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London Calling 7/10/2005
London calling to the faraway towns I normally don’t care a wit about the Olympic venue selection process. There are a lot of electric bills to be paid between now and the 2012 Summer Games. But last week I succumbed to the hype and tuned in to the announcement of the city that would be host. When the IOC called on “London,” the nets cut to a packed Trafalgar Square where thousands erupted in joy as giant speakers blared the Clash’s signature classic, “London Calling.” Seeing their delight and hearing an all-time favorite tune moved me. I was genuinely happy for them and grooved along to the Clash. It would be 18 hours before I grasped the irony of the song’s haunting opening lyric: “London calling to the faraway towns. Now that war is declared-and battle come down.” As if on cue, we awoke Thursday to scenes of the same Londoners staggering dazed and bloody through their streets. From a faraway town called America, sympathy surged. On this side of the pond, we turned to our version of the tube to try and understand it all. Sadly, we were reminded once again that in cable news nation, the first casualty of journalism is context. Who, what, why, where and when become, “be very, very afraid.” It took about two minutes for the nets to whip up graphics and eerie music that would make Hitchcock blush. Retired Admirals and CIA spooks emerged to analyze every aspect of a story about which they knew nothing. And the hoard covering Tom Cruise’s every move was immediately reassigned to produce the obligatory story: Could it happen here? Why they even bothered to produce new “could it happen here” stories is beyond me. The networks could have saved a dime by running the same pieces produced after transit system bombings in Madrid 16 months ago and Moscow two months before that. Go ahead, Google it, you’ll see; same damn story, same damn answer. There is not a person with a pulse in America that does not know that a zealot with designs on destruction can perform awful acts upon a free and functional society. Note to the media, this is true whether we are very afraid or not. And no matter how many spooky graphics you produce, the reality is that Americans are far more likely to be killed in their automobiles than by Al Qaeda. Do the math. I would like to bludgeon the next reporter who “informs” me that briefcases and backpacks are not searched, sniffed and x-rayed before being allowed on America’s 4.6 million buses and subway cars. What do you propose genius? Double the national debt on transit security and make it such a pain in the ass that commuters will be driven back to their cars and burn so much more Saudi oil that we all choke to death? Widely available and accessible public transportation liberates societies. Their vulnerability comes with the territory. It is an acceptable risk that we can either live in fear of, or be pissed off about. Kill the terrorists, arrest the clerics that inspire them, and a thousand times please address the issues that predispose these young men to hate us so. But stop with the dreaded doctrine of terror! It was amusing to watch our media leap upon the stereotype of the staid, stiff-upper-lip Brits, even as they anguished about our inevitable doom. Londoners vowed to return to normality, we went to Code Orange. It’s been a big week for the UK; Olympic glory, terrorists’ ignominy, and, today, Commemoration Day, marking 60 years since the end of World War II. In these days of terror it’s worth recalling what Winston Churchill had to say about those days of terror. “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.” And to American media, it’s worth remembering another lyric from that Clash song: “Come out of the cupboard, all you boys and girls.” My friends, it is not terror if we are not afraid of it. Return to latest entryCopyright © Eyewitness Muse, All Rights Reserved
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