Yesterday, terrorists bombed London’s transportation system and brought Central London to a standstill (as far as public transit is concerned). Yet, I noticed several things that made it very interesting.
First and foremost, was the reaction of the London population. To many of them, it was like nothing major had happened. They understood the reason that they could not use the Tube, but they went about the day as if it was more-or-less a normal day. The reaction that many on the scene had was also pretty remarkable. Many of those involved were also very calm … at one point on the BBC, to find someone who was hysterical, they had to interview some American tourists, who were not even directly involved in the incidents. To me, this underlines the British attitude of just plugging along and getting it done, no matter what is thrown at you. The English culture is a tough one.
Second, I have praised BBC before but again, they showed that they knew how to balance new coverage and the other aspects of TV. For instance, it was not that long after the event that only BBC1 was still covering the event. The rest of the BBC family was back on normal programming. To be honest, ITV did the same for most of the day. It was nice and allowed you, as a viewer, to get an update by changing channels back to the news but not have to listen to the same thing repeated, like we had to in the States after 9/11. True, it is the biggest attack on British soil since WW2, but it is not enough to stop the Brits from going on about their lives.
That is another thing, Brits have a cultural (and personal) rememberance of real horror from WW2 and, so, that seems to be helping them to deal with situation. One WW2 vet on BBC even said as much, that the British are not going to be scared by something ’small’ like this because they were able to survive a lot more during WW2. It was both very reassuring and a little cocky … but in that British way.
I also want to praise the Metropolitan Police, especially the Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Brian Paddick. During a midday press conference, he answered a question about “Islamic Terrorism” with a very educated and thoughtful answer. In short, he said that it does not exist. Those people are terrorists but they are not true Muslims. That, according to his knowledge of Islam, being a terrorist is not something a true Muslim would be. The ones that are terrorists are fundamental extremists. Hopefully, with statements like that and with the condemnation of the acts by the Islamic community, the terrorist acts will not lead to any violence against the peaceful Muslim community in the UK.
Personally, I am not worried about getting on the Tube or buses in London. It is still safer to be there than to be travelling on the road in a car (according to the BBC, 7 times safer). So, this is not going to change anything about my life. I may be a little more observant on public transit, but it is not going to change my mode of travel to/from/around London.