To think that ISIS has won the propaganda war against the west?

[juneau]

The reality is that they're losing territory in the ME and the west is finally having an impact in terms of reducing their funding. There have been several high-profile attacks recently (Sharm El-Sheik, Tunisia, Paris & Brussels), for which they've taken credit, but the western media with all its hysteria and daily headlines about the threat of missile attacks, dirty bombs, a 'summer of terror' on the beaches of Europe, etc, is playing right into their hands. People are afraid. They're changing their behaviour and travel plans. Westerners are hunkering down, afraid about when and where the next attack will take place. ISIS don't have to do a thing - they just need to leak these stories to the western media and voila! Job done.

I'm not afraid, and I haven't changed my plans for my summer camping trip to Bodiam Castle.

I'm not even the tiniest bit afraid.

I am not afraid and don't know anyone in RL that is. We go to Cyprus in a few weeks. Have flown to the US several times in the last couple of years.

For me, growing up in Derry, there has always been a threat. This one is no different.

Have my first . Who says "people" are afraid? You may be and some others possibly but there seems to have been no significant effect on travel or holiday arrangements generally that I can see. Certainly no one I know has made any changes to their holiday arrangementd because of ISIS. Indeed there was an item in the Telegraph a short while back saying security experts were concerned that the public might be too blasé about terror threats. I don't think ISIS are winning anything at the moment.

I live in London. There have been bombs and threats for as long as I can remember. I travel.

Expressing your views is fine but you don't speak for me.

I'm afraid too but there is no way I will 'hunker down'.

YABU.

Yay a biscuit! But is it gluten-free? Can't eat it otherwise.

I dunno - maybe AIBU - but isn't that the point of AIBU? To, you know, debate things? I think there's a lot of media hysteria. And there are plenty of people over on the 'should I go to Turkey this summer?' thread who are choosing other destinations. Spain is apparently having a bumper year for bookings off the back of the terrorism in Tunisia, Egypt, migrant crisis, etc.

Look. I think people just need to accept- its going to happen here, when they are good and ready. A guy was arrested at Manchester airport a few days ago for having links to ISIS and the Brussels attacks.

Refusing to travel is daft. Its just as likely to happen down your local co op then it is on the beaches of Spain.

Fair enough to debate things Juneau, and I agree there possibly is a lot of media hysteria- but there are still plenty of us who have not been personally affected by the Syrian war and/or terrorism, and who have no intention of trying to jump on the bandwagon.

I wasn't planning to holiday in the Levant this time last year. I'm still not now.

I live in a safe, dull surburban town on the South Coast. Life has gone on much as before.

I can feel awful for those who've genuinely had their lives torn apart by Assad and ISIS without feeling the need to pretend my own life is in danger.

What a pompous twat I am today!

If the most that ISIS/whatever they're called can claim is that some westerners have changed their travel plans then it's really not a victory to shout about, is it?

I agree that the media have been seduced by their 'look' - the black military look, the orange jumpsuits, the social media and the shock and awe videos.

If they would only stop showing slo-mo videos of them leading hostages to their death on the beach, half of this obsessive shite would stop. They've got a huge responsibility in this.

I agree PresidentCJCregg. The world's media should ignore them.

I once read an interview with, I think, a Swedish/Nordic anyway psychologist.

He said that basically all teenage killers after Columbine are after notoriety that lives on long after they've done their deeds and killed themselves. He said if we stopped fetishising the killers, and put all of the media focus onto the victims, mass school shootings etc would reduce a lot, because there would be no incentive, no notoriety for the killers to aim for.

That has always stuck with me. And we've never tried it because, you know, we've got 24 hour news cycles to fill with fresh content every hour.

I'm worried about the threat, but it hasn't changed my plans for holidays. I travel regularly into London. ISIS can go f**k themselves

I cannot afford any expensive vacations, anyway, but don't think I'd change plans.
(Hadn't planned to go anywhere near where ISIS are active, as those countries tend to have misogynist governments and laws, which I would not want to support with my money, anyway)

He said if we stopped fetishising the killers, and put all of the media focus onto the victims, mass school shootings etc would reduce a lot, because there would be no incentive, no notoriety for the killers to aim for.

Yup. I read something specifically about terror, and it is more of less the same - someone said that non-democratic regimes have it easier in this regard, as they can just keep the news out of the media.
In democracies, we have to hope for the common sense of people responsible for what gets into the news and what doesn't ... and well, common sense is a rather rare resource.

(However, I do think it should be possible to keep the names and faces of school shooters out of the media per law. After all, the public would still be informed about what happened)

I think you're right about all the news coverage giving them the publicity they so desperately want and some people, maybe not on mumsnet but some people are concerned, and I'm one of them. As a family we don't go abroad much but we go to London frequently to visit family and when I'm walking through the tube station I'm certainly more vigilant than I used to be and subconsciously a bit suspicious of everyone. Isis won't put me off living my life the way I want but when I actually sit and think about it, it does worry me a little as I can only see things getting worse and these terrorist attacks getting closer and closer to home.

I live in the Middle East and I'm not scared of them. Probably wouldn't plan a trip to Damascus at the moment, but I must say the prices in Sharm El Sheikh are enticing.

Not changed my travel plans at all. France and Belgium were what I planned and they're where I am still going.

I don't think they've won yet, because it's ongoing. But yes, I think you have a point. It does worry me, and I have changed the way I live my life slightly because of it. Although....I am a bit of a worrier, so If it wasn't isis I was worried about, it would no doubt be something else.

No hasn't changed my plans or anyone I know tbh. I'm heading off to mainland Europe for the summer holidays with the kids at the end of June. I took my eldest daughter for a few days in London last month - all the big touristy things, Tube etc - it just didn't occur to me not to or to worry about it. My parents and pils have holidays lined up in Spain and I'm hoping to get to Paris before the end of this year. There's a good few kids in my dds school heading off to Turkey.