London just gets on with its day.

[MissCatholic]

New day and people are acting like its normal.

Very strange but i cant help but be full of admiration.

No tears, no drama queens, no revenge shouting just 'its another day in London'

London is a strange city in that it takes a lot of sh*t from fascists (months of bombing in the 1940s) IRA Terrorism (in the 70s and 80s) and yesterday from Al-Queda yet the people are SOOOOO CALM.

Speaking to a friend yesterday in West London and he just said in a calm manner over a pint

'what do you want me to do..cry! no they want me too. do you want me to panic..no they want me too. do you want me to scream revenge...no they want me too. Whatever they want i wont give them. The bottom line is that this city can take it. Tomorrow i will wake up and i will get the same bus and the same tube to work.'

One day and they are back to normal. It took this country months

[Alcon]

This country lost over 50 times as many people, and saw huge buildings collapse.  No wonder our recovery took longer.

[Platypus]

you might want to delete that, Alcon.

[Rob]

He has a point, Hugh. Miss Catholic is apparently mocking America for not recovering as fast as Britain. When disputing such asinine arguments, comparison of the tragedies is necessary.

[Platypus]

you can do it more tactfully. I believe I attempted to do so at least, in a similar thread.

[J. J.]

I'm going to note two things:

1.  London was basically a battlefield during WW II and most residents either are familiar with it or lived through it.

2.  More recently, London had subject to repeated attacks by the IRA, especially through the mid 1980's.  Most people remember those.

The US has not had the same experience.

As I've said recently, Londoners will not only survive, but excel.

[Peter]

What is interesting is that the Americans seem to be more aghast at the events than we all are, seemingly on this forum included. I'm still not sure why that is though.

[John Dibble]

What is interesting is that the Americans seem to be more aghast at the events than we all are, seemingly on this forum included. I'm still not sure why that is though.

Well, I think that's pretty much been pointed out - stuff like this seems far more common in other countries. We Americans are pretty sheltered in that regard. I know some here don't like Bill Maher, but to quote him in his book regarding 9/11 - "It's not a new world, we just joined it".

[ilikeverin]

What is interesting is that the Americans seem to be more aghast at the events than we all are, seemingly on this forum included. I'm still not sure why that is though.

I noted that too.  I mean, we've got the Governor of Illinois giving a speech... or issuing a statement... or something... telling residents of Illinois to stay calm and proceed with life as usual   Where's American callousness to the plight of others when ya need it

(JOKE!  JOKE!  FUNNY!  HAHAHA!  DO NOT KILL ME!)

[MODU]

What is interesting is that the Americans seem to be more aghast at the events than we all are, seemingly on this forum included. I'm still not sure why that is though.

When you consider most people here, even after 9/11, still view terrorism as something that occurs in third-world nations and not established Western nations, the impact hits home.  Additionally . . . you guys are like family.  If someone attacked my cousin, you could be sure that I would be down in his state in a day to find the guy who did it.  The same is true between the US and UK.  (Which is a bit odd considering our earlier history.) 

[WMS]

What is interesting is that the Americans seem to be more aghast at the events than we all are, seemingly on this forum included. I'm still not sure why that is though.

When you consider most people here, even after 9/11, still view terrorism as something that occurs in third-world nations and not established Western nations, the impact hits home.  Additionally . . . you guys are like family.  If someone attacked my cousin, you could be sure that I would be down in his state in a day to find the guy who did it.  The same is true between the US and UK.  (Which is a bit odd considering our earlier history.) 

Lots of cousins feud with each other - quite nastily, too. But if an outsider tries something...

[Alcon]

you might want to delete that, Alcon.

Hugh, I don't think what I said was offensive.  Both are terrible, but an event in which 3,000 people were killed is generally going to halt things more than a few dozen people.  This is not to belittle the attacks in London, but it is simply harder to recover from a tragedy with a hugely higher loss of life.  It is in my mind a reality and I'm not quite sure I understand why you take offense at that.  I certainly didn't intend any.

[patrick1]

New day and people are acting like its normal.

Very strange but i cant help but be full of admiration.

No tears, no drama queens, no revenge shouting just 'its another day in London'

London is a strange city in that it takes a lot of sh*t from fascists (months of bombing in the 1940s) IRA Terrorism (in the 70s and 80s) and yesterday from Al-Queda yet the people are SOOOOO CALM.

Speaking to a friend yesterday in West London and he just said in a calm manner over a pint

'what do you want me to do..cry! no they want me too. do you want me to panic..no they want me too. do you want me to scream revenge...no they want me too. Whatever they want i wont give them. The bottom line is that this city can take it. Tomorrow i will wake up and i will get the same bus and the same tube to work.'

One day and they are back to normal. It took this country months

This is meant in no way to diminish the murder that occured yesterday but some reasons  this MAY be true are:

1) adjusted for population there were 10x as many deaths
2) 9/11 was caught entirely on camera and the images of the planes crashing into the buildings and the subsequent collapse were played over and over.
3)historical experience
4)national mores- the British (and most N. European cultures for that matter) as a whole tend to far more reserved and stoic.  The whole stiff upper lip stereotype. 

Londoners have comported themselves amazingly and they are a very proud and strong people.

[Gabu]

1) adjusted for population there were 10x as many deaths

There were roughly 100 times as many, actually.

[MODU]

What is interesting is that the Americans seem to be more aghast at the events than we all are, seemingly on this forum included. I'm still not sure why that is though.

When you consider most people here, even after 9/11, still view terrorism as something that occurs in third-world nations and not established Western nations, the impact hits home.  Additionally . . . you guys are like family.  If someone attacked my cousin, you could be sure that I would be down in his state in a day to find the guy who did it.  The same is true between the US and UK.  (Which is a bit odd considering our earlier history.) 

Lots of cousins feud with each other - quite nastily, too. But if an outsider tries something...

hahah . . . very true. 

[patrick1]

1) adjusted for population there were 10x as many deaths

There were roughly 100 times as many, actually.

UK 60 million US around 300 million

50+ people x 5= @250+ people

US 3000 people, roughly 10X

That is what I meant by that line.  Numbers don't really matter for the families of the victims though.  I was just responding to the original post that implied NYers were somehow "drama queens"

[Gabu]

1) adjusted for population there were 10x as many deaths

There were roughly 100 times as many, actually.

UK 60 million US around 300 million

50+ people x 5= @250+ people

US 3000 people, roughly 10X

That is what I meant by that line.  Numbers don't really matter for the families of the victims though.  I was just responding to the original post that implied NYers were somehow "drama queens"

Oh, sorry, I missed the "adjusted for population" bit.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The whole stiff upper lip stereotype.

That's actually an American expression orginally, btw  

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With the exception of the stock market and the dishonourable member for Bethnal Green [and Bow. Which doesn't deserve to be tarred with him 'cos they didn't vote for him...] that's more or less true.
I think a partial explanation is the fact that London is much more "used" to terrorist attacks than most places and there's been a fair amount of preparing "just in case" going on since 9/11

[MissCatholic]

Well we are definitely isolated from the world. hence we elect people like Bush. France elects people like Chirac because everyone hates them anyway.

I have never heard a Brit say a bad word about Bill Clinton but in America its pure bashing. Americams are convinced that they have the best military in the world and i would say with our technology we are.

But when it comes to the soldier, i think the Israelis, Danes, Russians and Brits are more accomplised. We could learn alot from the world when it comes to maintaining the strength of our economies and lowering burning of fossil fuels. But we have an ignorant attuitude of We know whats best and thats final!