London bombing

My heart goes out to all those affected by the bombings in London. It was a senseless, pointless, stupid, bloody act.

I’ve already gotten the heads-up that my London friend is OK, but I know many other people are not — 40 dead at this hour and more than 700 injured, and both numbers are still climbing. I can only hope that this is the worst of it.

Once again, I’m struck by what a massive miscalculation this sort of attack is, just as attacking the United States on 9/11 was a mistake. Watch our movies, world: John Wayne is our national self-image, and how do you think he would react when attacked? The British have endured decades of terrorism and capitulation is not how they respond to it.

A sort of brutal Darwinism is taking place here: Terrorists stupid enough to attack enemies who will strike back hard are going to find giant holes blown through their organization. Maybe the organization will carry on, maybe it won’t, but most of those responsible won’t be around to find out.

In any case, my deepest grief and sympathy for Londoners and the British in general. I am put in mind of Gail Simone’s wonderful post-9/11 essay (first published at CBR, and later reprinted in Marvel Comics’ “Heroes” charity book). To paraphrase what she said then, the people responsible for this atrocity thought they were striking at the heart of Britain.

They missed.

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