Westminster Terror Attack (London, UK)

[Esper]

Several people have died in an apparent terror attack involving a car and a knife against pedestrians and the Houses of Parliament in London.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39359158
http://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-39355505

We have at least a few members who live in the London metropolitan area and I hope they're all safe.

There will obviously be more information released as time passes, but for now what do you all think of this attack and how it might affect the future?

 

[gimmepie]

I'm glad that it's not easy to get a gun in the UK or this could have been so much worse. That being said, it's still terrible that people were hurt and killed.

As for what this means for the future, I'll wait until I know about who conducted the attack and why before I comment on that. I doubt the response to it from the government will be anything good for anyone though.

 

[User19sq]

This is a real tragedy. I just hope it wasn't Isis this time, as they've given Muslims a bad name already. Just as horrible if it were political activist.

I just hope those wounded will recover nicely. All we Americans can extend for the deceased are thoughts and prayers, sadly.

 

[Hikamaru]

We had terrorist attacks in the heart of big cities like Paris and Brussels... and now London. These types of terrorism acts have caused "Islamophobia" for a long time now and this latest incident is heightening the fear even more.

Condolences to those who were murdered, though.

 

[gimmepie]

We had terrorist attacks in the heart of big cities like Paris and Brussels... and now London. These types of terrorism acts have caused "Islamophobia" for a long time now and this latest incident is heightening the fear even more.

Condolences to those who were murdered, though.

Was this even an Islamic group? I haven't heard anything about that yet.

 

[Hikamaru]

Was this even an Islamic group? I haven't heard anything about that yet.

Islamophobia is the fancy term for people who have become fearful of Muslims due to terrorism. Or that's what I think it is.

 

[gimmepie]

Islamophobia is the fancy term for people who have become fearful of Muslims due to terrorism. Or that's what I think it is.

I know what Islamophobia is. I'm asking if this attack even has anything to do with Islamic extremist groups or not because I haven't heard anything reported about the perpetrators.

 

[Hikamaru]

I know what Islamophobia is. I'm asking if this attack even has anything to do with Islamic extremist groups or not because I haven't heard anything reported about the perpetrators.

From what I heard, I don't think it was work of those extremist groups. Maybe when more developments are made, we'll eventually find out what was to blame.

 

[Nihilego]

From what I heard, I don't think it was work of those extremist groups. Maybe when more developments are made, we'll eventually find out what was to blame.

If you don't know that Islamic groups were responsible then don't bring Islam into the discussion. Assuming that all terrorism is Islamic just adds to the negative stereotypes towards Islam.

In any case though, I'm not gonna be that guy who starts crying about knock-on impacts to certain groups of people when the real issue here is that innocent people just got murdered. Thank goodness these incidents are few and far between in the UK. I like to think I've lived here long enough to know that, although we'll be shocked for a few days, we won't let this impact our lives or the lives of anyone else. The UK has a very strong "just get on with it" attitude which i think helps reduce our vulnerability as a population to terrorism.

As for what this means for the future, I'll wait until I know about who conducted the attack and why before I comment on that. I doubt the response to it from the government will be anything good for anyone though.

Eh. This government does very little that it's not forced into doing. May is an extraordinarily weak and indecisive PM. There'll be some speech about condolences and solidarity and all that stuff everyone else is saying and then probably nothing else.

I'm not really inclined to think this attack will have any impact on the future - and that's exactly how it should be. If this sort of thing changes anything, we lose. That's the whole point of terrorism. Certainly, I don't think the British will be calling for much to change.

 

[Hands]

Was this even an Islamic group? I haven't heard anything about that yet.

It wasn't a group, but he was known for inciting terrorism and was on watch lists and had praised ISIL before. As far as the Police can tell he was working alone. EDIT - The Police have now arrested 6 other people in connection with the attack, although it is unclear what level of involvement they had, if any. It may simply be a precautionary move to prevent possible other attacks.

It's pretty awful, I think the worst thing is he mounted the pavement to deliberately run people over. Had he just crashed through the gates and attacked the cop it'd be different. It'd still be bad but there's a vast difference between trying to get into Parliament to attack the MPs/PM and the act of indiscriminately running people over in the street.

I'm not really inclined to think this attack will have any impact on the future - and that's exactly how it should be. If this sort of thing changes anything, we lose. That's the whole point of terrorism. Certainly, I don't think the British will be calling for much to change.

