We keep on going because we have no choice. Felt fearful commuting to London today, for the first time ever. I spoke to a colleague about the London attacks and she said, rather pompously, that the media have overblown the attack. She seriously did not feel it was that strange that people were going out on a Saturday night and ended up with their throats cut. I find the general acceptance that a barbaric act is our new normal so frightening, more so than the threat of an attack itself.
This attack was linked to Islam. Unpalatable as that fact is, it was. If someone is being stabbed and they say this is for Allah, then in their minds, it is. And who am I to disbelieve them? And no wishing away of this from non-Muslim apologists is going to change my mind about that. It is a small number of extremists, but unless we accept that fact, we will never solve this. Pragmatism is the way forward. Certain swathes of extremists hate the west and our way of life - they want Sharia law and see it as their job to achieve that, and non-believers are collateral damage.
They are happy to accept all the freedoms that this country affords them (mainly applies to the men, many of the women are subjugated), and what is even more vexing is that a lot of them are receiving benefits whilst disdaining us and our way of life at the same time.
I do wonder what it will take for some people to open their eyes about what is happening. ISIS have brainwashed a lot of people, but we have also been brainwashed into not speaking out about things we have been worrying about because we were fearful about being labelled as racists, even though Islam is not a race of course.
This is changing, and I hope these latest attack mark a sea change because we sure as hell cannot go on like we have been. I hope that the Teresa May Enough is Enough mantra is not just for General Election votes, and her record as Home Sec was not great, but still I dread Corbyn and Abbott getting into power. They are worse than apologists, they are sympathisers.