"We're all Israeilis now?"

[Ultralight]

As you all have likely heard, there was a terrorist attack in the UK... again.

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/world/europe/uk-london-underground-tube-explosion.html

The other night I was listening to a Sam Harris podcast and he used this phrase: "We're all Israelis now."

He went on to explain that we now live in a world where terrorists attacks can happen to almost anyone almost anywhere and that this is how the Israelis have been living since the Jewish State was founded.

Thoughts? Do you share his sentiments?

[iris lilies]

I dont have any words of wisdom, just words of support for those in the U.K. We are thinking of you all!

[ToomuchStuff]

I thought you need to form your own thoughts, then you might be interested in posting them, if you want a discussion.
Why do you want others to do homework?

[gimmethesimplelife]

My take is that there is some validity to this. It does seem as if there are more attacks being carried out and there is no guarantee as to when and where - in that sense we all are all vulnerable. The other day I was on the light rail passing through Tempe and it dawned on me - what is there from stopping a terrorist act from happening on this light rail train here and now?

Not a pleasant thought but I realized that though the chances of an actual terrorist act happening are not very high - there really is no way to know when and where such an act will happen. In that sense, we are all living with this reality that Israelis have long lived with. I wonder what their everyday coping skills for this are or are they just used to living with this or is it a little of both, coping skills and getting used to this vulnerability? Rob

[Lainey]

Before 9/11/2001, I remember being somewhat surprised that the United States had not suffered high fatality coordinated terrorist acts, especially since Europe and the Middle East had had these for years.
After 9/11/2001, everyone was on high alert for many years but now I think that feeling has waned somewhat. I think we have empathy for victims in Brussels, Paris, etc. when these attacks happen though, that we as a nation probably would not have felt as deeply prior to our own on 9/11.
So maybe we are all Israelis now.

[Lainey]

Rob,
I read that one of the Israelis coping mechanisms is their rapid response to a restaurant bombing, or suicide bomber, etc. Their aim is to clean up the area immediately and restore it as quickly as possible to normal. The goal is to minimize the attack's devastation and therefore any opportunity for the attackers to gloat over it.

[IshbelRobertson]

As you all have likely heard, there was a terrorist attack in the UK... again.

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/world/europe/uk-london-underground-tube-explosion.html

The other night I was listening to a Sam Harris podcast and he used this phrase: "We're all Israelis now."

He went on to explain that we now live in a world where terrorists attacks can happen to almost anyone almost anywhere and that this is how the Israelis have been living since the Jewish State was founded.

Thoughts? Do you share his sentiments?

Whilst in no way denigrating the long and ongoing threat to the people of Israel, we in the UK are no strangers to terrorist attacks.

I lived in London when the IRA bombings was at its height. I sat in London pubs in Camden and Kentish Town (particularly Irish areas of the city) when young sympathisers, male and female came in dressed in black jackets, trousers and berets as well as dark sunglasses (in London at night!) shaking collection tins in your face saying 'Donations for the Bhoys'? I had rellies serving in N Ireland, I wasn't about to give donations to let them purchase guns, often courtesy of NORAID in the States.

All this from the early 1970s. In the UK we dealt with Hitler's bombs, the IRA and now Islamist terrorists, many of them, sadly, home-grown. We just keep our stiff upper lip. Perhaps you need to buy a poster the the British WWII slogan 'Keep calm and carry on'?

[Yppej]

No we are not all Israelis now. We don't in most cases engage in the ethnic profiling El Al does, our TSA does not trick people into carrying around tracking devices like the Israelis did to Ultralight when he visited (which is why so many of our undocumented come on planes and overstay their visas), Trump has been unable to get his wall built, and we do not have a religious test for citizenship. But I could foresee a devolution in our civil liberties due to terrorism so we become more like Israel.

[bae]

Thoughts? Do you share his sentiments?

No.

[JaneV2.0]

Whilst in no way denigrating the long and ongoing threat to the people of Israel, we in the UK are no strangers to terrorist attacks.

I lived in London when the IRA bombings was at its height. I sat in London pubs in Camden and Kentish Town (particularly Irish areas of the city) when young sympathisers, male and female came in dressed in black jackets, trousers and berets as well as dark sunglasses (in London at night!) shaking collection tins in your face saying 'Donations for the Bhoys'? I had rellies serving in N Ireland, I wasn't about to give donations to let them purchase guns, often courtesy of NORAID in the States.

All this from the early 1970s. In the UK we dealt with Hitler's bombs, the IRA and now Islamist terrorists, many of them, sadly, home-grown. We just keep our stiff upper lip. Perhaps you need to buy a poster the the British WWII slogan 'Keep calm and carry on'?

