"Blitz Spirit" Dominates Waylaid Travellers At Gatwick Airport

This seems like good news, and I'll take it as such.

However-- not to overly denigrate the Brits' response to the 7/7 mass-murders, but there was, I thought, a certain blaseness, a kind of pride in not taking the mass-murders all that seriously.

Yes, it's one thing to not panic, to show the reserve the Brits are justifiably famous for. It's another thing to be phlegmatic or blithe about such things.

I apologize for critizing the Brits for their response to their own 9/11. Reactions to tragedy are personal, and often idiosyncratic according to one's culture. I'm sure that many Brits thought the American response to 9/11 was sometimes maudlin, and sometimes stupid, with calls from many (on the left, natch) for "healing" and "closure."

On that latter point, of course, I quite agree.

But honestly, I saw so many reports where people just pluckily said, "Ah, life goes on. What can you do. Carry on and stiff upper lip and all that rot."

Pluckiness is good. But pluckiness combined with seriousness would be better.

I hope this current "Blitz Spirit" is a combination of both unwillingness to be cowed and a determination to cow the cowards as well.

posted by Ace at 02:15 PM

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