Are we in danger of 'normalising' terrorism?

[L00b]

And how do we "just accept it" now?

Going by past (but relatively recent) precedent, within a couple of days or so, the mass cognitive dissonance kicks in.

 

The media repeats their pre-prepped op-eds telling us about 'solidarity' & 'tiny minority'.

 

Politicians look solemn, pour honeyed words & pretend it had nothing to do with them.

 

Liberal and Left activists close ranks around the Islamic community & hunt dissent.

 

Slacktivists have the national flag on their Facebook avatar and the next iteration of the 'Je Suis' meme.

 

By the week-end we will be back to normal, this will be half forgotten, and we await the next atrocity in 8-10 weeks time when the mass amnesia is again interrupted briefly.

 

Rinse - repeat.

 

[tinfoilhat]

Maybe we normalised in in the 1970s/1980s, because people do seem to be surprised when they out that that was the time when terrorism was prevalent in Europe?

 

"We" might have done, certainly those of us in our late 30s and older and certainly those who live or have lived on London or Northern Ireland. it was something that happened and was, for want of a better word, normal. Its new for bright young things in their 20s though, certainly this many this close together, and the way its reported now I think is more intense than it was 30 or 40 years ago.

 

There have been a cluster in mainland Europe recently but I'm not sure its in the realms normal yet. There will be more and it will become normal though.

[Cyclone]

Well I can only speak for me personally. I didn't live in fear of nuclear attack from the Soviets...Yes there was a threat, but it (seemed to me) to be more about high level political posturing by the then super-powers. It didn't have any real effect on my life.

 

Do you live in fear of terrorist attack now?

[PeteMorris]

Going by past (but relatively recent) precedent, within a couple of days or so, the mass cognitive dissonance kicks in.

 

The media repeats their pre-prepped op-eds telling us about 'solidarity' & 'tiny minority'.

 

Politicians look solemn, pour honeyed words & pretend it had nothing to do with them.

 

Liberal and Left activists close ranks around the Islamic community & hunt dissent.

 

Slacktivists have the national flag on their Facebook avatar and the next iteration of the 'Je Suis' meme.

 

By the week-end we will be back to normal, this will be half forgotten, and we await the next atrocity in 8-10 weeks time when the mass amnesia is again interrupted briefly.

 

Rinse - repeat.

 

 

So it's being sanitised?.....By a predictable merry-go-round of action/reaction/normality....etc

[tinfoilhat]

So it's being sanitised?.....By a predictable merry-go-round of action/reaction/normality....etc

 

I don't think sanatised is the right word, people havent got the time/attention span/interest to dwell on it for ages. As bad as the Belgium attacks were, Im not going to mope around the house for days on end, glued to BBC News waiting for updates.

 

Action/reaction/normality could be used to describe what happens when a relative dies of old age or something. Life goes on.

[PeteMorris]

I don't think sanatised is the right word, people havent got the time/attention span/interest to dwell on it for ages. As bad as the Belgium attacks were, Im not going to mope around the house for days on end, glued to BBC News waiting for updates.

 

Action/reaction/normality could be used to describe what happens when a relative dies of old age or something. Life goes on.

 

Well I have to be brutally honest. Much as I 'feel' for the victims....The overwhelming feeling is, glad it wasn't anywhere near me...I suspect most people feel that way...

 

That's why in a perverse way, I think we're possibly already normalised to it. But therein lies the problem....If we're all apathetic do it...is it going to get worse and escalate? Bigger atrocities, softer targets, more fatalities...

[L00b]

So it's being sanitised?.....By a predictable merry-go-round of action/reaction/normality....etc

No, because to me "it's being sanitized" suggests a deliberate action by one or more parties towards that outcome, when what I posted is just a collection of typical, but discrete, behaviour exhibited by respective groups, and the respective behaviour of which could (theoretically) change/evolve spontaneously.

 

In simple terms, the "predictable merry-go-round of action/reaction/normality" is just the collection of coping mechanisms of the sub-groups, each according to its own environmental circumstances, in a social context (within which each group also comes to do "what is expected of it" in the circumstances).

 

I expect it was no different in the 70s, 80s, <etc.> (adjusted for the mores of the time, so less TV coverage, less social media, <etc.> but possibly more outrage because moralistic values were different/higher).

Edited March 24, 2016 by L00b

[foxy lady]

No, but its becoming more common.

 

200 years ago it was actual wars and invasion where thousands died.

 

Unless and until we do something more about terrorism, then it will not go away. We will have to get used to the bombings. the media heightens the impact.

 

The problem is that weapons move forward and not backwards, and so does the ability of terrorists to move around the globe. So 1000 years ago they might have swords and sailing ships. 400 years ago they might have had a barrel of gun poweder and a musket. 100 years ago dynamite and a rifle. Now they have machine guns, airliners & Semtex. In a few years it will be biological and nuclear weapons. Perhaps even balistic missiles So not only are attacks more common. They are also more devastating.

Edited March 24, 2016 by foxy lady

[tinfoilhat]

No, because to me "it's being sanitized" suggests a deliberate action by one or more parties towards that outcome, when what I posted is just a collection of typical, but discrete, behaviour exhibited by respective groups, and the respective behaviour of which could (theoretically) change/evolve spontaneously.

 

In simple terms, the "predictable merry-go-round of action/reaction/normality" is just the collection of coping mechanisms of the sub-groups, each according to its own environmental circumstances, in a social context (within which each group also comes to do "what is expected of it" in the circumstances).

 

I expect it was no different in the 70s, 80s, <etc.> (adjusted for the mores of the time, so less TV coverage, less social media, <etc.> but possibly more outrage because moralistic values were different/higher).

 

Agree with everything bar the last line. You can certainly argue the UK population had different values but we were far less squeamish when it came to numbers of dead people. Casualites from things like war to terrorism to straight forward accidents were probably higher back then but now the numbers don't need to be high for outrage to be high.

[L00b]

Agree with everything bar the last line. You can certainly argue the UK population had different values but we were far less squeamish when it came to numbers of dead people. Casualites from things like war to terrorism to straight forward accidents were probably higher back then but now the numbers don't need to be high for outrage to be high.

Agreed with the sentiment there, tfh, but my last line was not meant to suggest that the UK population may have been more squeamish about casualties or 'softer'. Quite the contrary, actually.

 

Just (like it says on the tin ) that it may have been 'more' morally outraged by a terrorist attack (and accordingly 'more' ready and willing to do something about it practically and most un-PC...such as sending in the SAS, rather than pizzas and try to negotiate in the name of everybody's huminrites).

 

That is, relative to today's "semi-passive" reaction (well...that's what I'd call tweeting, holding candles and singing kumba-ya).

 

Personally, I find the gradual erosion of moral standards over time seems to have run parallel with increasing passivism (and I don't mean pacifism). That's just a gut-feel/perception, mind, there's no scientific or statistical basis for that opinion.

 

...or maybe middle age is aggravating my reactionary tendencies