On July 22, Jean Charles de Mendes was gunned down mistakenly by London Police.
4 years ago on september 11, US experienced something it never imagined would happen. The tragedy not only shocked the Americans, but also most of the world. Americans could never reconcile to the idea that someone could attack them on their own land, and yet had to face the tragic truth. When the wounds appeared to heal, many of them promised to themselves that they will not let some terrorist affect their way of life.
Compared to that, many beleived that London recovered almost too quickly after the July 7 attacks. They were praised, rightly so, for their resilience. By returning to normalcy, it looked as though they would not let some fanatic terrorist influence their way of life.
Probably jean charles too beleived in that myth. Who knows, he is not alive to share his thoughts. Too bad he looked like a muslim from asia. Too bad he was illegaly staying after his visa expired. No one could blame the police for making a wrong decision in a split second. After all, human reflexes are only so much sophisticated. But he was followed the previous day because he walked out of the building complex where the suspected terrorists were hiding. But not other men that wore thick jackets and carried large backpacks, it was him that they chased. When they shot him, the first news that was released said he is suspected to be from pakistan from his appearance. That was the reason he was monitored. Later they realized he was brazilian by nationality and probably had no idea to harm anyone.
The claim of return to normalcy was a myth. Actually a combination of paranoia, suspicion, deep-rooted hatred, intolerance and Xenophobia resulted in the death of Jean Charles de Mendes. If you look at the iraq situation, one can see the parallels. When hatred takes over reasoning, it does not matter whether civilians are dying. Someone must appease the fears of the collective paranoid minds. Why take a risk to find out who is being fought. Destroy the enemy, whether real or perceived. Terror has shifted from the terroists to the minds of the psychotic.
War on terror is an abused phrase. While the terrorists are being fought, terror itself has not been confronted. The attacks happening around the world are just providing the hate-monger the fuel to justify his hate for the 'others', be it a person from a different country or race or religion. Intolerance and xenophobia, which were dormant in their minds are just finding the channel to express themselves openly. The mass hysteria can subside when the mind is free of prejudice. It is prejudice that needs to be destroyed. Only then one would have truly fought the war on terror. Otherwise the old demons will repeatedly show their ugly heads whenever the mind is weak enough to accept anything that keeps it happily deluded.
This is the last thread I am going to participate discussing terrorism, iraq war, saddam and allied topics. Any comments (genuine/sarcastic), criticisms (constructive/negative) , brickbats, nukes(!), or whatever else is welcome. Thanks for reading.
Svsg
