Barcelona :(

[g8ina]

Sick.

My son and his GF were 100 yds away !
Both are OK and safe, flying home today.

[peterb]

Heard the news this morning - glad they are both OK.

[Smudger]

Can't imagine what it would be like to see an atrocity like that. Glad they're OK and you'll have them home soon.

[Jonj1611]

Shocking. Easy targets for cowards.

Glad they are ok.

[Saracen]

I think I've become kinda immune to this now. I'm glad your son and GF are okay, g8ina, and I really feel for family and friends of those that we lost.

What do I mean by "immune"? Well, the first few events made me think "do I want to go there, I might be a target". But now, when these attacks need no planning, no experience and no weapons beyond a credit card (to hire a van) and some driving lessons, and they're occuring in world cities and small towns alike, I've reached the point where I feel as vulnerable walking down my local high street as I would in a capital city, so there's nothing I can do about it, and if it's my turn, it's my turn. C'est la vie.

So .... why worry about it? Why let these idiots make any difference to what I choose to do?

Now, I no longer consider if doing this or that is safe. I don't think about it, I just do what I want and go where I wish and if the worst happens, so be it.

In other words, I'm "immune" to terrorism because it doesn't induce fear. It now washes past me like an obnoxious smell. I grieve for their victims, of course, as I would a car accident or, oh, tower block fire, but beyond that, it doesn't affect me.

My message to terrorists? Well, I'm tempted to use a certain rude finger gesture, but instead, I raise my little finger to them .... that is to say, the same sentiment but to those not even worthy of a full finger salute.

[Millennium]

Yeah, I tried not to let it get to me. Mum was saying after the Manchester Arena bombing I don't need to go to a concert the next week but I went anyway, as did my brother. You can't let these folks win. So they're crazy fanatics, what else is new? Just let them wise up or die out or whatever. There's nothing we can do to be safer, effectively, the security services basically try and take care of this for us and I'm sure they've foiled more attacks than we've suffered, worldwide.

If you try and adapt your lifestyle, in a way, they win. It's a sad state of affairs but really in the scheme of things, not worth worrying about. Road traffic accidents take more lives. It's just another risk out there - and not a very big one at the moment. Keep your perspective and keep on keeping on.

[Ferral]

Not just Barcelona unfortunately, a few hours later 60km away another attack with a vehicle in a holiday resort which took lives and there has been one in Finland this afternoon with an individuall going on the rampage shouting their usual slogan stabbing numerous people, two of which have been confirmed dead.

Like Millenium has said though you cannot let it ruin your life, I nearly never went on the holiday to Turkey this year given all the trouble last year, you can't let these fanatics rule our way of thinking and lifestyles round the world let alone their own countries.

[Saracen]

Yeah, I tried not to let it get to me. Mum was saying after the Manchester Arena bombing I don't need to go to a concert the next week but I went anyway, as did my brother. You can't let these folks win. So they're crazy fanatics, what else is new? Just let them wise up or die out or whatever. There's nothing we can do to be safer, effectively, the security services basically try and take care of this for us and I'm sure they've foiled more attacks than we've suffered, worldwide.

If you try and adapt your lifestyle, in a way, they win. It's a sad state of affairs but really in the scheme of things, not worth worrying about. Road traffic accidents take more lives. It's just another risk out there - and not a very big one at the moment. Keep your perspective and keep on keeping on.

I take your point, and agree with you, but it's not quite what I was getting at.

If the response to terrorism is a decision to not let it affect you, then while I applaud the determination to not let the bast.... erm, ars...., oh heck, beggars win, then they kinda have by forcing you into making a conscious decision to do things despite the risk. It's less of a win than bowing to it, but nonetheless, by deciding to ignore the risk, terrorism has worked by creating the awareness of risk.

My point is slightly different.

How can I put this?

Go for a car journey, you might be killed in a car crash. Walk down the road, you might be run over by a drunk driver. Climb a ladder to clear out guttering and you might fall off and break your neck. Go into the best hospital and an allergic reaction to anaesthetic might kill you.

Life is one long list of taking risks, every day, in everything we do, and the Great Roulette Wheel of Fate is constantoy spinning. The one thing (except maybe taxes) that we all face is that none of us are getting out of life alive. Yet, we get in cars, go into hospital, eat peanuts, etc. Hell, most of us risk our lives by getting on a plane, every chance we get, just to go lie in the sun, or whatever floats you boat .... or pedalo, canoe, jetski, etc.

And we don't even consider that we're risking our lives by doing so.

All those risks are there, and we all know it, IF we gave it a thought. But they're there, there's nothing we can do about most of them, and the chances of getting nailed by any specific one is tiny. Therefore, they all kinda just blend into the white noise of the constant life-risking that we do in a million decisions a day, without giving the risk a moment's thought. If we did, we'd never get out of bed .... and be killed by the plane crashing on our bedroom, that would have missed us if we hadn't been so paralysed by fear of just living that we hid under the duvet.

My point is that these terrorist incidents are becoming so .... mundane .... that by happening in such a mundane way, in big cities and small towns, anywhere, to anybody at random in a totally untargeted way, that they have just become one more background risk is the non-stop avalanche of risks that life actually is.

In a daft way, I'd almost he grateful for getting killed by a terrorist. It's so less .... ignominious .... than choking on a peanut, or having a heart attack because I ate too many burgers.

I'm not trying to belittle the victims in the attacks. I really feel for them, and their families.

My point is that far from deciding to ignore these assh..... or, bother the rules, muppets, I'm not giving the risk from them any more thought than I do the risk from a drunk driver. I've consigned them to the white noise. And it wasn't a decision to do so. I just suddenly realised I already had.

They have, if you like, "cried wolf" too often. I'm not avoiding the wolf, or deciding to do something knowing the wolf might get me. Rather, I'm not giving the wolf risk any consideration, at all. If there's one behind a nearby tree, oh well. So be it.

Therefore, terrorism no longer terrifies me, it no longer causes me to even blink. If it gets me, it gets me. If it doesn't, sooner or later something else will.

[Saracen]

Not just Barcelona unfortunately, a few hours later 60km away another attack with a vehicle in a holiday resort which took lives and there has been one in Finland this afternoon with an individuall .....

Exactly. My point precisely.