Are you afraid of terrorism?
Discussion
Rather than muddy the already confused thread about the London attacks, I thought it best to start afresh.
We were discussing this in the pub last night and there seemed to be a unanimous verdict that:
1). Terror attacks in the U.K. are rare
2). When they do occur, they're usually pretty s
t (as in, few casualties, badly planned etc etc)
3). We don't actually need to do anything more than we currently are doing
4). Our security forces are doing a pretty brilliant job of keeping us from harm
The general consensus was that loooooads of stuff we do day to day carries more risk (driving, for example) and that the vanishingly small risk of being caught up in a terror attack was essentially irrelevant.
Reading other threads here, I'm curious as to whether the same view is generally held here so:
Are you scared of being caught in a terror attack and does it impact your life?
Are you also wary of driving?
Assuming you don't spend all day hiding, how do you mentally compute the proportionality of your approach to the threat?
We were discussing this in the pub last night and there seemed to be a unanimous verdict that:
1). Terror attacks in the U.K. are rare
2). When they do occur, they're usually pretty s
t (as in, few casualties, badly planned etc etc)3). We don't actually need to do anything more than we currently are doing
4). Our security forces are doing a pretty brilliant job of keeping us from harm
The general consensus was that loooooads of stuff we do day to day carries more risk (driving, for example) and that the vanishingly small risk of being caught up in a terror attack was essentially irrelevant.
Reading other threads here, I'm curious as to whether the same view is generally held here so:
Are you scared of being caught in a terror attack and does it impact your life?
Are you also wary of driving?
Assuming you don't spend all day hiding, how do you mentally compute the proportionality of your approach to the threat?
spaximus said:
I am afraid of an act of terror but no more that in the 70's but it has undoubtedly changed in the way these are carried out. Anyone who isn't concerned should be.
What has changed is these Radical Islam nut jobs are not bothered in the slightest to be killed so the bombs that used to be planted had to be planned and took smart people to work out and carry out. You do not have to be smart to drive a car or lorry into unarmed people, or to walk onto a tube with a back pack.
Will I change what I do, no. I always check my escape route in hotels, and on planes, always have and make sure I know where to go. Panic is the worst thing when anything happens. I never walk with ear phones in and neither does my daughter as hearing might save you.
We should carry on but these nut jobs have changed our lives already, areas now have huge barriers to try to stop driving attacks or free movement in and out of buildings and events has changed, so anyone who says nothing has changed clearly have missed what has happened bit by bit.
What we need is to fund the security service better, give them access to anything they want without fear and let then stop nut jobs. Arm more police as if that attack took place in any other city in the UK would there have been several armed police there to stop him?
Afraid I disagree hugely.What has changed is these Radical Islam nut jobs are not bothered in the slightest to be killed so the bombs that used to be planted had to be planned and took smart people to work out and carry out. You do not have to be smart to drive a car or lorry into unarmed people, or to walk onto a tube with a back pack.
Will I change what I do, no. I always check my escape route in hotels, and on planes, always have and make sure I know where to go. Panic is the worst thing when anything happens. I never walk with ear phones in and neither does my daughter as hearing might save you.
We should carry on but these nut jobs have changed our lives already, areas now have huge barriers to try to stop driving attacks or free movement in and out of buildings and events has changed, so anyone who says nothing has changed clearly have missed what has happened bit by bit.
What we need is to fund the security service better, give them access to anything they want without fear and let then stop nut jobs. Arm more police as if that attack took place in any other city in the UK would there have been several armed police there to stop him?
I never check my escape routes, I don't think about being attacked and giving unlimited power to security services is the last thing we should do.
I don't think a bomb planted by someone intelligent is any better/worse than a hire car driven by a fanatic. Ultimately, if it's my day to die, I don't really care whether the car is driven by a fanatic, an OAP or a drunk driver. All the same to me.
Do you worry about, say, an hour long motorway journey?
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