Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

London Terrorist Attacks July 2005

Page: 1 ... 11 12 13 14 15(16)17 18 19 20 21... 24

21:23 / 07.07.05

Lula, your post does read a bit weird at first. The first line, "Radio 4 creases me up" put the rest of yer post in the tone of sarcasm. For me, anyway. Don't worry about it, no harm done

Tryphena Absent

21:32 / 07.07.05

Say what you think and make it sound like exactly what you don't.

Oh ignore them all, none of them can read! Woo, yay and creases me up always seemed like simple words to me. *I stick my tongue out at all of you*

21:32 / 07.07.05

No. No harm done at all except now everyone thinks I'm the sort of person who might start slagging off the BBC in a thread about a day like today, which is just the most joyous and lovely thought and one I will delight in taking to bed.

And actually, I think "creases me up" is a lovely term. Plus, I have an aversion to exclamation marks.

Oh well.

Now I'm derailing the thread, which is not the ideal plan so I'm shutting up. I still reserve the right to be fumingly upset and moderately gutted though. (! !!!!!)

Tryphena Absent

21:38 / 07.07.05

Now that's snark!

21:38 / 07.07.05

You are Craig.

Say cheese.

22:06 / 07.07.05

Yeah. Obviously. And now I am not shutting up, so I am presumably all the trolls ever to have appeared on Barbelith too.

Soon I will be shooed out with a broom never to be seen again, simply because I attempted to post that I adore the BBC for it's lovely stiff upper lip approach to all things 'keeping the people informed'ly, but in actual fact appear to have said entirely the opposite.

Fuckest of the sakest of sakes.

Tryphena Absent

22:08 / 07.07.05

I'm watching This Week at the moment on BBC1 and it's quite interesting to see a political reaction to today's events. Portillo is talking about ID cards and the idea that they would have had any influence over the situation- he doesn't think they would. Diane Abbott discussing the horrible evidence of the ability to shut London down for a day. She believes that a downward spiral in domestic politics will happen- more attempts to institute terror laws, Portillo thinks it will be difficult to control vindictiveness by the press and public towards immigration. I've simplified their conversation somewhat, it's quite interesting.

22:10 / 07.07.05

[Huggles Lula's fuckest of fuck sakeiness]
We knew what you meant.
[Extends the huggle to all of London. Except Tony's house. And wherever Giuliani is holed up in London for some reason.]

22:21 / 07.07.05

What the fuck's the American guy with them trying to say? He seems to be suggesting that one benefit of the bombing is that it'll stop our governments quibbling over minutiae (like whether 9/11 had anything to do with Iraq), start agreeing again at the highest level (start agreeing with Bush, I think he means) and regain some "political oomph" to go out there and "fight them".

Is that the gist of his argument? I'm finding it hard to follow.

Tryphena Absent

22:23 / 07.07.05

My brain turned off when he spoke, I was pleased to see Portillo disagreeing with him though.

22:33 / 07.07.05

This is odd, though. Will Self (gawd bless him) can talk about the the semiotics of a horrible event that happened not 12 hours ago and Portillo explains the reactions in terms of the size of a city. Can you imagine the hysteria in the States if something like this happened? This programme certainly wouldn't be broadcast. Do we all have some sort of cynicism "not surprised" gene? Me, I've been expecting bombs on the tube ever since I knew they existed, so it's rather like: "oh, so it finally happened.." Is that callous?

Tryphena Absent

22:38 / 07.07.05

And I think you're right about what he was trying to say but I rather think he was reliving 9/11 rather than experiencing this as a different and separate event. The asurdity lies mostly in the difference of the attacks, subterranean death and quick explosion provokes a very different emotional and bonding experience than the horror of 9/11. I've been thinking about this all day and though they're both horrific the thing about the American terrorist attack was that it deserved the hysteria it created- people were jumping off the buildings. It was unexpected and it annoys me that, on a political show, this man is suggesting the reactions should be so similar when they emerge from different cultures and terrorist events that are so apart from one another. It horrifies me that anyone is attempting to link all of these tragedies together as if they are fundamentally connected simply because they are all attacks on cities.

paranoidwriter waves hello

22:42 / 07.07.05

Callous? No. You're right (IMHO): this has been on the cards for ages.

Indeed, I've been fascinated watching people's reactions to today (now that's more callous, no?). It's like that old theory about how you learn more about the speaker by what they say than the subject they're actually speaking about. There are a lot of people out there who are living in TV-Land, and it saddens me that so many still seem to be living in a bubble. I give society WAY too much credit sometimes and expected better. I'm also an arrogant bastard, so....

Tryphena Absent

22:46 / 07.07.05

No, it's not callous. Perhaps Peter Ackroyd would tell you that London has a long history of disaster, riot, terrorist attacks and it's inbuilt in the people who live here to recognise the possibility that they will happen.

I don't think it has anything to do with size but rather the recognition that when bad things happen you have to bring normality back, so you go to the pub or sit in the park. I put the duvet cover in the washing machine in an attempt to recognise some kind of usual domesticity this afternoon and that's what people do when these things happen. They try to take the drama away and re-establish their lives as normal. I don't quite get the desire to focus absolutely on tragedy when it happens, the focus is already there, if you emphasise possible hysteria then you're prone to forgetting what normally happens. All of those people will have to get on the tube again tomorrow or on Monday and to focus only on the bad would be to lose the ability to do that like you do it every weekday.

