Originally Posted by
Danny42C
Can we not see that all the outpouring of grief which has dominated the media over the past few days is exactly the reaction that the terrorist hoped to produce ? - and that we are doing his work for him ?
This was a terrible business. But in 2013 (the last year that I read [Wiki] "Annual road fatalities - GOV.UK"):
"1,713 people were killed in reported road traffic accidents in Great Britain, 2% (41) fewer than in 2012. This is the lowest number of fatalities since national records began in 1926".
That averages 33 per week. Are we downhearted ? - No ! And in the "Blitz" (which many of us remember) the nightly toll was far worse.
The only proper answer is to report the outrage, then to ignore it. It may sound callous, but the best thing to say is (with Clark Gable in the final words of "Gone with The Wind"): "Frankly, my dear - I don't give a damn !"
If there is no reaction, then it is pointless for them to continue doing it.
Unrelated: was it really a good idea to have that huge, packed rally in St.Anne's Square ? How did we know that No.2 or No.3 was not waiting in the wings for a second bite at the cherry ?
Danny42C.
For what it's worth I agree with you. We say that the best response is to carry on as normal and then do the complete opposite. I do not wish to seem heartless, I really do have nothing but immense sorrow for this tragedy because it has truly driven families to a dark and despairing place, but it is not normal to have mass rallies, mass vigils, mass balloons, mass flowers mass this, that and the other. The families should grieve in private, and neither do I think they should put themselves forward to the media.
All of this is what the terrorists want - mass anguish at their demonic work. To quote Mrs Thatcher in a previous 'war on terrorism', they should be denied the oxygen of publicity. I know this won't be a popular view, sorry about that.