Obviously, I Was Wrong

Perhaps I should give up trying to understand it all. More intriguing to me at the moment is the unfortunate death of the Brazillian electrician shot by London police. One is left to ponder:

a) Why was his house being watched in the first place?
b) Why, when challenged, did he run?

But the photos are out now, and it looks as though the Met will have things reasonably in hand.

I just wish I could understand the why of it. If these guys had recently arrived from Iraq or Iran I might find the bombings easier to "get". Instead, these people have thrown away all pretence at civilization. And why? What's the friggin' payoff here? Since the only thing that will satisfy these nutballs is the dismantling of the Western Democratic way of life (which has yet, as far as I can tell, to be bested by any other mode of living as a society), there can be no accomodation.

In my last post I intimated that the sole reason might be that the London bombers were Muslims. I have to stand by that question--just as I would if it had been the IRA, when I would have asked whether it was because the perpetrators were Irish or because they were Catholic.

But there is a flaw in terminology. I have failed to distinguish between the vast majority of people of faith and those who would use their "faith" as an excuse for horror.

In these circumstances I feel it best to refine my question by discussing Islamists--a militant political position unconcerned with religion in any real sense except as leverage for extreme positions--and Muslims: people faithful to the religion of Islam and interested in making proper accomodation with other faiths in a civilized society. I hope this will refine the discussion.

But enough of this. On to talk of terrorism in London.

You may recall that Spider-Man was released late due to some last-minute editing which was needed to remove a film landmark used for a similar good-bad confrontation some years earlier.

At the same time, development had started for one of my favourite graphic novels to be turned into a film. The novel is V for Vendetta, written by Alan Moore, who also wrote the graphic novel upon which the unfotunate League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was based.

I note that Moore seems to be disassociating himself from films of his work--understandable in view of "League"--where Tom Sawyer was installed into a movie populated with characters from British literature in order to make it more American. I just hope "V" turns out better.

But development was delayed for political reasons. It was felt that a film about a "terrorist" attacking government institutions might not sell in light of the World Trade Center attacks. Never mind that "Codename V" is fighting facism (perhaps it looks too close to the Patriot Act?)

Odd that the film's going ahead full steam in the face of the London bombings. But this betrays, to me, a difference in attitude between Londoners and Americans. Or perhaps it just means that Londoners aren't the target market?