I agree, as long as we do it in a civil manner, it is completely appropriate.

It demonstrate the mind set of the two countries citizens.

Not to be condescending, but if a mugger attacked a patron at a tea party, the reaction would be totally different than if the attack took place at a NRA meeting.

 

We seem to be on the same page here, however, I do not think that you have considered the impact of 9/11 on the US psyche.

 

And you're wrong.

 

My point is that while 9/11 was an act of total cowardice and an evil atrocity, people in say Austin, or Pheonix are relatively safe from this terror...
NO-ONE or NOWHERE on the British mainland was safe during the I.R.A. bombings

 

Again, I think you are misreading the reaction to the 9/11 attack by the people in the US.

The exact opposite occurred, the people in Austin suddenly realized that they were indeed vulnerable to attack.

 

Maybe you are now experiencing what some of us British have had to live with...

 

To use your vernacular.

That is complete bullshit.

I don't recall any stories of the Mafia or biker gangs bombing shopping malls and indecriminately murdering innocent people that had nothing to do with their gang warfare.

Your comparison is,frankly beyond belief and insulting to the memory of every woman and child murdered by the IRA.

 

Yes we are, it is a terrible shock to see your bubble burst.

 

Oh really, so you've lived in every major city in the US, so you can make this conclusion? Because, see, what you don't seem to get is that there is violence and gangs and drugs in and around every major city in the US, the only difference is that in your case it spread to the suburbs.

Don't act like the IRA just went off and started bombing shit and killing for no reason. How many hundreds of years did you English oppress them and discriminate against them for again?

 

Maybe, but when you have lived with the threat for more than 10 years, you become accustomed to it and you adapt your lifestyle...

 

No, it isn't complete bullshit. Innocent fucking children die every damn day, and have for many, many years, all because of that stupid shit. The only difference is that a) it hasn't spread to the suburbs, and b) it hasn't escalated into a war, because they aren't fighting for anything, they're just killing each other and everybody in their way so they can get rich or whatever the fuck else. The IRA was a single race fighting for something(whether they were right or not), not a bunch of people trying to get rich and sell drugs.

 

How many times have there been bombings at shopping areas, how many times have your nations tourist attractions been bombed, just for the hell of it....How many sporting attractions have been bombed, How many times do you look at a thrown away cigarette packet on the floor and think "it could be a bomb"
This happened on a daily basis for people on the British mainland, not just some gang killing, 1,000's of innocent people going about their daily business killed or maimed by cowards.....

 

No shit. Plenty of people do that all over the US, from a young age. It may not be a war or any kind of military conflict, but they still have to live with the threat of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, or getting into a bad situation, talking back to the wrong person, defending themselves against the wrong person, etc. There are plenty of ways to get yourself killed without trying to, and it can be as simple as getting into a fight with somebody who you underestimated and being killed by that person, or if you're in a really bad area, as simple as being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

Again, quit trying to act like it was some random shit.

Both sides could have just fucking handled it nonviolently, but they didn't, and it is not one sided.

 

Of course it's bullshit.

You are talking of collateral damage.in gang wars

I am talking of specific acts of terrorism designed to attack innocent people shopping on a saturday afternoon,or going to work on a train.

Please don't try to say that they are the same thing.

 

You were in a fucking military conflict. They might have been terrorists, but they didn't just decide to do shit like that one day, the English had a hand in it and were just as wrong, and the IRA clearly felt that the English left them no choice. I'm not saying they were right, just that it wasn't completely one-sided and you know it.

Therefore, since both this and the violence in America were a result of discrimination and oppression, they are the same. They might not be to the same degree, but that's because one was a military conflict and the other is just senseless violence over bullshit.

 

It was random, no-one had any idea if they went shopping whether or not they would become a victim of a bomb.....

That was the idea behind the I.R.A.'s campaign of terror, complete random targets, thus trying to create a feeling of total fear amongst the British people...

 

No ones brand of civic violence is better or worse than anothers, they are all despicable.

The point is that the US and the UK both were terrorized by people seeking to change a political agenda by the use of violence against innocents. One set of experiences does not trump another.

 

Exactly.

You cannot compare that to what happened on 9/11, ever. That is so disrespectful to all of the people who died that day.

 

Fully agree with you, the only difference is how the politicians of our 2 countries deal with it.....