An attack last week at the main railway station in the German city of Düsseldorf adds itself to a growing list of random and unsettling attacks in normally peaceful cities around the world, and especially in Europe. We don’t have to go back far to realise that this is a tactic with many precedents. But what do we understand about these violent events and about our reactions to them?
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Tag Archives: refugees
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The random power of fear
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The reckoning: Truth and illusion with borders
The compelling phenomenon of a vast migration of refugees has shown us one crucial thing. Distant outsiders do not notice or observe our own tribal borders, the ones we think ought to be obvious.
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The low moral high-ground
When we hear of major tragedies, along with sympathy for the victims, would be the reflexive response of ‘Thank God it wasn’t us.’ But what if it was ‘us’? We’d be asking ‘Why?’, ‘How could this happen?’ or ‘Who’s to blame?’ But in some tragedies, like the recent Paris attacks, along with outrage and shock, lies a silent but niggling thought ‘I hope it wasn’t somehow our fault …’
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