Terrorist attack on Westminster Bridge.

[nirvana]

Have to say I'm more shocked by my level of desensitisation from events like this than the event itself

This, sadly.

There seem to have been so many in the West since Charlie Hebdo that they all follow a similar pattern - from the attack, the media response, the hashtags and so on - that it's all become routine. It's Europe's version of a mass school shooting in America.

I felt desensitised too until I saw some raw, unedited, uncensored footage of the immediate aftermath.

Too horrible for words. 

That's probably part of it - I never watch things like this. Perhaps I'm insulate by my own sensitivities rather than desensitised

[The Camel]

I can't fathom the end goal, do the extremists seriously believe that they can achieve some sort of global caliphate?

Perhaps it's about time that there was a change in foreign policy. 

The key to ending these attacks is engagement with the wider Islamic community.  But this can't be orchestrated through the spooks and state sponsored agencies, it's got to be bottom up. 

its difficult to do it from the bottom up because so much of the population thinks "islam =bad". one nutter here, or a cell there means the very large majority of law abiding muslim citiens in this country get tarred with the same brush by big segments of our population

Mostly the right wing.  The purpose of these terrorists is primarily to encourage hate and split society.  It is supremely ironic that the right wing are happy to be manipulated into doing exactly what the terrorists want.

 

I really don't think its that simple. There are segments of all our society that think this. There are plenty of naturally left wing leaning working class people that have exactly the view that "islam = bad".

It's strange.

When mainland UK was being bombed by the IRA there wasn't (much of) an anti Catholic backlash.

It's probably as simple as more people are racist than we care to acknowledge.

[TightEnd]

[DungBeetle]

I can't fathom the end goal, do the extremists seriously believe that they can achieve some sort of global caliphate?

Perhaps it's about time that there was a change in foreign policy. 

The key to ending these attacks is engagement with the wider Islamic community.  But this can't be orchestrated through the spooks and state sponsored agencies, it's got to be bottom up. 

its difficult to do it from the bottom up because so much of the population thinks "islam =bad". one nutter here, or a cell there means the very large majority of law abiding muslim citiens in this country get tarred with the same brush by big segments of our population

Mostly the right wing.  The purpose of these terrorists is primarily to encourage hate and split society.  It is supremely ironic that the right wing are happy to be manipulated into doing exactly what the terrorists want.

 

I really don't think its that simple. There are segments of all our society that think this. There are plenty of naturally left wing leaning working class people that have exactly the view that "islam = bad".

It's strange.

When mainland UK was being bombed by the IRA there wasn't (much of) an anti Catholic backlash.

It's probably as simple as more people are racist than we care to acknowledge.

Surely a racist will hate muslims, seiks and hindus with equal enthusiasm?  If joe public is showing signs of islamaphobia I think it's more that he rightly or wrongly feels genuinely threatened by Islam.  Let's face it the terrorist guys don't exactly do much of a good PR job for the majority of peaceful muslims.  And then you've got the spin the press put on it which compounds the fear.  I think it's genuine fear as opposed to racism.

[muckthenuts]

Not even a terrorist attack is it? Clearly a lone wolf, clearly a psychopath, but he just happens to have a Muslim sounding name hence the uproar when it likely isn't politically motivated at all.

[MANTIS01]

Yo people who say a muslim=bad attitude exists in Britain to any great extent are expressing a lazy mentality. They are being manipulated by press hype (seeking to garner these exact emotional reactions) and they are spending too much time on social media giving weight to a minority of loony bins. As expected after this most recent tragedy the tv news featured an irate cockney in flat cap bouncing from foot to foot on Westminster bridge shrieking about "farking muslims in our country". But really I think British people, in fact the majority of all people, operate on a higher plateau of thought than this.

Did people feel compassionate about the loss of life immediately in this instance? Or did they wait to find out what the race/religion of the victims were before that empathy was freely given? Do people even know the religion of the victims, is that ever expressed in the news?? Would that MP who raced to save the pc have quickly turned away if the victim was Asian? I mean really, we are such a tolerant and compassionate race of multicultural people in this country and we should celebrate this strength with all our might, especially in times of crisis like this, especially where people seek to divide us. There is just no way I'm gonna swallow that most of us think muslim=bad in Great Britain, no way at all.

It's like I'm having a really hard time with these black packets of fags at the moment, babies smoking, hideous tumours etc, it's really doing my head in. But today I encountered a new one. A picture of a big black foot with several toes missing. I mean fcking c'mon man, seriously!! I know this is supposed to evoke the emotion of fear in me about being a big black foot man with no toes in the future, but honestly, take all the smokers in the country and show me how many actually have the big black foot disease?? So sorry I'm just not going to believe the hype. I'm not going to let minority outcomes colour my thinking, no matter how much the daily mail or twitter try to manipulate me. I will keep loving all people and for now at least I will carry on smoking.

