I'm getting very fed up with the stupidity of the mainstream media when it comes to terrorist attacks such as that in London yesterday. From the screams of alarm in the headlines, you'd think this was something new, unprecedented, a mortal threat to our society. It's not, of course. It's merely the latest incident in a long, long parade of them, and there will be many more in future. Welcome to the reality of fundamentalist terrorism. It's here to stay.
Another thing about the mainstream media: why is it that so many of them have some sort of mental or moral block about using the word "terror" or "terrorist"? For example, consider these headlines gathered at about 4 p.m. (local time) yesterday:
ABC News: "Suspect shot dead after killing 4, injuring 40 in London"
The Atlantic: "London Attack: What We Know"
Boston Globe: "At least 5 dead in London attack, including assailant, and 20 injured"
CBS News: "5 dead in car rampage, knife attack in London"
Chicago Tribune: " 5 dead in London vehicle and knife attack, including police officer, attacker; 40 hurt"
CNN: "London attack: Four killed in British Parliament carnage"
By that time it was as plain as the nose on your face that this was a terrorist attack. Other media outlets were (correctly) labeling it as such . . . but not those mainstream media "big names". Their politically correct policies prevent them from calling a spade, a spade, until it's been confirmed by a dozen independent "authorities" that it is, in fact, a human-powered earth-moving implement - and even then, they'd prefer to call it the latter, rather than use the simple, direct term for it.
As for what it means for you and I: I've said it all before, as have many other commenters. The advice applies to not just terrorist incidents, but any criminal threat. Some of my previous articles include (but are not limited to):
- The changing urban self-defense environment
- The scary realities of self-defense
- Security lessons from the Kenya terrorist attacks
- Stupid and sage advice on security
- Why you should avoid urban shopping malls
- Lessons learned anew in Paris (the Charlie Hebdo attacks)
- Paris and the pain of being human (the November 2015 attacks)
- In the aftermath of Paris (November 2015)
- After San Bernardino: self-defense considerations
- An ISIL terrorist cell in Minnesota?
All the suggestions and recommendations I made in those articles apply in the wake of the London attack, too. As I said: same old, same old. We'll be reading similar headlines again in the not too distant future, I'm sure - and the same advice will apply yet again.
Be ready for this. Terrorism is nothing new, and it'll be with us for a long, long time to come. I daresay our children's children will be fighting it, too.
Peter
4 comments:
As Capt. Hook said, "I'll be throwing knives into the doors of your children's, children's, children!" Bastard was London-born, to boot....
That's "manually operated excavation implement", you racist h8er!
I read this morning that Lamestream Media is angry at Eric Trump for his reaction to London Mayor's comment of the New Reality of Terror in London (oh well, what are you going to do about those disenfranchised citizen's ? Just get used to it I guess ... )
I seem to recall the same media was not shy about publishing same mayor's comments of Trump Radical Muslim positions. Never let it be said that Media maintains its same biases, regardless of what happens.
Brit here. Actually, at 16:00 UK time, only an hour after the attack, we did not know for sure that it was a terrorist attack. It was, of course, suspected but there've been nutters, most recently Thomas Mair, the murderer of MP Jo Cox.
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