Laughing at bombs
"There were two doctors immediately on the scene of the attempted bombing, unfortunately one was on fire and the other was trying to blow himself up…"
Comedians in Britain have seized on the latest terrorist attacks in Glasgow and London. And I have to admit, in the absence of any innocent person being hurt, there is an element of comedy to the situation.
The London attempt was foiled when one of the cars was towed away, proving that even terrorists are not immune from the bane of London drivers' lives. That traffic wardens, most often the butt of most people's hatred, should be the heroes of the day invites irony. And for the really dark comedians there is the "what if" scenario… What if no one had noticed the bomb in the car and it had exploded in the pound. Would anyone have mourned those brave traffic wardens who went with it?
"A blazing car was driven into the entrance of Glasgow airport… The news said it was the most violent thing to happen in Glasgow that day. In fact it wasn't even close."
The bombing in Glasgow threw up an unlikely hero. John Smeaton, a baggage handler was there when the jeep, on fire, smashed into the doors. He appeared on every news channel afterward and said in his thick 'Glasge' accent: "Ae jus dun wha every other member of th' public wouldae… Jus' try tae get a few kicks in on the guy, jus try tae bring him doon." His man of action approach to the situation has brought comparisons with Jack Bauer, the terrorist-smashing hero of US TV hit 24. T-Shirts have appeared with his face bearing the legend "What would John Smeaton do?" In the popular imagination Glasgow has always been a violent place, as the hero worship website Johnsmeaton.com said: "Nobody gets between 10,000 Weegies (Glaswegians) and their £99 week in Ibiza". A collection led by the website to buy a drink for 'Smeato' hit £1000 in a matter of minutes.
"Two men who drove a lit car into the main concourse at Glasgow Airport are to be charged under Scotland's tough anti-smoking laws," said Scottish satire website The Daily Mash. "The attackers were caught on CCTV as they lit-up a four litre Jeep Cherokee and then allowed it to burn in an enclosed public place."
Last week when I was in America, many people asked me if I was alarmed at the number of terrorist plots seemingly going on in Britain. The ones this month bring the number foiled to four, including the would-be 21/7 bombers and some young men jailed for drawing up target lists which included nightclubs and tourist destinations. My attitude is that people seem to have already forgotten this is nothing new to us.
In my life I have been less than a mile away from five terrorist bombs, planted by the Irish Republican Army. I vividly remember the day at nursery school when the police arrived and asked teachers to move all the children into a room with no windows. We sat in there for several hours singing songs and playing games, cramped together on the wooden floor, as special branch raided a bomb factory hidden in a house nearby. Years later when I was at secondary school I woke up one morning to the sound of a bomb going off. My widows rattled, but didn't break. The bomb was at my regular school bus stop. An hour later I might have been killed. When you live in this kind of situation humour is the natural harbour to shelter yourself in.
Phillip Hodson of the British Association of Psychologists told The Scotsman: "The difference between fanatical terrorists and the rest of us is that we are able to take more than one look at a situation and to laugh at ourselves. Many of us have some sort of belief system or a set of attitudes or a faith, but we are able to keep it in one compartment of our mind. Extremists let it take over their whole mind, whereas we have the ability to laugh at ourselves. It is an essential part of who we are and the way we deal with the things that we are afraid of or cannot understand - by seeing a different side to it, often one which makes us laugh".
And as one comedian said: "If I was a terrorist who believed an almighty god controlled absolutely everything, if we'd failed four times -I might start to think that Allah quite liked Britain."
"There were two doctors immediately on the scene of the attempted bombing, unfortunately one was on fire and the other was trying to blow himself up…"
Comedians in Britain have seized on the latest terrorist attacks in Glasgow and London. And I have to admit, in the absence of any innocent person being hurt, there is an element of comedy to the situation.
The London attempt was foiled when one of the cars was towed away, proving that even terrorists are not immune from the bane of London drivers' lives. That traffic wardens, most often the butt of most people's hatred, should be the heroes of the day invites irony. And for the really dark comedians there is the "what if" scenario… What if no one had noticed the bomb in the car and it had exploded in the pound. Would anyone have mourned those brave traffic wardens who went with it?
"A blazing car was driven into the entrance of Glasgow airport… The news said it was the most violent thing to happen in Glasgow that day. In fact it wasn't even close."
The bombing in Glasgow threw up an unlikely hero. John Smeaton, a baggage handler was there when the jeep, on fire, smashed into the doors. He appeared on every news channel afterward and said in his thick 'Glasge' accent: "Ae jus dun wha every other member of th' public wouldae… Jus' try tae get a few kicks in on the guy, jus try tae bring him doon." His man of action approach to the situation has brought comparisons with Jack Bauer, the terrorist-smashing hero of US TV hit 24. T-Shirts have appeared with his face bearing the legend "What would John Smeaton do?" In the popular imagination Glasgow has always been a violent place, as the hero worship website Johnsmeaton.com said: "Nobody gets between 10,000 Weegies (Glaswegians) and their £99 week in Ibiza". A collection led by the website to buy a drink for 'Smeato' hit £1000 in a matter of minutes.
"Two men who drove a lit car into the main concourse at Glasgow Airport are to be charged under Scotland's tough anti-smoking laws," said Scottish satire website The Daily Mash. "The attackers were caught on CCTV as they lit-up a four litre Jeep Cherokee and then allowed it to burn in an enclosed public place."
Last week when I was in America, many people asked me if I was alarmed at the number of terrorist plots seemingly going on in Britain. The ones this month bring the number foiled to four, including the would-be 21/7 bombers and some young men jailed for drawing up target lists which included nightclubs and tourist destinations. My attitude is that people seem to have already forgotten this is nothing new to us.
In my life I have been less than a mile away from five terrorist bombs, planted by the Irish Republican Army. I vividly remember the day at nursery school when the police arrived and asked teachers to move all the children into a room with no windows. We sat in there for several hours singing songs and playing games, cramped together on the wooden floor, as special branch raided a bomb factory hidden in a house nearby. Years later when I was at secondary school I woke up one morning to the sound of a bomb going off. My widows rattled, but didn't break. The bomb was at my regular school bus stop. An hour later I might have been killed. When you live in this kind of situation humour is the natural harbour to shelter yourself in.
Phillip Hodson of the British Association of Psychologists told The Scotsman: "The difference between fanatical terrorists and the rest of us is that we are able to take more than one look at a situation and to laugh at ourselves. Many of us have some sort of belief system or a set of attitudes or a faith, but we are able to keep it in one compartment of our mind. Extremists let it take over their whole mind, whereas we have the ability to laugh at ourselves. It is an essential part of who we are and the way we deal with the things that we are afraid of or cannot understand - by seeing a different side to it, often one which makes us laugh".
And as one comedian said: "If I was a terrorist who believed an almighty god controlled absolutely everything, if we'd failed four times -I might start to think that Allah quite liked Britain."
Labels: 2007 UK terrorism attacks, humour, Islamic terrorists, John Smeaton
posted by Andrew Walker at 1:09 pm
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