I remember the days of "the troubles" well. History repeating itself with a different cast of characters.

[flowerseverywhere]

No

i have travelled all over the world and the North American continent, from the smallest towns to the largest cities and I have never felt like my life was in danger. A few times I felt like I was not in a good place and got out. Or got creepy vibes from someone and figured out how to get away,from the situation.

US has a population of 325,000,000+.


The highest amount of terrorism deaths was 9/11 2001, over 3,000

since then there have been many years with zero deaths.

Deaths from opoids: over 50,000 in 2016, from what I read this is probably more
in 2015 over 35,000 died from automobile accidents
tens of thousands of gun deaths per year in the US
police kill hundreds of people a year. The total this year is over 700
several thousand people each year are killed by their domestic partner

just those first three add up to over 100,000 deaths a year and it barely phases us.


if you are affected of course it means everything, not to make light of the victims and their families

I think so many times the news media gives way too much attention and gives the perpetrators way more than their fifteen minutes of fame. And our lawmakers I swear are trying to scare us to death half the time so they can advance their own agenda.

[IshbelRobertson]

I remember the days of "the troubles" well. History repeating itself with a different cast of characters.

Sadly, yes.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Rob,
I read that one of the Israelis coping mechanisms is their rapid response to a restaurant bombing, or suicide bomber, etc. Their aim is to clean up the area immediately and restore it as quickly as possible to normal. The goal is to minimize the attack's devastation and therefore any opportunity for the attackers to gloat over it.Lainey...interesting. And very different from how such is handled in the West - and I don't mean just the US but Western countries in general. Here the media is going to swoop down and cover and cover and cover the story - I'm not saying this is wrong but it does give those who commit these acts the attention they may be craving and it does escalate the fear/paranoia cycle. I can see the Israeli way of handling this - though different - makes some sense. Rob

[ToomuchStuff]

I have never felt like my life was in danger.

That must be a nice feeling/illusion.

[flowerseverywhere]

That must be a nice feeling/illusion.

never when I was traveling or in a public place. At work as a nurse, yes. Growing up in a violent home, yes. But not going about my daily public life.

[jp1]

That must be a nice feeling/illusion.

I don't particularly feel in danger ever either. And my personal statistics would show that I'm right to feel that way. Although I did almost get run over while attempting to cross the street in Paris, but that was due to my incompetence, not to maliciousness in the part of the drivers.

When I lived in NYC I was good friends with a couple of guys from Israel. They were obsessive with the cell phones. If we were getting together it involved phone calls every step of the way. Especially if there was any deviation from the plan that might make them late. I commented to one of them about this once and he explained that it was common behavior in Israel because of the terror attacks. That if you know that your friend/son/mother/whoever was recently at X and you hear about a bombing at Y you don't have to worry about them. I assume today they all just use 'find your friends' on Facebook or some other tracking system on their phones. It would seem to be far more easy to just pull up that app as soon as you hear of an attack, zoom in to that location on the map and see if any of your contact list is nearby.

I'll believe we're becoming like Israel when lots of people start getting so concerned about safety that they feel the need to check in with loved ones multiple times per day. The danger that exists now, at least in the US, is nowhere even close.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Not in the U.S. now, Europe is a bit different. Sure there is some danger of violent crime in the U.S., some places more than others, but that's not terrorism generally.

Driving home from work one day this week I hear a loud boom and I mention on the phone that it's like living in Israel .. or Syria. But is it really? No, because it's not a bomb, it's a fricken firecracker. And is it absurd to have to be distracted by firecrackers that sound like explosives, while trying to drive home through dense urban areas where the driving is completely crazy anyway? Well YES, but that's urban crazy, not "we're just like Israel". When I first got this job someone also thought it was a good idea to set off fireworks into the sky right by a busy street that has traffic so bad you can't even move to get away if you wanted to, and it wasn't anywhere near the 4th of july even, oh I cursed that one.

[IshbelRobertson]

Lainey...interesting. And very different from how such is handled in the West - and I don't mean just the US but Western countries in general. Here the media is going to swoop down and cover and cover and cover the story - I'm not saying this is wrong but it does give those who commit these acts the attention they may be craving and it does escalate the fear/paranoia cycle. I can see the Israeli way of handling this - though different - makes some sense. Rob

Well, that's exactly what we do in the UK. keep calm and carry on. I am not on Facebook or Twitter, but a friend emailed me that just after the latest bomb at Parsons Green tube station someone posted that oif anyone was in the station and needed a cup of tea, the kettle was on! We are a resilient nation.