Re: Two minutes' silence ?!
On Thu, Jul 14, 2005 at 11:28:35AM +0100, Ian Jackson wrote:
> I think this is a gross (and, from many points of view, grotesque)
> overreaction. Many people are killed for all sorts of reasons and we
> don't do really anything about it let alone have an official `stop
> everything' mark of respect.
>
Perhaps this is just a London thing, but I tend to agree.
I walked past (within touching distance) of the car that the IRA planted
in Hans Crescent, next to Harrods, about 5 minutes before it went off.
At the time, I was glad that my timing was good, and sorry for those
that were less lucky, but I didn't feel any reason to make some sort of
public act in support of the victims, and wouldn't have expected such
an act if I'd been less lucky.
The fact that us doing such a thing seems to paint us as being in some
sense in support of the so called "War on Terror" is probably what
really makes my hackles rise. If it were a war, then the population
of the world appears to have been conscripted en masse, so that would
make the victims combatants -- thus we see to foolishness of declaring
war on a concept.
That said, of course I'm sympathetic to the victims and their families,
but us shutting up for a couple of minutes will not help them.
Cheers, Phil.
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