London Shining: Why the London Bombers Failed
By Noel S. Williams
Sep 27, 2005
Recently in London there concluded what to many of us must seem a very peculiar ritual, known as the Ashes, wherein throughout the summer a series of 5 games of cricket are played between England and Australia. It takes the whole summer because each match lasts up to 5 days and when not delayed by interminable rain-showers is often interrupted for tea breaks. After hundreds of hours of … yawn … “action,” England finally won.
Whether to celebrate its end or the victory itself, what better reason to party? So, dutifully, hundreds of thousands of merrymakers turned out to watch the open-top bus parade to London’s Trafalgar Square where England’s cricketers led masses of jolly Englishmen and Women in collectively thumbing their noses at the London bombers. If the best way to defeat terrorism is to carry on with life, then this spectacle must represent a massive defeat for the purveyors of doom.
In two remarkable days in July London plummeted from the ecstasy of beating archrival Paris to host the 2012 Olympics to the despair of indiscriminate mass murder. Now that the sensational headlines wrought by the initial horror have calmed we may reflect on what, if anything, the evil perpetrators accomplished. The answer is nothing! If their goal was to cripple the British economy they have failed miserably as it is chugging along nicely; using the FTSE 100 stock index as a proxy it’s sprinting along. Statistical and anecdotal evidence shows that even tourism continues to thrive.
While it’s hard to see what they won, it’s easy to see how they lost.
Not only have they undermined their own perverse cause but have strengthened the resolve of freedom loving people whose verve so contrasts to their hateful promulgations. The continued vibrancy of a great Capital city cannot be what these bomb-wielding jihadists had envisioned. Beyond the arrests and breakup of their cells; beyond the new anti-terror laws; beyond the new surveillance and scrutiny of their activities; beyond a mobilized law enforcement and vigilant public; there is even a bigger loss they have to endure: London shines brighter than ever. You see if the best antidote against terrorism is to carry on with life unperturbed then the London attackers have been dealt a severe blow. It must be absolutely galling to them that instead of dimming the light of a great beacon of democracy they see it shine brighter as London so vivaciously parties on.
Famed writer Samuel Johnson once said: “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” Never has that been truer than in the weeks following the London bomb attacks. How antithetical to the terrorists’ abhorrent message of hate than to see the human spirit soar as revelers in Notting Hill recently gathered for their annual carnival. The wonderfully diverse and creative region has seen a once minor affair born in 1964 evolve into one of the world’s biggest street parties. The carnival features steel drum bands, tiara clad dancers, West Indian cuisine and all manner of free-spirited revelers frolicking in the streets. Barely one month after the attacks the event turned out record numbers, police estimating over a million people in a single day.
The contrast between the terrorists who seek to quell freedom and wreak death and destruction, and the resolve of Londoners to relish their freedom by celebrating in Trafalgar Square and Notting Hill is stark. Clearly the London bombers have failed and just as with New Yorkers following 9/11, Londoners have shown strength and resolve. If we heed Winston Churchill’s words that “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities … because it is the quality which guarantees all others,” then in New Yorkers and Londoners we have plenty of guarantors.
Party on chaps!
http://www.nationalledger.com/artman..._2726914.shtml
By Noel S. Williams
Sep 27, 2005
Recently in London there concluded what to many of us must seem a very peculiar ritual, known as the Ashes, wherein throughout the summer a series of 5 games of cricket are played between England and Australia. It takes the whole summer because each match lasts up to 5 days and when not delayed by interminable rain-showers is often interrupted for tea breaks. After hundreds of hours of … yawn … “action,” England finally won.
Whether to celebrate its end or the victory itself, what better reason to party? So, dutifully, hundreds of thousands of merrymakers turned out to watch the open-top bus parade to London’s Trafalgar Square where England’s cricketers led masses of jolly Englishmen and Women in collectively thumbing their noses at the London bombers. If the best way to defeat terrorism is to carry on with life, then this spectacle must represent a massive defeat for the purveyors of doom.
In two remarkable days in July London plummeted from the ecstasy of beating archrival Paris to host the 2012 Olympics to the despair of indiscriminate mass murder. Now that the sensational headlines wrought by the initial horror have calmed we may reflect on what, if anything, the evil perpetrators accomplished. The answer is nothing! If their goal was to cripple the British economy they have failed miserably as it is chugging along nicely; using the FTSE 100 stock index as a proxy it’s sprinting along. Statistical and anecdotal evidence shows that even tourism continues to thrive.
While it’s hard to see what they won, it’s easy to see how they lost.
Not only have they undermined their own perverse cause but have strengthened the resolve of freedom loving people whose verve so contrasts to their hateful promulgations. The continued vibrancy of a great Capital city cannot be what these bomb-wielding jihadists had envisioned. Beyond the arrests and breakup of their cells; beyond the new anti-terror laws; beyond the new surveillance and scrutiny of their activities; beyond a mobilized law enforcement and vigilant public; there is even a bigger loss they have to endure: London shines brighter than ever. You see if the best antidote against terrorism is to carry on with life unperturbed then the London attackers have been dealt a severe blow. It must be absolutely galling to them that instead of dimming the light of a great beacon of democracy they see it shine brighter as London so vivaciously parties on.
Famed writer Samuel Johnson once said: “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” Never has that been truer than in the weeks following the London bomb attacks. How antithetical to the terrorists’ abhorrent message of hate than to see the human spirit soar as revelers in Notting Hill recently gathered for their annual carnival. The wonderfully diverse and creative region has seen a once minor affair born in 1964 evolve into one of the world’s biggest street parties. The carnival features steel drum bands, tiara clad dancers, West Indian cuisine and all manner of free-spirited revelers frolicking in the streets. Barely one month after the attacks the event turned out record numbers, police estimating over a million people in a single day.
The contrast between the terrorists who seek to quell freedom and wreak death and destruction, and the resolve of Londoners to relish their freedom by celebrating in Trafalgar Square and Notting Hill is stark. Clearly the London bombers have failed and just as with New Yorkers following 9/11, Londoners have shown strength and resolve. If we heed Winston Churchill’s words that “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities … because it is the quality which guarantees all others,” then in New Yorkers and Londoners we have plenty of guarantors.
Party on chaps!
http://www.nationalledger.com/artman..._2726914.shtml
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