(no subject)

[emony]

As I was sitting on the train from Aldershot to Ascot this morning, reading HBP and pondering many ponderful things, a chap sat down in one of the seats opposite mine. This in and of itself is not unusual. It's not a hugely busy route, but it gets its fair share of commuters, and sometimes the enormous bubble of personal space we Brits like to adopt has to be broken in to.

So yes, he sat down just across from me. Not normally a cause for any concern, or even much notice. Except - he was carrying a rucksack. A small one, but a rucksack none the less. He was carrying a rucksack, and looking slightly twitchy and nervous. At one point, he opened the rucksack a little, fiddled with something inside, and then closed it up again.

Did I mention that he looked like he might have been a Muslim? No. Well, there you go. I feel horrible, to be honest, for even having thought it. If it had been some ginger-haired white dude, would I have even noticed? Probably not.

He was probably a little nervous because he thought that the rest of us on the train all though he was a terrorist. Fcol.

This is the long-term impact of terrorist acts. Not the damage, not the death - the suspicion. Turning our society against itself, to try and make us destroy ourselves from within.

Terrorism sucks. And so do I.

Comments

[nausica2.livejournal.com]

((((Em))))

You don't suck dear, we all suck.

My co-worker H. takes the train every morning. Today, in our coffee break she told me she had avoided sitting beside a Muslim woman because she was wearing thick clothing, and she hated herself for that.

It's good you are aware of that. And maybe next month things will be different, because as H. pointed out, if that woman had been a terrorist, being beside her or two rows from her won't make any change.

[emony.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm sure you're right.

[nausica2.livejournal.com]

:) We have to believe it. Or we could dive into paranoia, like some Americans, but better not.

You stick to tea, guys. So far you're doing alright.

[emony.livejournal.com]

Yeah. We'll get by. We always do. :)

[kangaruth.livejournal.com]

It's not you that sucks. Mass media coverage of stuff always makes you paranoid. Like, I'll always be a little worried that gangs of teenagers I have to pass in the street are going to rob me, or that drunk men walking behind me at night are going to attack and rape me. I know it's silly, and I feel bad for thinking it but I can't help it.

A little paranoia is inevitable in these situations, but it'll calm down in a few weeks.

And the fact you are aware of it means you aren't going to let it get out of hand.

[emony.livejournal.com]

I worry about that stuff too, but I don't feel guilty about that because it's a realistic fear based on statistical likelihood. The chances of being in that one train coach that gets blown up are pretty low. It just feels like a less reasonable thing to worry about. I know what you mean though, and I'm sure you're right. Thanks. :)