Hmm...

Friday 13th. Unlucky for Parisiens.

On ne pourra pas dire que les terroristes manquent d’humour (sic.)

Also unlucky for us. My wife has epilepsy. Had a fit. Fell over when I wasn’t there. Cut her head. Loads of blood on the carpet by the time I got there. Spent most of the day in A and E. Ten stitches. Minor compared with Paris but not a very nice day. She also has blood that only clots slowly, so continued to bleed for a long time. Had another (small) fit in the evening that caused more blood to appear due to stress on the wound. :-/

The sad reality is that far more people per day get killed or injured in accidents, etc, etc. But they “aren’t news” so don’t get a mention in the media or cause the journalists and politicians to spend hours raking them over and demanding changes to laws, etc.

Jim

My wife has epilepsy. Had a fit

Not so common these days with the medication available. One of the few that still have issues then.

The sad reality is that far more people per day get killed or injured in accidents, etc, etc. But they “aren’t news” so don’t get a mention in the media or cause the journalists and politicians to spend hours raking them over and demanding changes to laws, etc.

“Health and Safety” – plenty of legislation.
As you say though, passing laws against people doing things that were already illegal seems more interesting than sensibly acting on existing legislation and keeping yourself and others safe.

The sad reality is that far more people per day get killed or injured in accidents, etc, etc.

Yes. That perspective may be useful. But it is not the numbers but the mindset that daunts. IS must have plenty of nutters to do their dirty work, and think it their religious duty. War and schrecklichkeit is not all that unnatural, especially to the young. Remember that four thousand years ago in the Middle East generals would slice a captive in half and have their troops marched between the two halves, just to get them in the right mindset to fight. The same idea is still used to this day. Nevertheless I do think violence is less common for most people now, compared with the past. Perhaps that is what IS is struggling against? By their fruits you will know them, if you will pardon the quote.

That perspective may be useful. But it is not the numbers but the mindset that daunts.

That is exactly the problem. While many people die daily from accidents and the like, we know the basic rules of common sense. You turn off the electricity before fixing a loose wire, you don’t try to overtake a car on an uphill blind bend, you don’t drink bleach… yet some people just figure they are somehow better, special, and don’t need to bother with that. Other people die as a result of the stupidity (a car doing 90 on the wrong side of the road on a blind bend will invariably hit some innocent sod). It sucks for sure, but it is an effect of stupidity, misjudgement, and maybe alcohol.

This is a far cry from a mindset that actually wants to kill random people. Or to put it into the words of a woman at a checkout in a local supermarket: I don’t know, I don’t know, maybe tomorrow somebody could come through the door with guns and shoot us all before we even know what is happening. And, I should point out, that we live in the back of nowhere. But terrorism doesn’t need locations. Sure, hitting the Eiffel Tower may be a nice slap in the face for France, but a few dozen people gunned down in a supermarket would surely be the same story regardless of location. Maybe even worse if it happened in a nowhere place like this as it would send the message “you aren’t safe, not anywhere”.

For me, part of the ‘meedja’ problem is that they do what the terrorists wanted them to do – spend hours and hours ‘covering’ the event and demanding that politicians say ‘what they will do’. The terrorists want to stir up a feeling of war and paranoia. That’s what feeds their egos. So all the coverage is actually worse than being simply being out-of-proportion. It encourages new terrorists to do similar things.

And all the time far more people die every day in car collisions, etc, etc. Often in ways where some attention would help reduce the rate of deaths and injuries. I suspect far more people do die from accidentally drinking bleach or overtaking carelessly than from ‘terror’. Just that relative lack of coverage stops us thinking about it in a rational context.

Jim

Just that relative lack of coverage stops us thinking about it in a rational context.

The opposite is true too.

all the time far more people die every day in car collisions, etc

Those are just accidents even if some are derived from other peoples stupidity.
Pause and reflect on how many people die as suicides because some tosspot pressed them into it. Some just kill themselves because of “social media” harrassment, some strap on explosives and kill others at the same time.