[nirvana]

Yo people who say a muslim=bad attitude exists in Britain to any great extent are expressing a lazy mentality. They are being manipulated by press hype (seeking to garner these exact emotional reactions) and they are spending too much time on social media giving weight to a minority of loony bins. As expected after this most recent tragedy the tv news featured an irate cockney in flat cap bouncing from foot to foot on Westminster bridge shrieking about "farking muslims in our country". But really I think British people, in fact the majority of all people, operate on a higher plateau of thought than this.

Did people feel compassionate about the loss of life immediately in this instance? Or did they wait to find out what the race/religion of the victims were before that empathy was freely given? Do people even know the religion of the victims, is that ever expressed in the news?? Would that MP who raced to save the pc have quickly turned away if the victim was Asian? I mean really, we are such a tolerant and compassionate race of multicultural people in this country and we should celebrate this strength with all our might, especially in times of crisis like this, especially where people seek to divide us. There is just no way I'm gonna swallow that most of us think muslim=bad in Great Britain, no way at all.

It's like I'm having a really hard time with these black packets of fags at the moment, babies smoking, hideous tumours etc, it's really doing my head in. But today I encountered a new one. A picture of a big black foot with several toes missing. I mean fcking c'mon man, seriously!! I know this is supposed to evoke the emotion of fear in me about being a big black foot man with no toes in the future, but honestly, take all the smokers in the country and show me how many actually have the big black foot disease?? So sorry I'm just not going to believe the hype. I'm not going to let minority outcomes colour my thinking, no matter how much the daily mail or twitter try to manipulate me. I will keep loving all people and for now at least I will carry on smoking.

I agree with you. I want to be on yr plateau and im not even gonna tell you my religion or race

[4KSuited]

Nor does it help that senior BBC reporters like Laura Kuenssberg persist in an aggressive line of questioning that suggests there was "a serious intelligence failure" that allowed this guy to do his thing on Westminster Bridge.

I really DO want a free press, but I'd like to think that the institution (that we fund as taxpayers) operates with more dignity and responsibility. Just what does she/they think they are achieving by brow-beating our already underfunded and overstretched security service?

Apparently there are 3000 "persons of interest". It takes 30 people to monitor one person 24/7 in real life and on line. He wasn't one of the 3000, and his last conviction was for something unrelated to terror in 2003.

When will the BBC's reporters be briefed that their job is to report on the news, and not to create news where is doesn't exist?

[hhyftrftdr]

I'm sure we've all seen varying degrees of ridiculousness in the last 24 hours on the comments section of news articles/videos etc, but this one took the biscuit for me.

''Police should of just shot him straight away as soon as he was at the bridge ready to swerve into poor people  I know it's hard to predict exact time but they need to be more on the ball''

Yes, just shoot any brown person in a car. Incred.

(it was posted on the Britain First FB page so I really shouldn't be surprised at the lunacy of the people commenting there)

Also finding it depressing this picture of a Muslim woman walking past a victim is doing the rounds. Idiots will clutch at anything.

[Marky147]

Seen a few momos posting that picture, too.

Britain First is useful for culling your own friends list.

[lucky_scrote]

Yo people who say a muslim=bad attitude exists in Britain to any great extent are expressing a lazy mentality. They are being manipulated by press hype (seeking to garner these exact emotional reactions) and they are spending too much time on social media giving weight to a minority of loony bins. As expected after this most recent tragedy the tv news featured an irate cockney in flat cap bouncing from foot to foot on Westminster bridge shrieking about "farking muslims in our country". But really I think British people, in fact the majority of all people, operate on a higher plateau of thought than this.

Did people feel compassionate about the loss of life immediately in this instance? Or did they wait to find out what the race/religion of the victims were before that empathy was freely given? Do people even know the religion of the victims, is that ever expressed in the news?? Would that MP who raced to save the pc have quickly turned away if the victim was Asian? I mean really, we are such a tolerant and compassionate race of multicultural people in this country and we should celebrate this strength with all our might, especially in times of crisis like this, especially where people seek to divide us. There is just no way I'm gonna swallow that most of us think muslim=bad in Great Britain, no way at all.

It's like I'm having a really hard time with these black packets of fags at the moment, babies smoking, hideous tumours etc, it's really doing my head in. But today I encountered a new one. A picture of a big black foot with several toes missing. I mean fcking c'mon man, seriously!! I know this is supposed to evoke the emotion of fear in me about being a big black foot man with no toes in the future, but honestly, take all the smokers in the country and show me how many actually have the big black foot disease?? So sorry I'm just not going to believe the hype. I'm not going to let minority outcomes colour my thinking, no matter how much the daily mail or twitter try to manipulate me. I will keep loving all people and for now at least I will carry on smoking.

