Londoners!

[EC]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4659093.stm

There are a few of you out there.  I hope everyone's all right, but if you feel like just chiming in to say so, that would be great.  (Not that the first thing you'll be doing is checking the MMJ board.  Just when you do.)

So terrible.

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

agreed, where are you guys?  hope all is well.  

[EC]

I see dith.  :)

Good.

I know you're not in London, but you're close enough.  If you want to move to Canada, you can come and live with me.  

[fitzcarraldo]

Thoughts and prayers are with you. I'm sick to my stomach. Those cowards!

[SMc55]

I see dith.  :)

Good.

I know you're not in London, but you're close enough.  If you want to move to Canada, you can come and live with me.  

 :) So kind. I've been watching it on the news. The area affected is where we always get off the train when we go to London. I know it well. 33 confirmed deaths and hundreds of injured. Devastating. We were only celebrating London getting the 2012 Olympics yesterday.  Another sad thing is that muslims have been advised to stay indoors for fear of reprisals. I'll never understand what people are trying to achieve with this type of action.

[SMc55]

Thoughts and prayers are with you. I'm sick to my stomach. Those cowards!

Thanks Sean. You're so right, they are cowards.

[EC]

We have the tv on for the first time since probably moving in, and we're getting a very fuzzy channel.  

I have a couple of dear friends that I'm waiting on hearing from.  :(  This part is rather torturous.

Another sad thing is that muslims have been advised to stay indoors for fear of reprisals.

Very, very, very, very sad.

[SMc55]

Megan I hope you hear from your friends soon. There is no public transport at all in central London so many people are stuck away from homes, work etc. It's strange how in these situations people manage to make you feel proud. The Hilton Hotel was taking in casualties for triage, off duty emergency service people went in to help. The tube train workers evacuated people calmly. Passengers helped each other. The bad people are in the minority, aren't they?

[EC]

Megan I hope you hear from your friends soon. There is no public transport at all in central London so many people are stuck away from homes, work etc. It's strange how in these situations people manage to make you feel proud. The Hilton Hotel was taking in casualties for triage, off duty emergency service people went in to help. The tube train workers evacuated people calmly. Passengers helped each other. The bad people are in the minority, aren't they?

You're very right, and thank you for pointing that out.  It's so easy to immediately think "Wow, this world is so fucking crazy, everything is so bad."  But it's true that when a few cruds do a really horrible thing, it's mostly everybody working together to try and make it okay.

That's a very very good point.

And yes, I guess cell phones aren't working and transportation is only mildly beginning to get on track with buses.  I hope they hurry, though.   :-/

[SMc55]

One of the bombs was on a bus. People were killed on it but they haven't been able to count them yet. God how awful. You're right about the mobiles, the network is overwhelmed. I do hope you hear soon.

[EC]

8 accounted for, 1 still not been in touch.  Come ON Mr. T.  C'mon, c'mon, c'mon.

Does anybody else have people they're not sure where they are, yet?

[whothrewthecake]

definitely thinking of all you guys and hoping for the safety of you and yours.

[Zmog1974]

Thanks for your thoughts and kind words guys. 3 of the bombs were just outside my office. It was awful we all had to stand in the stair wells. Their was a bit of panic in the office, but no one was hurt by broken glass etc. It took along while to get home. Im sitting here this morning waiting to see if we are allowed back to work ,as my building is cordoned off for forensic teams to do their work. Im gonna go and put on some MMJ to sooth my bones. Hope anyone who has been affected by this incident is o.k. We cannot let these Bastards win and i will be back to work as soon as possible.

[EC]

Glad you're okay.  :)

That's crazy that 3 of the bombs were right outside your office.  

[Billy_Pilgrim]

I'm okay.

The bomb on the bus was directly outside the office I used to work in -- The BMA. Those photos of blood stains on the wall directly over the exit I used to walk in and out of every day left me totally cold. My sister works in Liverpool Street and passed therough the station moments after the bomb went off. And, finally, my mum was on a tube train 3 stops down the line from Edgeware Road when the bomb went off there. So, all in all, I am considering myself very lucky. It could have been so much worse for myself and my family.