22:53 / 07.07.05

I coped by having a Magnum (Taste).

Tryphena Absent

22:59 / 07.07.05

The ice cream, not the gun?

23:00 / 07.07.05

Tom Selleck. Yum.

23:03 / 07.07.05

Black Mask, on TheMoonOnline, brings us this:

In London, uninjured singer Omarion seeks prayers

NEW YORK (Reuters) - London was the scene of carnage on Thursday after a series of deadly blasts but American R&B crooner Omarion, who suffered no injury or inconvenience, wants people to pray for him.

"Omarion was in London during the tragic bombings that struck this morning," a statement by the singer's publicist AR PR Marketing, released hours after the bombings, said.

Making no mention of the fatalities or casualties of the blasts, the singer's statement concluded, "He would like his fans to pray that he has a safe trip and a safe return home. He appreciates your support."

He was in London for Saturday's Live 8 show, his publicist Shana Gilmore told Reuters from Los Angeles. Asked why anyone should pray for him, Gilmore said, "He wasn't hurt or anything, but just the fact that he was there and all that."

Omarion was the teenaged lead singer of the chart-topping band B2K before going solo. The 20-year-old's first solo album "O" debuted at No. 1 of Billboard charts earlier this year.

C'mon, people, light a candle for Omarion.

Scrubb is on a downward spiral

23:05 / 07.07.05

Oh, I'll be lighting something...

Tryphena Absent

23:06 / 07.07.05

What a twat.

23:11 / 07.07.05

I'm going to hijack his fist and ram it into his throat.

23:30 / 07.07.05

Heh, I was trying to think of some clever response, but I can't really follow that, Nina.

Know what you mean about returning to domestic chores, I've been pottering around the house all day (as well as channelling rolling news and this thread and fielding texts, emails, iChats and phone calls from the concerned). The fact that today has given me a chance to finally do my woolens wash, bash down some encroaching triffids in the garden and overdose on E4 BB makes me feel a bit weird/guilty, but I'm not going to worry about it...

So, how did those who were in town get home tonight? My flatmate got a free tourist boat back along the river (all transport was free, yes?) but who made the long walks?

Tryphena Absent

23:46 / 07.07.05

It took Flyboy about an hour, so not that long really.

I saw footage of people walking along dual carriageways, that was very weird.

Tryphena Absent

23:50 / 07.07.05

And it was a day weirdly characterised with communication in all forms, domestic chores and BBC News 24. These funny phone calls "where are you? Are you okay?" And realising how many people were trying to get hold of me... the phone rang every half hour.

23:53 / 07.07.05

I'm probably the last to do this, cause I've been working all day but it's good to hear all you Londoners are safe and well. There's something very sweet and heartwarming about reading this thread and the rollcall one. There aren't many places like this one online.

06:15 / 08.07.05

I suspect we'll have to look to the usual flashpoints like Bradford to see if this restarts the street battles of times past.

Pretty calm up here so far. We've been running "appeals for calm" from the usual sources; Bishop's office, Council of Mosques etc. I did an interview for today's rag with Paul Rogers, professor of Peace Studies at Bradford Uni, in which he was pretty much calling for a "Madrid-style" response from the people.

Still, didn't stop the BNP immediately putting up on their website the "fact" that Asian stallholders at one of the Bradford markets were cheering at the bombing news yesterday morning. Which is completely unsubstantiated and highly unlikely. What a bunch of knobs.

06:43 / 08.07.05

is that the gist of his argument? I'm finding it hard to follow.

how can that be? you better put some pants on if your gonna fight crime today.

Tryphena Absent

06:48 / 08.07.05

They just evacuated Euston for 10 minutes. Hysteria much!?

Tryphena Absent

06:50 / 08.07.05

Well okay they should be playing it safe, I'm just narked by Sky News reporting before they actually know anything at all.

08:06 / 08.07.05

From that Fox News transcript Ganesh posted earlier;

First to the people of London, and now at the G8 summit, where their topic Number 1 --believe it or not-- was global warming, the second was African aid. And that was the first time since 9-11 when they should know, and they do know now, that terrorism should be Number 1.

I love that. "Believe it or not!" Us crazy Europeans, huh? When will we learn!

08:22 / 08.07.05

Apologies Lula, it genuinely did sound to me like you were gently mocking the BBC for being so neurotic and thinking it was all about them while important things happened outside. It certainly wasn't my intention to mischaracterise what you said. I'm honestly very sorry about that misunderstanding.

08:36 / 08.07.05

I love that. "Believe it or not!" Us crazy Europeans, huh? When will we learn!

Hehehehehhh, yeah. Ain't we quaint?

The resistable rise of Reidcourchie

08:43 / 08.07.05

America's bound to be upset, people blowing up England Land, we're one of their favorite theme parks.

Whisky Priestess

08:47 / 08.07.05

Lula

I got it.

No-one can hate the BBC. It's a wonder of the world.

foot long subbacultcha

08:49 / 08.07.05

I did the long walk (only an hour so not that long really) home yesterday and cycled in this morning as part of the skeleton crew at work. I was quite surprised by how busy the city is today, but they've still got the liverpool street/aldgate area cordoned off.

I only just managed to hear back from the last of everyone I know in London this morning. Another friend of mine was in quite a panic yesterday at home waiting to find out if everyone was safe. He told me that he was a witness to the Tavistock bus explosion.

Page: 1 ... 11 12 13 14 15(16)17 18 19 20 21... 24