We've had quite a lot of coverage of the rescue efforts over here. In the face of this kind of thing, it's been reassuring to see how ordinary people have reacted. Case in point: one of the patients I work with told me that on the day of the attacks, a lot of medical students and junior doctors were watching the attacks on the News, a call came through asking for people to go and help support casualties on the ground, and every single one of them got up and left for Russel Square. That's just one incident, too.
It is worrying to think that the people who dreamed this up actually lived in England, but I'm not going to let that affect me. These people are normally outsiders, people who are desperate to feel that they belong. They're normally young and confused, to say nothing of easily led - easy targets for fundamentalist leaders. Once again, it's the wrong people who end up dying. I almost feel sorry for them, in a weird kind of way. Almost.
It's obvious just from the acts these people perpetrated, though, that anyone who can do something like this is clearly quite powerfully warped.
I have no idea about the religion thing, but I really don't think that idiots like the people who carried these attacks out represent Muslims in general. I don't see how they can when from what I know of Islam, which admittedly isn't much, this kind of thing flies right in the face of their beliefs. Most religions cannot be used, rightfully, to justify this kind of thing unless the texts are interpreted incredibly loosely indeed. The problem is that in some cases people don't actually know the texts that well, and rely on the mediation of others to define them for them (it also doesn't help that a lot of the messages can be rather vague).
That's when things get twisted, and when the problems start coming in. Almost all religions everywhere encourage free thinking, but some fundamentalist faith leaders don't encourage that - maybe because if people started to interpret the texts in their own way, then their own influence would be diluted and free-thinking goes out the window.
I'm hoping we won't have to deal with that kind of blame game. The thing about London is that is is a very diverse city and nine times out of ten, religion doesn't come into it. People can believe what they want to and that's the end of it - there are some extreme right-wingers out there, but generally speaking I don't feel they represent people like me any more than a suicide bomber represents the views of the average Muslim. I'm hoping that people won't go that route. It's a stupid response. Though it's natural to react to violence with violence, it's not a response anyone with half a cupful of brain would condone. Animals do it but, guess what? We're not animals.
We shouldn't have to get used to it, no. But the alternative - that we live in fear, that we allow ourselves to become so consumed by it we forget how to live - is too awful to contemplate. So we get by. The sad thing is, it's better this way.
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It is worrying to think that the people who dreamed this up actually lived in England, but I'm not going to let that affect me. These people are normally outsiders, people who are desperate to feel that they belong. They're normally young and confused, to say nothing of easily led - easy targets for fundamentalist leaders. Once again, it's the wrong people who end up dying. I almost feel sorry for them, in a weird kind of way. Almost.
It's obvious just from the acts these people perpetrated, though, that anyone who can do something like this is clearly quite powerfully warped.
I have no idea about the religion thing, but I really don't think that idiots like the people who carried these attacks out represent Muslims in general. I don't see how they can when from what I know of Islam, which admittedly isn't much, this kind of thing flies right in the face of their beliefs. Most religions cannot be used, rightfully, to justify this kind of thing unless the texts are interpreted incredibly loosely indeed. The problem is that in some cases people don't actually know the texts that well, and rely on the mediation of others to define them for them (it also doesn't help that a lot of the messages can be rather vague).
That's when things get twisted, and when the problems start coming in. Almost all religions everywhere encourage free thinking, but some fundamentalist faith leaders don't encourage that - maybe because if people started to interpret the texts in their own way, then their own influence would be diluted and free-thinking goes out the window.
I'm hoping we won't have to deal with that kind of blame game. The thing about London is that is is a very diverse city and nine times out of ten, religion doesn't come into it. People can believe what they want to and that's the end of it - there are some extreme right-wingers out there, but generally speaking I don't feel they represent people like me any more than a suicide bomber represents the views of the average Muslim. I'm hoping that people won't go that route. It's a stupid response. Though it's natural to react to violence with violence, it's not a response anyone with half a cupful of brain would condone. Animals do it but, guess what? We're not animals.
We shouldn't have to get used to it, no. But the alternative - that we live in fear, that we allow ourselves to become so consumed by it we forget how to live - is too awful to contemplate. So we get by. The sad thing is, it's better this way.