Posts will most likely be fairly spotty for today and tomorrow. I’ve had computer problems, and I’m reloading many of windows components as I type this.
Like most people I’ve been glued to the T.V. for most of the day; trying in vain to understand the mentality that drives a terrorist. I haven’t had much luck.
One thing that has repeatedly caught my attention in the broadcasts, are the interviews with Londoners. Their reactions have been quite striking. I imagine they have lived with the reality that the City must be a compelling target for terrorists, especially in light of 9/11. Yet, most of the British that I have seen interviewed have displayed a sense that today’s attack was an inevitability (in fact several interviewees voiced that verbatim). I would think that their reactions must be something of a let down to the terrorists, whereas our reactions to 9/11 must have been quite satisfying to their perverted sensibilities. I hope their ability to flow right back into their usual routines really galls the hell out of whatever organization was behind it.
One “journalist” attempted to classify the reactions of the Londoners as “stoic,” but that seems so reductionist to me. As Americans, we really don’t have a collected memory of a time when we were attacked on our own soil. So, when those planes smashed into the World Trade Center, we were ill equipped to handle the emotional and psychic overload that followed. In this we stand in stark contrast to the citizens of England. From the beheading of Charles I to the bombings of WWII and the attacks by the IRA, England has weathered plenty of attacks. It just served as a reminder how relatively young the U.S. is as a nation.