Let us move on from rare and unusual events

I was six years old. I remember coming home from school at about half past three, turning on the television, expecting cartoons when the news was on. There were buildings on fire, and the news was still on even when I had to go to bed, at seven-thirty. Of course, being six years old, I would not understand that this attack on the most powerful country in the world would involve a botched war in Afghanistan, a country previously resistant to superpowers, first to the British and then to the Soviets, consequentially radicalising young Muslims at home to ‘fight back’ against encroachments on Muslim territory, to carry out sabotage attacks in London, Madrid, Glasgow and Mumbai. But this is not the fault of Al-Qaeda, but the fault of the United States and its resistance to let go.

I didn’t feel the need to reference a date to describe the chain of events. In fact, I shall not mention the date, month or year, when those events happened. It demonstrates the power that this event has had on the past ten years, even though it was ten years ago. There are survivors and they will not forget what had happened, as there are the families of those who died either in combat or in the attack itself. Nevertheless, the rest of us, who weren’t directly affected, but who now have to be patted down in airports before buying a bottle of water to replace the bottle you had to throw away, must take advantage of the ability to separate the lives of the still-grieving from yours, and come back to terms with reality.

In fact, terrorism from Islamic extremism has been around since the fifties. In 1970, several aircraft from Western nations were grounded by Palestinian nationalists in Jordan. Whilst everyone was indeed freed from hostage, the plane was nevertheless blown up. And let us not forget the tragedy of Lockerbie in 1989, where the Pan-Am plane had exploded into mid-air, killing not only people on the plane but on the ground as well, as sections of the aircraft fell onto the town. There have been attacks in Munich, at the 1972 Olympic Games, in Paris in 1995. And whilst we go past somewhere like Lockerbie and still sympathise with those killed or affected, we continue our lives as usual.

But that attack that I saw on the television has changed the Western world for the worst, and has made life worst for those who resemble those responsible, as people abuse Muslims, previously an integral part of the community, now alienated by former neighbours. Muslims, who, although dedicated to their religion, respect the way of life in the West and have made outstanding contributions to European culture as a whole, are blamed for an attack by fundamentalists. Would we tolerate the same words if we said that all Catholics are paedophiles and the scum of the Earth? Even the Daily Mail would be slightly surprised.

I, for one, am sick for the constant remembrance ceremonies, the constant paranoia which the attack shrouds and the disgusting bigotry which has been the result of political and media engineering to make it seem that what happened was a near-apocalypse. Whilst I do not condone the attacks of a few self-righteous martyrs, and I cannot ignore the suffering that such an attack has done, it is so wrong for this to be treated as an isolated case. Who knows? Right now is the London 2012 Olympics, and who says that such an incident could not happen within the next few weeks?