I think that's where we differ from Americans, Australians, Canadians etc. We had the Blitz. I think the Blitz hardened British society in a way that those who didn't experience nightly firebombing and heavy air raids could not understand. I'd argue that the steel that saw our grandparents and their parents through the Blitz is what has instilled our "get on with it" attitude to tragedies like this.

 

[Lipstick Vogue]

Apart from the fact every other country hit by attacks in the last few years has had the same attitude. Gotta show those fake Muslims that it's futile.

I'm really not sure those that survived the war would be so happy to see something akin to an invading force murdering British citizens.

 

[Hands]

Apart from the fact every other country hit by attacks in the last few years has had the same attitude. Gotta show those fake Muslims that it's futile.

I'm really not sure those that survived the war would be so happy to see something akin to an invading force murdering British citizens.

This is actually one of your most terrible posts in a long line of bad posts.

Every country hit by attacks in the last few years has killed hundreds - tens of thousands (In America and Britain's case) of non combatants in Muslim territories via airstrikes and drone strikes. Of course, why bother with context when you're pushing right wing nonsense?

Why do you reactionary snowflakes always say "Invading force"? I'd hate to see how badly you'd handle it if we ever did get even remotely invaded by anyone.

 

[Hikamaru]

I just seem to be so scared of hearing terrorist attacks on the news. Thankfully the police and security in Australia always seems to step up when such news breaks.

 

[gimmepie]

This is actually one of your most terrible posts in a long line of bad posts.

Every country hit by attacks in the last few years has killed hundreds - tens of thousands (In America and Britain's case) of non combatants in Muslim territories via airstrikes and drone strikes. Of course, why bother with context when you're pushing right wing nonsense?

Why do you reactionary snowflakes always say "Invading force"? I'd hate to see how badly you'd handle it if we ever did get even remotely invaded by anyone.

In fairness, he's bang on with his first point. He's saying the same thing as Nihilego there.

 

[Hands]

In fairness, he's bang on with his first point. He's saying the same thing as Nihilego there.

I would be wildly surprised if, given his prior posts and the other half of that post, he was being genuine.

 

[Lipstick Vogue]

I'm just not particularly keen on senseless murders, child rape or British pensioners dying of cold in their homes whilst billions of pounds are spend on people that have been here for two minutes. I'm not against helping people in war torn countries (especially when our government are playing a part), but lots of the incoming migrants are just opportunistic parasites.

To be fair though, high horse Hands is correct. I'm just a nasty alt-right shitter.

 

[Hands]

I'm just not particularly keen on senseless murders, child rape or British pensioners dying of cold in their homes whilst billions of pounds are spend on people that have been here for two minutes. I'm not against helping people in war torn countries (especially when our government are playing a part), but lots of the incoming migrants are just opportunistic parasites.

To be fair though, high horse Hands is correct. I'm just a nasty alt-right ****ter.

At the risk of this going off topic you really need to learn how budgets and crime work. All of our most prolific paedophiles have been British and white (Everyone, excluding Harris, from Yewtree, Huntley, White, Brady etc) and most of our murderers are too. Unfairly targeting refugees, and that's what most of them are, no matter what right wing nonsense you put forward, will only encourage more terrorism in retaliation the behaviour and beliefs of people like you.

 

[Lipstick Vogue]

Because literally inviting them in and then accepting each and every terrorist act act as our fault (or the work of a deranged individual) is clearly helping.

 

[Hands]

Because literally inviting them in and then accepting each and every terrorist act act as our fault (or the work of a deranged individual) is clearly helping.

Where have we accepted anything as being our fault? I get that you alt-right snowflakes cant accept any level of context or fact but there's no smoke without fire. Of course it is not the fault of the British public when this happens, but you lot want to make a case that Muslims do it because they're bad and hate Britain and think the Queen is a frog as opposed to accepting that any of this is any kind of backlash from us bombing the crap out of brown people in the East for the past 20 years.

Also we don't "invite them all in". So far we've officially taken in 1.300 whilst a further few thousand are awaiting Asylum hearings. Again, classic baseless bullcrap from the right who once again have no interest in fact or context because their false narratives, as always, are exactly that. False.

Stop using a heinous terrorist attack to further your own agenda of racism.

 

[Lipstick Vogue]

Where have we accepted anything as being our fault? You've stated that these attacks are retaliation for the the actions of the west. I'd partially agree there but in reality, Islam just doesn't want play nicely with the other kids.

1300? lol. Lets try these statistics from the Red Cross in 2015.