I struggle to put my thoughts into words sometimes but this is beautiful, thanks.

[DungBeetle]

Not even a terrorist attack is it? Clearly a lone wolf, clearly a psychopath, but he just happens to have a Muslim sounding name hence the uproar when it likely isn't politically motivated at all.

They've arrested 8 other people in connection with it on terror grounds?  Police may be barking up wrong tree but doesn't sound like a lone wolf from that.

[RickBFA]

Yo people who say a muslim=bad attitude exists in Britain to any great extent are expressing a lazy mentality. They are being manipulated by press hype (seeking to garner these exact emotional reactions) and they are spending too much time on social media giving weight to a minority of loony bins. As expected after this most recent tragedy the tv news featured an irate cockney in flat cap bouncing from foot to foot on Westminster bridge shrieking about "farking muslims in our country". But really I think British people, in fact the majority of all people, operate on a higher plateau of thought than this.

Did people feel compassionate about the loss of life immediately in this instance? Or did they wait to find out what the race/religion of the victims were before that empathy was freely given? Do people even know the religion of the victims, is that ever expressed in the news?? Would that MP who raced to save the pc have quickly turned away if the victim was Asian? I mean really, we are such a tolerant and compassionate race of multicultural people in this country and we should celebrate this strength with all our might, especially in times of crisis like this, especially where people seek to divide us. There is just no way I'm gonna swallow that most of us think muslim=bad in Great Britain, no way at all.

It's like I'm having a really hard time with these black packets of fags at the moment, babies smoking, hideous tumours etc, it's really doing my head in. But today I encountered a new one. A picture of a big black foot with several toes missing. I mean fcking c'mon man, seriously!! I know this is supposed to evoke the emotion of fear in me about being a big black foot man with no toes in the future, but honestly, take all the smokers in the country and show me how many actually have the big black foot disease?? So sorry I'm just not going to believe the hype. I'm not going to let minority outcomes colour my thinking, no matter how much the daily mail or twitter try to manipulate me. I will keep loving all people and for now at least I will carry on smoking.

"The is just no way I'm gonna swallow that most of us think Muslim=bad in Great Britain, no way at all"

I think we can all agree with this. Vast majority of people realise there is good and bad in all communities/cultures/religions.

Problem is a small but significant minority pursue and believe it - it's definitely not just a right wing political issue.

[nirvana]

Yo people who say a muslim=bad attitude exists in Britain to any great extent are expressing a lazy mentality. They are being manipulated by press hype (seeking to garner these exact emotional reactions) and they are spending too much time on social media giving weight to a minority of loony bins. As expected after this most recent tragedy the tv news featured an irate cockney in flat cap bouncing from foot to foot on Westminster bridge shrieking about "farking muslims in our country". But really I think British people, in fact the majority of all people, operate on a higher plateau of thought than this.

Did people feel compassionate about the loss of life immediately in this instance? Or did they wait to find out what the race/religion of the victims were before that empathy was freely given? Do people even know the religion of the victims, is that ever expressed in the news?? Would that MP who raced to save the pc have quickly turned away if the victim was Asian? I mean really, we are such a tolerant and compassionate race of multicultural people in this country and we should celebrate this strength with all our might, especially in times of crisis like this, especially where people seek to divide us. There is just no way I'm gonna swallow that most of us think muslim=bad in Great Britain, no way at all.

It's like I'm having a really hard time with these black packets of fags at the moment, babies smoking, hideous tumours etc, it's really doing my head in. But today I encountered a new one. A picture of a big black foot with several toes missing. I mean fcking c'mon man, seriously!! I know this is supposed to evoke the emotion of fear in me about being a big black foot man with no toes in the future, but honestly, take all the smokers in the country and show me how many actually have the big black foot disease?? So sorry I'm just not going to believe the hype. I'm not going to let minority outcomes colour my thinking, no matter how much the daily mail or twitter try to manipulate me. I will keep loving all people and for now at least I will carry on smoking.

"The is just no way I'm gonna swallow that most of us think Muslim=bad in Great Britain, no way at all"

I think we can all agree with this. Vast majority of people realise there is good and bad in all communities/cultures/religions.

Problem is a small but significant minority pursue and believe it - it's definitely not just a right wing political issue.

Agree it's got very little to do with left/right - I'd me more inclined to think if there is a divide it's more likely to be based on whether you live in and around a cosmopolitan city or in a provincial town or village.

[redsimon]

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/fake-tube-sign-read-out-on-bbc-news-and-in-commons-after-westminster-attack/ar-BByCG6k?li=AAmiR2Z&ocid=spartanntp