.... A Nice truck driver does not remotely threaten the security of the French state, any more than such acts do the security of America or Britain. The identification of the nation state with random killings of innocent people has become a political aberration.
The implication that leaders can somehow prevent such attacks by armed response is a total distraction from the intelligence and police work that might at least diminish their prevalence. It nationalises and institutionalises public alarm. It leads governments into madcap adventurism abroad and “securitises” the private lives of citizens at home.
What has happened in France is tragic and calls for human sympathy. Beyond that, there is nothing we can usefully do – other than make matters worse. [Simon Jenkins, 3000 comments]
[TOP RATED COMMENT 527 votes] What will happen next:
1) A lame hashtag will be set up by people who think taking action begins and ends in a re-tweet
2) There will be some sort of solidarity march, some aimless gathering to make people feel good about not actually doing anything.
3) World leaders will condemn the attack whilst simultaneously making sure never to mention wahabi islam and its main supporters.
4) The mainstream liberal media will offer up a somber tone & recant tales of the lost lives of the innocent dead but will simultaneously run small editorial articles by multiculturalist puritans who will tell us how although they are horrified by the attacks their concerns now lie with the possible reprisals on muslims.
5) Reprisals will amount to someone throwing a bag of pork scratchings into a mosque car park & a muslim being called a terrorist on the tube.
6) The media will begin running articles about how muslims feel unsafe in Europe because of our intolerance, we are tacitly reminded to feel bad about ourselves.
7) We await the next attack.
My sincere condolences to all those that lost loved ones and thoughts to those fighting for their lives in hospital . RIP to those that died.
[2ND 487] Isn't this almost identical to the article that appeared after the last attack, and the one before that, and the..
[6TH 318] "But there is no defence force on Earth that can defend a crowd from a madman in a truck."
Unless they identify him and his intentions before hand and stop him. Clearly it hasn't happened in this case but to suppose it can never happen is just silly.
[3RD 430] And it seems highly likely that he wasn't just a madman but a particular type of madman. Denial of the problem is a big part of it.
[4TH 345] Please, stop telling people how they should feel about, or react to this.
[5TH 328] Let's not notice the elephant in the room, pt. 94 [Guardian Cif] Read more
