London Calling

Do you know what I do not want to hear on the news tonight? How people in Dallas are reacting to these barbaric (tm Tony Blair) attacks in London. Do you know what I DO want to hear on the news tonight? How people in LONDON are reacting!!! Hellooooooooooooooo!!!! Can we focus here? Freakin media.

I hope that didn't sound insensitive. My point is that we should be focusing on the people of London and those injured and lost. My thoughts, as well as Gabi's, are with those affected.

As I've studied disasters of all types, a few things have really stuck with me. The first thing that comes to mind is that whatever information you see or read within the first 24 hours.... at least half of it is wrong. In the mad rush to get the information on the airwaves, many media outlets just put up what they heard or thought they heard and rely upon speculation and present it as fact. It's not good or bad, it's just what happens. We are all hungry for information and they give us whatever they've got. The problem is, a lot of us are really not in the mood to pick apart the reliable information from the questionable information. But we should be vigilant about the information we believe and repeat. The media is our best friend and worst enemy in times like these.

Now the big, humongous, massive problem I have with the media is the myth that they perpetuate every time something awful happens: that there is panic and chaos in the streets. I even read one story with the headline "Panic and Chaos in London Following Attacks." I tried to find the link, but it appears to be gone now or maybe they changed its headline (it was an AP story on Yahoo). If you actually read these stories and not just headlines like that one, you will find that Londoners were actually very calm and helpful to one another. Yes, they were shocked. Who wouldn't be? Naturally, there will be some that panic. But widespread panic is a myth. The truth is, the real first responders are victims and bystanders. And from what I read (yet another story I can't seem to find again... this one was on CNN.com), there was an emergency plan in place and it was followed properly. Hospitals were not overwhelmed and emergency services functioned as had been planned. I think this disaster and its response will be studied for years to come.

But what I really find remarkable is that the transit system was up and running by the end of the day (as much as possible, anyway). I saw some pictures of crowds.... CROWDS waiting to board the trains as soon as they reopened. Wow. Way to give those assholes the finger, eh? Double-barrell, at that. They wanted to disrupt your lives and cause panic, but they failed. What they got was calm and resilience. Bravo, London. You will be invincible. Oh, and congrats on that Olympics thing. That'll be one hell of a party.

And no comparisons to 9/11, please. These are very different scenarios and the only thing that they really have in common is the involvement of al-Quaeda whack job fundamentalists who really think that killing innocent people is going to convince us to do one damn thing they want.

With all that being said, our thoughts are with you, Londoners. Hope I didn't say anything to piss you off. These are just my opinions from across the pond. Cheerio.