Ya Bass

An interesting article on the bbc site about travelling by tube and the discomfort of strangers. It's a bit depressing to read the comments section and other people's experience - for example how one British Asian has taken to carrying a bottle of wine with him as a clear visual symbol that says I'm not a fanatic Islamic bomber or from the other end of the spectrum how people are viewing others with suspicion. As one commentator notes on all this:

That is why it is called terrorism the threat or use of violence, often against the civilian population, to achieve political or social ends with the aim of sowing fear and confusion.

While generally agreeing with that statement, I wonder how much of this is really a new shift in attitudes post-bombing and not down to people becoming more aware of certain subconcious attitudes they already possessed towards other tube passengers. I've always found the underground to be about the "discomfort of strangers". At rush hour, especially on a hot day, it's never been a particularly nice place to be. The trains are packed full of people looking at each other suspiciously, avoiding eye contact and being apprehensive over others invading their personal space. On a personal level my only real worry on the subway is not one of bombers and exploding rucksacks but whether i should offer to give up my seat for someone when it's crowded. Basically will they think i'm being a selfish dick for not giving my seat up or a patronising dick for giving it up. Add in a large dose of patriarchal guilt and a concern for not looking at the boobs of the woman sitting opposite me or the arse of the woman standing beside me then the average subway journey quickly becomes a ride that is not particularly enjoyed; it's full of the discomfort of strangers.

It's not that I underestimate the Jihadist threat either, I know full well what these people are capable of. But all the same, life goes on and in an incredibly shallow and self obsessed way I worry more about looking like a selfish/patronising dick or a perv (or indeed both) than I do about being blown up. I think this is in effect part of a similiar rationale which helps explain why so many liberals and those of the left are so blind to the dangers of militant Islam and it's theocratic fascism - the fear of being thought of by others as racist or Islamophobic clouds the vision.