Just the light hatbox madam?

TERRORIST ALERT! TERRORIST ALERT! TERRORIST ALERT!

Well, it all seems to have kicked off today. Apparently there’s been a plot to take bombs on planes in hand luggage. Again I find it very hard to understand why blowing up planes seems to be the way forward with dealing with people. Again I’m rather hoping that the people they caught weren’t just in possession of swarthy skin and dangerous facial hair.

All hand luggage has to be stowed if you want to fly, causing not a little inconvenience to many travellers. Now I just want the people accused to explain why they wanted to blow up the planes in a clear manner, just to I can get my head round it all. It does seem very galling that whenever something like this happens and the person admits it all we get in the press is a 5 word sound bite about doing it for a religious figure. It often sounds like someone went up to them in the street and said “God asked me to ask you to kill a few hundred people – for his greater glory you understand?” And they said “Well, if it’s for his greater glory, yes, of course.” It never feels like anyone thought about it enough to be able to clearly justify it. I would love to hear the justification with someone who could talk about it to me! Then I could argue and we would be able to understand each others position. Until that day I’m stuck with the concept that the ideals involved – not in general religion but in the specific cases of these people wanting to kill others – are too unformed to be able to justify. Maybe I should have put up

IDIOT ALERT! IDIOT ALERT! IDIOT ALERT! IDIOT ALERT! IDIOT ALERT!

Is life so bad? We still have owls, penguins, bats and polar bears? Our planet, despite being a bit frayed around the edges is still a largely beautiful place.