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The London bombings - One year on
Britain fell silent at noon (BST - GMT+1) for two minutes to mark the anniversary of the London bombings which claimed 52 lives and injured hundreds. The silence is one of the events taking place to commemorate the 7 July suicide attacks on the capital.
i know there are a few Londoners on the board and i dont want to offend anyone but all the talk on the tv about how london showed "the blitz mentallity" etc etc after the attacks....i've never heard such drivel in my life...as brilliant a city as London is...it's the most unfriendly place i've been to in my life...and given that i've been to rio, moscow amd caracas that's saying something
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Why would you even feel the need to point that out? We are all well aware that people die every day from natural causes, but it doesn't make each death easier to bear, you can't just shrug your shoulders and say something so callous. Have a little heart.
How is it self indulgent? Who are we supposed to be indulging? I certainly don't gain any pleasure or self satisfaction from remembering the event or feeling pity for those who died, or those who lost someone.
How the hell can showing a little sympathy for loss be wrong?
it's relevant to the fact that they used the so called blitz mentallity and London's false image of a city united as if it were a weapon against the terrorists
saying that...they did claim that London wasn't changed by the terrorist acts a year ago and they're right...it was an unfriendly place before the attacks and it's still an unfriendly place now
Then feel pity on your own, by yourself. Arrange your own two minutes of silence if you feel so strongly on the matter.
I don't see why every survivor or victim of loss should be reminded further of such an event by every newspaper, tv news show and radio broadcast, just so you and the rest of this country can say "Look, we remember when your husbandbrother/sister/partner/daughter/son/mother/father etc died. It's sad isn't it?".
Yes, it's incredibly tragic that this is the state of the modern world, people blowing each other up. It is sad, and I can agree there. However, I don't think any of them need to be reminded. One year on and most people are probably trying their hardest to move on to the best of their ability, how dare you make it some national beacon of reminder?
If you want to pity them, then that's up to you, do it on your own time. It's probably hard enough for the poor people as it is, let alone having everyone going "Aww". If you had any REAL compassion you'd get what I'm saying.
Furthermore, I hate the fact that this city isn't counting it's chickens that we didn't get it a lot worse, because it sure as hell could have been. When we have an act committed against us that is equal to that of September the 11th, then we can react like that. I think it's disgraceful that people try to refer to it -and subsequently market it- as 7/7, in some kind of "Look, America. We're in the same boat." sympathy moment. July 7th was tragic, but we got "lucky", and don't you ever forget that.
what the people of 7/11 have suffered was unimaginable, but where is
the outpouring of grief, the government statements of regret and a minutes silence for the tens of thousands of iraqis who have been killed and maimed as a result of the American and British invasion of that country?
are they not worthy of the same respect and response?
thats what annoys me slightly about people in general because they are trapped in the 'proud to be british program' and 'proud to be american program' where only there 'own' are more important. thats the feeling i get about folks
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The issue I have is not with people feeling pity or grief, expressing sympathy or well wishes. It's with the whole "We have to make this a massive national advertising campaign.".
If it's such an unforgettable event, why make everyone remember? It wouldn't be because even those involved are probably TRYING to move on and put it behind them, would it?
"NO! Look! This isn't forgettable! We must remind everyone!".
If you want to do your silence, express your grief or plant your wreathes, then do it, but I guarantee you that if everyone wasn't reminded, a HUGE amount of people would forget. That's why they remind everyone. Instead of using the best way to combat terrorism, that being to say "F*ck you, we're not letting this stop us moving on and living life", the media takes a day to say "Everyone stop doing anything, remember this and be sad.". It's backward, to the highest order.
Furthermore, people only do it because everyone else does. As soon as the measly two minutes are up, it's "Yeah so then she said to me...". Nobody actually cares, at least be honest about it.
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I agree with you somewhat, AC. Terrorist attacks are not the sort of thing you want to be made to remember.
Every year, on the anniversary of September 11, we see that same old, same old footage of planes crashing into buildings, people covered in blood, screaming, dying etc. Do we have to be reminded of something no one is ever going to forget?
Londoners will never forget the bombings. It's wonderful to have a day of rememberance, but people do not need to see those frighting images of blood and gore on their TV screens again.
No, a good way to trivialise a tragic event is to hold two minutes silence and actually think it makes any impact whatsoever. It is just self-indulgence.What an interestingly oxymoronic statement.
Obviously some are easier to bear. Otherwise we'd be silent all the time and this entire forum would be "2,300 people died today of malaria."
Preventable disease, famine and drought aren't exactly natural causes, being preventable and all.
That's exactly what I said about those two minutes, X. It's precisely right.
First off, a much less amount of people would have remembered the 7th of July had they not been reminded. Second, how many people simple just shut up for two minutes because everyone else does? Maybe they spend a couple seconds thinking about it, but then it's back to talking about last night's soap opera or the football.
I just think all this grieving should be done on your own time.
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Jul 7th, 2006 11:09 AM
