2013-10-04, 08:40 AM
Alloy Wrote:I guess it's our mentality. We don't just grab our pitchforks and attack what we don't like. People here know that if you are trying to bring the system down by force, the system will answer with force. There's a rotten idiot here and there, but those just want to see the forest burn. And attack policemen at protests so they have an excuse to attack back.
There hasn't been a single life-threatening attack or attempt towards our leaders since like... The dictatorship like 40 years ago.
I think we could have said much the same thing about the USA pre 9/11. Columbine and Ted Bundy were highly irregular incidents and people really had no worries about attacks. The train bombings in Madrid did not have nearly the same effect as the plane crashes did for us. I don't really know enough about Spain to begin to understand why, but we've developed a very strong need for visible security here. We don't "live in fear", but we've forcibly become much more aware of the possibility of attacks and have responded very strongly. Maybe too strongly in some cases.
As much as I hate to see someone killed, especially someone that may have had mental health issues, I think the police made the right call here. The driver was very clearly a danger to the public. There was a very strong possibility that someone could have been hit by the car and this was averted. We can second guess this for eternity and maybe further evidence will change my opinion, but I think they made the right call this time.