As you are probably aware another terrorist attack occurred in London yesterday afternoon. A police officer was killed, many innocent public were also killed or injured. Again, this was an attack of cowardice. We are a tolerant society but I'm afraid tolerance is misinterpreted for weakness by many including the enemies of freedom and democracy. Like all these attacks, they will not win or prevail and has been shown in past history, their futile efforts are just that, pointless and futile.

Sadly, innocent people died in this attack, many foreign, but their loss is even more tragic under the futile and pointless circumstances.

 

Very heartbreaking from nonsensical actions.

 

Sadly, one person who died on Westminster Bridge was a US citizen from Utah, Kurt Cochran, he and his wife were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in London. His wife is in a London hospital suffering from injuries.

 

First, let me say that this was an awful act perpetrated by a maniac with values rooted more in the 6th century than the 21st.

What I think I'm most sad about, is the fact that as we see more and more of these senseless acts, we are, sooner or later, going to have to come to the conclusion that was reached by the Mayor of London; such actions are "part and parcel" of living in a large city. It is impossible to stop every act of terror let alone every act that gets committed in a city of millions of people from all over the world. We, here in the US, are going to have to come to that realization at some point. As good as intelligence can be, it is impossible to stop any and all lone wolf terrorists.

What we need to do is make sure to stay resolute and vigilant in our watch for dangerous people as well as dangerous government overreach. We can't be so willing to give away our freedoms for some presumed safety. It doesn't and shouldn't work that way. Just like we learned from the internment camps in the west during the Second World War, we can't lose sense of who we are due to fear. When we do, the terrorists achieve their goals.

Here's just a quick list of more likely ways of dying here in the US as compared to dying at the hands of a terrorist.

https://landroverforums.com/forum/of...-london-83526/

"Compared to the threat posed by refugee terrorists — which the president's executive order is allegedly designed to curtail — the data suggest the typical American is:

6 times more likely to die from a shark attack (one of the rarest forms of death on Earth)
29 times more likely to die from a regional asteroid strike
260 times more likely to be struck and killed by lightning
4,700 times more likely to die in an airplane or spaceship accident
129,000 times more likely to die in a gun assault
407,000 times more likely to die in a motor vehicle incident
6.9 million times more likely to die from cancer or heart disease"

 

You are perfectly correct Paul. Having 'worked' on the 'dark side' many years ago in the bad old days when some were 'eliminated' because they posed a cultural threat to the west we now have a more dubious or insidious form of terrorism with many more potential 'enemies' involved. Today it is almost impossible to guarantee public safety from outside attacks and expecting the security services to watch and control the whole game is 100 maybe 1000 times more difficult, almost impossible. The expectation of terrorism is ever present today and everyone must appreciate the risks and share in the possibilities of controlling, as much as possible, the influx of even higher risks into our societies. Sadly we are living in another era where these things can happen, why, well who knows, it is a known fact that long term it never succeeds and the everyday people are not 'terrorised' by common criminals and murderers.

As you rightly state, the potential of being killed or dying from other causes is far greater and we must learn to live with the status quo albeit a very bitter pill to swallow as we cannot turn the clock back to the 'so called' happier times. C'est la vie.

 

Being vigilant is definitely the key, but not to the point of being paranoid which is a thin line.
I've been to 31 countries to include being deployed to Afghanistan, KSA and Yemen. IMHO... I felt safer in Afghanistan, Yemen and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) than I did visiting my own family on the West Side of Chicago or driving through College Park in Atlanta.
Take that for what it's worth...

 

I hear you. Me, I'm more afraid of drunks on motorcycles in my neck of the woods here in northwestern CT. I've had not one but two motorcyclists (one with a BAC of .262, the other .300) fail to stay on their side of the road. Both hit me on the left front corner of a Nissan Pathfinder and a Range Rover. To make it even more insane, the accidents were four years apart BUT less than a 1/4 from each other. I cringe when I approach a motorcyclist who hugs the double yellow.

I'd like to know what the odds were of someone having that happen to them twice!

 

I tend to agree with both of you guys. I spent much time in the 60's and 70's in the middle east and you have to be vigilant and streetwise albeit the culture is very different but you can recognise where the threats and dangers occur. These days it's difficult to assess the everyday dangers even in your own country, it can come from road rage, drunk drivers, drunks generally, trouble makers or terrorists, wherever, but you can only assess, be vigilant and streetwise to avoid 'situations' which is obviously more dangerous for women, children or the naive. Sadly, it's the society in which we live today. In 20-30 years time it will either be far more chaotic and dangerous or much improved, who knows.

 

Can't see the forest for all the trees....

The deaths involved in terrorist attacks, as sad as they are, are basically trees...the forest is our way of life, our beliefs and our freedom. Yes, there are thousands of ways you can die...which is irrelevant in this discussion. Because, death by terrorism...as horrible as the act is...is not their main objective. What they're truly attacking, with these terrible acts, is our forest. They want to turn our forest into a vast wasteland...like the one they exist in.

Sharks, asteroids, lighting bolts, etc, etc, etc...are simply causes of death...nothing more, nothing less. No one with a half of brain would sit around worrying about any of them...or a terrorist killing them. But, folks sure do worry about terrorist ruining our way of life...here...in a country where folks roam freely, unobstructed and share a moral compass for life in general.

Brian.

 

In Canada a person is more likely to die of a moose attack then a terror attack