Watching the CNN coverage of the thwarted car bombing in London I'm struck by how the coverage makes something that didn't happen thousands of miles away sound like something around the block. You know, foiled bomb plot in London! Terrorists crawling up through your toilet!
There are also the implications that such an event might practically shut down London, aided by images of the locked down site, which is of course absurd. Most people don't have the luxury of huddling under their beds, cowering in fear, even if they wanted to. But more to the point it's a big goddamn city and something almost happening in one part of it, even a central part, is for most people something quite far away.
I was living in London during the nail bomber era, who turned out to be a right wing nut. I'd heard about the first bombing as I was on my way to a bar in another part of town, and after I arrived I casually mentioned it to the bartender and the person sitting next to me. They basically shrugged their shoulders. Brixton wasn't exactly close, and terrorist bombings in London weren't exactly new.
