Self-Sufficiency in Style
The Effects of Terrorism
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Self-Sufficiency in Style The Effects of Terrorism
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| Will
terrorism cause people to desert the towns for rural safety?
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The United States, Britain
and the rest of the Free World are in a war against terrorism, what will
be the impact on self-sufficient lifestyles?
Well, we can be sure that people will not run away from their cities. Time and time again it has been shown that there is no inclination for people in cities to run from attack.
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| The courage
and determination of the NYPD and firemen is an amazing example of the
ability of cities to survive the most outrageous and physically damaging
attacks.
Their bravery was admired everywhere across the world as an example of devotion to duty in the "heartless" metropolis. Few, anywhere in the world, can have failed to be moved by their courage and had not felt sympathy for the US under such a terrible mind chilling attack. |
A tale of heroism, that will be told for as long as we have cities. |
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You can't beat the courage of a free people. |
Whilst the servants of the
cities remain at their posts, with this degree of courage and dedication,
and they will, the people will not desert their homes and head for the
hills.
They are afraid, but will not quit, especially not in an educated democracy. |
| In the 1930s,
when terrorism was a theory and the first air raid was yet to be made in
Spain, it was confidently predicted by everyone that the power of terror
would empty the cities.
The pundits were wrong. We saw a different story in Britain during the blitz, and we are seeing it again today in the USA. We even saw it in Germany at the end of WW2, when the cause was evil, but the people were brave. We saw it in Israel when Saddam's rockets began to land. The people of the great cities have courage and staying power. |
How
do we know?
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| What is the impact? | But it does
have its effect, nevertheless.
Existing irritations become amplified. A life already stressed and busy seems less attractive. The delays at airports for security checks, the evacuation of stores because of false alarms and the identity checks, all take their toll on daily life. Those who are already unhappy with their lot will find the frustrations of the modern urban life even more irritating and unbearable. The small things, the little inconveniences will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back to encourage them, not drive them, from the city life style. |
| In the first
shock and horror, many New Yorkers will have reached for their gun
cupboard and thought for their families safety, before settling down to
continuing normal life.
Their Mayor, bravely and intelligently, encouraged their existing inclination to recover quickly and to stand up to the terrorist by showing that terror could not win... ...and it can't. He is right of course. But, the longer term, those already unhappy in the world of the cities will find the new security conscious scenario even less attractive. They won't be heading for a fortified redoubt in the Rockies and will be more likely to yearn and eventually move, not run, to a vegetable garden in New England or Vermont. You can't run from war. The smallest hamlet in Britain felt the call-up twice this century as the war memorials testify. Small town America saw the draft too. Today, in this quiet part of England, the United States warplanes thunder over towards Afghanistan as I write, just as they did once each day in WW2 and again to run the Berlin blockade. There is nowhere to hide from war and evil. The writer’s urge for self-sufficiency was fuelled, a long time ago, in not dissimilar circumstances. You can find out all about it in Running for Cover, Self-Sufficiency v Survivalism may be of interest, or you can read about planning for emergencies in When the lights go out. |
This is a little wayside cross in the heart of rural England, very near to where this piece is being written. It was straightened and varnished recently. It is a memorial to a USAAF aircrew that died there in a crash nearly 50 years ago in a fight for freedom and decency. You can't hide from war or the consequences, but it will encourage a slow drift of the already restless from the urban centres to a rural life. |
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...the effects and courage of the NYPD are even felt at - the ominously named Hangman's Cottage, just to the south of Misery Corner. |
