7-7-2005: "Today, We Are All Britons"

(flag lifted from Baldilocks, who lifted it from the excellent Eject! Eject! Eject!)

MyBear woke me up this morning with the news. "They blew up London," he murmured, shaking my shoulder.

At first, it didn't sink in. When it did, I sat up straight and groped for the TV remote.

And, oh, the pictures. I got angry, and I got teary, and then I got angry again.

My heart swelled as I saw the Brits stiffen that upper lip --- hell, stiffen their whole faces --- and deal with it. I especially remember one man, tall, fair, in a well-cut summery suit, with well-cut blond hair; his face was black with soot, one side blacker than the other. He was talking to a policeman. Both were quite calm, pointing as if the sooty-faced man were asking directions to the nearest tailor.

Tony Blair was resolute:

"It's important, however, that those engaged in terrorism realize that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism on the world."

"It's important however that those engaged in terrorism realise that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism on the world.

Whatever they do, it is our determination that they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear in this country and in other civilised nations throughout the world."

George Bush had the guts to call the terrorists "evil":

"The attacks contrast sharply with what the Group of Eight is trying to accomplish at its meeting in Scotland and condemned those who have such evil in their hearts that they take the lives of innocent folks. That's what the war on terrorism is about. We will not yield to the terrorists. We will bring them to justice."

And even Ken Livingstone represented, and impressed [emphasis is mine]:

"It was not aimed at presidents or prime ministers. It was aimed at ordinary working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old.

"Indiscriminate slaughter irrespective of any consideration for age, class, religion, whatever. That isn't an ideology. It isn't even a perverted faith. It is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder.

"I can show you why you will fail. In the days that follow, look at our airports, look at our seaports and look at our railway stations and even after your cowardly attacks you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential.

"Nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that life. Where freedom is strong and people can live in harmony, whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail."

And then, one last item, from what seems to be a London leftie (cursing follows):

What the fuck do you think you're doing?

This is London. We've dealt with your sort before. You don't try and pull this on us.

Do you have any idea how many times our city has been attacked? Whatever you're trying to do, it's not going to work.

All you've done is end some of our lives, and ruin some more. How is that going to help you? You don't get rewarded for this kind of crap.

And if, as your MO indicates, you're an al-Qaeda group, then you're out of your tiny minds.

Because if this is a message to Tony Blair, we've got news for you. We don't much like our government ourselves, or what they do in our name. But, listen very clearly. We'll deal with that ourselves. We're London, and we've got our own way of doing things, and it doesn't involve tossing bombs around where innocent people are going about their lives.

And that's because we're better than you. Everyone is better than you. Our city works. We rather like it. And we're going to go about our lives. We're going to take care of the lives you ruined. And then we're going to work. And we're going down the pub.

So you can pack up your bombs, put them in your arseholes, and get the fuck out of our city.

Yeah, what he said.