To be frustrated by people who won't talk about last night in London?

[MistySparrow]

I seem to be surrounded by a group of people who don't want to talk about what happened last night.

They seem very happy to post lovely social media pictures of parties, events, pictures of children beaming. Even those that don't seem unwilling to talk about this 'dark' subject (may be a product of where we live).

Am I some kind of weirdo or do these conversations need to take place?

If you're anxious and need to talk about it then turn to your nearest and dearest. You don't need to discuss it with everyone and many people won't want to talk about it.
We have lived under the threat of various groups for bloody years. (Remembers mother refusing to go to London because of the possibility of IRA attacks.)
I won't change my FB page to show who I am "supporting". I won't mention terrorist attacks on there. It's not the place.
I'm not involved. I was not there and neither were any of my friends and family. I won't go on about it and try and make it all about me.

I don't want to talk about it at all. Nothing I can say will make the blindest bit of difference anyway - to me or to you.

Will be in Central London, bright and early, tomorrow - just like every other day.

I hope that says it all.

Until people start talking about this and what to do about it and why, etc., the attacks will only get worse.

Yes let's eradicate extremism by FB 'likes' and retweets. That'll work - why don't you suggest that to the security services.

FFS.

I strongly suspect that those who are in a position to actually do something about it ARE talking about what they can do.

I live in London & work in London Bridge. I don't really want to talk about it on social media - I tend to avoid all the posts surrounding it, that aren't news updates.

I was obviously very upset last night and DP and I spoke about it together, so I do agree it seems a bit odd to not discuss the topic with your partner, but wider than that I just don't want to.

I on the say nothing group - all I have seen is, like others, send them home, kill the bastards, chuck anyone who is on a list in prison..... etc.

Have decided, a bit like politics, I don't want to get into social media fights over others opinions.

Am disgusted with some of the comments I have seen on various links people have liked.

Some people don't want to talk about things that are political or in the public sphere. Accepting that is agreeing with their freedom not to talk about things. Freedom is something that jihadists do not want them to have.

I am very politically minded but honestly, I can do without talking about this OK posting on here is a massive double standard

If you suffer from anxiety, watching the news, and talking more and more about it is probably the worst thing you can do. For 99.9999% of the population life is continuing today, just as it did yesterday. Even for those who live in London. More talking about it, just feeds the anxiety.

And social media is not real life. I love twitter and Mumsnet (obvs) but a few likes on FB is not going to change the world. FB is the home of the superficial.

I am a bit confused. Do you mean it's your family who won't talk to you about it? You say you are "surrounded by a group of people who don't want to talk...."
Do you have a friend you can call if the people you live with don't want to discuss it?

What people post on their FB is just FB, it isn't real life.........I don't know why you would get het up about what people are posting on FB, and whether or not they are writing about the terror attacks. Some people genuinely aren't that affected by it.

Until people start talking about this and what to do about it and why, etc., the attacks will only get worse

Pontificating on facebook to your chosen facebook friend lists is not what will or has ever built bridges across barricades!

I'm not impressed with enablers. You won't lecture the terrorists but you love lecturing the people who are concerned about the terrorists. There are some bizarre people on here. Most people are fed up with the politically correct enablers who have nothing to say about the terrorists but don't hesitate to lecture the people who want to stop them.

You lecture me yet you have no lecture for the terrorists. They are to be left alone. Very very interesting.

I don't feel the need to talk about it. I feel the need to live, and be the best person I can be. Which means living in London, and treating others how I'd like to be treated (and voting for people who I believe will do likewise)

You've said very little, for someone who wants to talk about it ...

Leaves an interesting vacuum for people to fill with their own assumptions about what your attitude is and what exactly you need people to talk about..

Oh, Little, you are so wrong. And also highly offensive to accuse people who don't want to breast-beat on social media of being enablers. I'm extremely concerned that you don't feel able to allow people the freedom to react the way they choose. It's almost as if you're brainwashed.

Put me in front of a terrorist/sympathiser and I would tell him or her to leave democracy alone and leave people to live their lives and enjoy their freedom the way we have done for decades. How DARE they tell people how to live their lives.

I am also saying exactly the same to you, Little Belle. Interesting.

people can get punished at work or their job somehow if their opinion is known, that I think is the single most common reason most people are afraid to comment.

Jeez. That's some fucking opinion you've got there if you can get punished at work for it. What's the opinion in question?? Dying to know. bet it's not 'Muslims are people just like the rest of us'

I'm not impressed with enablers. You won't lecture the terrorists but you love lecturing the people who are concerned about the terrorists. There are some bizarre people on here. Most people are fed up with the politically correct enablers who have nothing to say about the terrorists but don't hesitate to lecture the people who want to stop them

You are funny.

People are engaging with you, becuase you are here posting to them on a specific thread.

Writing something on facebook or even on twitter to there friends is not 'engaging' with or as you put it lecturing the terrorists, as they won't be reading it.

There are lots and lots of threads on here discussing the attacks, people can join them or not join them. I suspect that many on those threads, also haven't made fb/twitter post either.

I expect Little spends a lot of time lecturing terrorists on twitter

Ive only talked to DH about it. I wouldn't dream of posting on social media about it. Doesn't mean I wasn't awake half the night after seeing the reports.

I pay a lot of attention to current affairs but I haven't really talked about these attacks. I find it helps more to channel my feelings about them back into paying attention to politics, which has the best chance of providing a long-term solution.

The people responsible, both directly and via support/funding, for these attacks are simply pathetic. I don't even feel like they're human, particularly. I don't think it helps to base a strategy or actions on feeling that way, though, so I don't talk about it much. I'm more interested in getting results that make innocent people safer than I am in letting off steam.

Not suggesting that some people can't both vent and be constructive, of course. It just doesn't work that way for me. And I think only venting is probably the worst course of action because it can easily lead to emotional exhaustion.

Jeez. That's some fucking opinion you've got there if you can get punished at work for it. What's the opinion in question?? Dying to know

Some fairly mundane things can sound bad when taken out of context. I deliberately keep my social media pretty anodyne. I've come across some very, very odd people online. One in particular used to stalk people online, track down their employers and then send dossiers of information to the employers. People lost jobs because of it.

I've posted next to nothing online about either London or Manchester. I've spend 25 years of my life in those cities. They've both been home to me. Changing my status on FB does fuck all to combat terrorism and doesn't make me feel any better about what's going on. So I don't do it.

The only 'discussion' I've witnessed about the recent attacks is the 'Omg-isn't-it-devastating' type. Mainly on Facebook with changed profile pictures, #prayforthem statuses and 'kissing my kids tonight' type posts.

Tbh I'm not a huge fan of public outpourings of 'grief' in the manner I've seen, or of dissecting the gruesome facts with gossips over my lunch so I largely don't engage with it either.

Well I'd rather no one I know talked about it than having to see the horrible overtly racist posts I've seen from one person on my fb page.

And posting about it on social media is just telling everyone that you hope that they'll think you're 'just such a lovely caring person'; it's self-aggrandizing bollocks.