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This will be my last post on the topic - I just wanted to link to some of the more thoughtful posts I've found, rather than ending with the shitstirring drama. I think the whole thing does raise some interesting issues, and though I wish I'd not spent quite so much time thinking about it and I'm sorry that so many people have been hurt, for myself I don't regret my involvement - it's been educational to say the least.
See:
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naudiz's post about truth, fraud and evidence (written before city_glitter made her confessional post - naudiz has made a further entry since the fallout)
yonmei on the ethics of paying vet bills and asking others to do so
queerbychoice on the way people are reacting
I hadn't looked at the BBC page yet today and on browsing round LJ I was stunned to hear about the bombings in London. That really puts internet drama into perspective.
And it feels a bit surreal, hearing from it in my flat though an electronic link. I remember talking to some of my London-based friends just after 9/11, when everyone was living on tenterhooks expecting something to happen. I remember booking a flight home to Gatwick last Christmas eve because I wanted to avoid Heathrow (though it's nearer to where I was going) - just in case. (In the event I missed the flight and ended up going to Heathrow anyway. The flight was half empty and I couldn't help wondering if people had had the same thought I had.) I remember seeing a lone bag on a bus seat last night and wondering if I was paranoid for fearing it was a bomb, before someone across the aisle assured me it was hers.
But, even after Madrid the daily fear of bombings had abated for me, even with the world's attention focussed up here this week. And even now sporadic attacks like this don't feel as threatening as the regular horror and disruption of the 80's bombings (though if I watching on TV or lived in London I'd possibly feel differently). One of my first reactions was 'so it's happened, after all that waiting...' And in hindsight it seems obvious: the symbolic time of the UK hosting G8; the attendant transfer of police from London to Scotland to deal with the idiots who think that attacking police and throwing bricks through windows makes a point about freedom; the Olympic decision.
So reality bites. And we'll be back to being extra vigilant when using public transport. I'm wondering whether such vigilance would have prevented the explosions today, but I suppose the story of 'how' will be pieced together over the next few days. In the meantime I'll be directing my prayers towards the victims of a real crime.
See:
naudiz's post about truth, fraud and evidence (written before city_glitter made her confessional post - naudiz has made a further entry since the fallout)yonmei on the ethics of paying vet bills and asking others to do soqueerbychoice on the way people are reactingI hadn't looked at the BBC page yet today and on browsing round LJ I was stunned to hear about the bombings in London. That really puts internet drama into perspective.
And it feels a bit surreal, hearing from it in my flat though an electronic link. I remember talking to some of my London-based friends just after 9/11, when everyone was living on tenterhooks expecting something to happen. I remember booking a flight home to Gatwick last Christmas eve because I wanted to avoid Heathrow (though it's nearer to where I was going) - just in case. (In the event I missed the flight and ended up going to Heathrow anyway. The flight was half empty and I couldn't help wondering if people had had the same thought I had.) I remember seeing a lone bag on a bus seat last night and wondering if I was paranoid for fearing it was a bomb, before someone across the aisle assured me it was hers.
But, even after Madrid the daily fear of bombings had abated for me, even with the world's attention focussed up here this week. And even now sporadic attacks like this don't feel as threatening as the regular horror and disruption of the 80's bombings (though if I watching on TV or lived in London I'd possibly feel differently). One of my first reactions was 'so it's happened, after all that waiting...' And in hindsight it seems obvious: the symbolic time of the UK hosting G8; the attendant transfer of police from London to Scotland to deal with the idiots who think that attacking police and throwing bricks through windows makes a point about freedom; the Olympic decision.
So reality bites. And we'll be back to being extra vigilant when using public transport. I'm wondering whether such vigilance would have prevented the explosions today, but I suppose the story of 'how' will be pieced together over the next few days. In the meantime I'll be directing my prayers towards the victims of a real crime.
