a definition down can prove tricky :
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definit ... _terrorism
But I think for most of us, the recent examples pretty much embody the concept.
I've lived through periods of intensive terrorist activity - notably of the Irish republican variety in N. Ireland and on the British mainland. It's possibly fair to say that people became, not exactly blasé or innnured to terrorism then, but there was a sort of acceptance that these things would happen, and that we had simply to go on with life. The same sort of attitude prevailed after the London attacks in July 2007, but I felt there was a sort of step change in the UK zeitgeist that had seeded itself after 9/11.
And now, I find myself getting rather worried about the latest turn in the obscene progress of Daesh, or IS or ISIS or whatever they should be titled. Namely, the increasing frequency of savage attacks on soft targets - murderous assaults on large groups of people gathering in public, usually for purposes of entertainment. The Bataclan concert venue, Promenade des Anglaises, a Munich shopping mall.
I expect I'm not alone in, despite myself, imagining a similar scenario unfolding at a venue in my locale. The Bullring centre, perhaps, or a sporting occasion, even a cinema or theatre. I know that I shouldn't but you just can't help it.
In the words of King Theoden, "What can men do against such reckless hate? "
Theoden had Gandalf and the Rohan lads riding to the rescue. Where's our Gandalf?
"The opportunity to serve our country. That is all we ask." John Smith, Leader of the Labour Party, 10 May 1994.