[EC]

Holy shit.  

It's really fucked up - all of the stories of people close to me are "I was supposed to be in [bomblast a], but I had the flu today." or "It was so weird, I had just missed the tube and I was really angry..."

Glad to hear all of your people are okay, Billy.

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

a coworker of mine was in London and leaving to go to the airport...she was a few miles away, but it wasn't fun to think she was in London and might be mixed up in this!

[Chills]

Shit, that was horrible. The terrorists are everywhere. What's troublesome is that there is no clear image of the enemy. It is not a country that attacks, but small groups of people only connected in their mislead ideology (by which I do not mean the Islam in general).

That makes a counterstrike so much more difficult. We should not link these attacks to an inherent violence in Islam ore other false theories, but I think we should strike hard on those people who preach fundamentalism and incite hatred here.

Don't forget that Christians once went on crusades to the east to convert/kill the "barbarians". In fact almost every religion has probably been misused to gain power...
I'm more and more glad to be a convinced atheist. Which does not mean we can not use some of the morals and views of organized religions(which can also be found in humanistic works).

Poverty + bad leaders and views can easily turn people into terrorists, let's not underestimate this. We should insist on weakening those breeding grounds for fundamentalism, but keep our heads with it. Let's not turn to the same tactics and morals as the terrorists.


I should probably think a bit longer before writing all this down, it's not easy and I don't pretend this to be a valuable analysis, just a quick first thought.

I just thought of another thing, had our government openly supported the US in it's war against Iraq, Brussels would  very probably have been attacked by now. And it is still possible, scary thought.

[EC]

(Chills, I just got really excited when I read your signature line.  That's one of my favourite parts of that song.)

I think your post is pretty clear, and I enjoyed reading it.  I fucking go crazy trying to think about and understand war and come up with even some thing that I thought could end the patterns of war/violence that we keep coming upon.  I think the violence part is what I can't really get my head around.  Now, I've never been in any kind of physical fight, and if I'm around them, it makes me insanely upset.  But lots of people have, and have an understanding of what it feels like to punch the crap out of someone who's making you mad.  Or blow that person up.  Or blow up their family and their village and all of their surrounding villages.

This is going offtopic a little maybe, and I'm sorry about that, but my head is all full this morning.  So, my great uncle (who is also really really great), fought in WWII.  He was one of the guys who sat in that little round pit in the bottom of the plane and shot at the other planes.  I can't remember what the name for them is now...  Not a bomber...  A rear-something?  Anyhow, he was stuck in this thing, shooting at things, all by himself in there and could hardly move.  He will never talk about it.  When you go to his cottage, he will not kill a fly.  He and his wife trap them, and set them free outside.  

That is really really off topic.  Serious apologies.

This idea of violence and terror as a method of having your voice heard...  Did anyone see the documentary The Weathermen Underground (I think that's what it was called).  That was this radical political group back in the 60s (I think they started at Berkeley) who used terrorist measures to get their voices heard, and they truly believed that was the only way.  And, after watching the film, I was almost convinced.  (The reason I wasn't fully convinced was because I just can't really believe that violence is the only way.)  

Oh fuck my head is going to explode.  The questions just keep expanding.

Anyhow, I hope that the Londoners are doing all right, and that life will go back to some degree of normalcy soon.  

I just wish that people could let go of their own personal crap agendas, and get level-headed, and sit down and talk shit through.  As naive as that sounds.

[Billy_Pilgrim]

I think that is a rear gunner -- not too sure though. From what little I know of WW2 that was indeed an horrific position to be in... totally exposed and apparently the survival rate was horribly low. I'm not surprised he doesn't talk about it.

In response to something else you said -- London does seem to be slowly returning to normal. Obviously it's a weekend, but the tubes and buses still seem to be pretty full. I guess when the masses return to work on Monday, that will be the real test.