Paris terror attacks

[allegro]

It's hard to explain, but it's a deeply personal loss on a massive scale. It's too big for us, and we're tying to keep it little, because that's our measure. There will certainly be an official ceremony, which we won't attend, for instance. Any gesture on your part would make it bigger. I don't know if I'm making sense. We welcome the thoughts, the love, we're so, so grateful, and we send love back. As much as we can. But amidst a serie of tragedies all over this fucking world, we're simple people, just trying to bring our loved one home and say our goodbyes one last time.

I understand a lot of what you are saying, because Paris has experienced a massive loss and the entire country is mourning. This is similar to when we knew people who perished in the Trade Center towers on 9-11. And from now on, your family and the families of the other victims will be forever joined in grief but also in unity of life; and that is big enough in the big grief you are already experiencing.

You're right, as much as these senseless deaths hurt, they should teach us to love and appreciate life and each other, because each moment is precious. Your brother probably wouldn't want it any other way.

Each tragedy that occurs in this world, each senseless act, each train or car crash, each act of war, each terrible illness, happens to somebody's brother, sister, son, daughter, father, mother. But this time it happened to somebody we know. And it awakens us to these realities and brings it a little too close to home.

[allegro]

I'm still reading about the events in Paris and a lot of people are still searching for their missing loved ones, it's very sad and disturbing; much like on September 11th with all the "Missing" posters everywhere.

[Khrz]

I'm still reading about the events in Paris and a lot of people are still searching for their missing loved ones, it's very sad and disturbing; much like on September 11th with all the "Missing" posters everywhere.

It's a mess. What I find truly miraculous in this day and age, is that they seem to find people who were just that, missing. Hiding somewhere, unseen, unheard, until suddenly we find out they are alive and well.
There are also the people so injured they can't say who they are for the time being. Or in our case, the forensics institute asking for our help determining which body is ours. They aren't too sure, so they needed the family to come and identify the bodies. Which will help identify the other ones, by elimination.

I just can't imagine how those families feel. We have spent 8 hours in dread before we got told the news. Some people are still wondering if, maybe... Damn that's no way to live...

[kel]

I understand and respect that. Hell, I sympathize.

I have friends all over the country, and beyond, who feel utterly, devastatingly helpless right now. I keep telling them that it's okay, I know they're here, I feel them there.
Look at this fucking thread. You're helping. You're all accompanying me right now in a time of need. How fucking many of you are there, that's incredible.

But the thing is, I'm not the only one involved. There's my family, the future mother of my nephew (because hey, let's make it even worse) and her family. I mentioned this to them, and although they were extremely grateful, they wouldn't understand any "action".

It's hard to explain, but it's a deeply personal loss on a massive scale. It's too big for us, and we're tying to keep it little, because that's our measure. There will certainly be an official ceremony, which we won't attend, for instance. Any gesture on your part would make it bigger. I don't know if I'm making sense. We welcome the thoughts, the love, we're so, so grateful, and we send love back. As much as we can. But amidst a serie of tragedies all over this fucking world, we're simple people, just trying to bring our loved one home and say our goodbyes one last time.

my god. you articulate it so beautifully in the heart of such sadness and grief.

god bless you and your family. we're with you.

[allegro]

I was reading that these monsters focused on shooting people in the handicapped section at the concert, people in wheelchairs up front?

I just can't imagine how those families feel. We have spent 8 hours in dread before we got told the news. Some people are still wondering if, maybe... Damn that's no way to live...

Yes, at least you *know*. You received terrible news, but at least you're no longer kept in this desperate fog of not knowing. It's just heartbreaking, these people with the photos online and these desperate messages with #rechercheParis. It truly is miraculous that they find missing people who were just missing but are alive and okay or maybe just injured; Facebook is using that "I am Safe" thing, now?

[DVYDRNS]

I have been here since friday. Its intense out on the streets. Its quiet. Everything is closed. My flat is 3 blocks from where EODM were playing. Its pure fluke that I didn't know they were playing. Because I know those guys... and if i knew they were here, i would have 100% been there. Talk about an eerie feeling...

[allegro]

I have been here since friday. Its intense out on the streets. Its quiet. Everything is closed. My flat is 3 blocks from where EODM were playing. Its pure fluke that I didn't know they were playing. Because I know those guys... and if i knew they were here, i would have 100% been there. Talk about an eerie feeling...

So glad you are safe and okay.


Meanwhile, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah condemned the Paris attacks and vowed retaliation for the Beirut bombings.

I'm having a hard time keeping track of this. It all appears to boil down to Shiite vs. Sunni, as usual. I think the US may have to switch teams at some point.

[allegro]

Last night, Saturday Night Live's opening paid a touching tribute to Paris

[elevenism]

i have a sinking feeling that this attack is just the beginning.

i think the next few years are gonna get pretty fucking strange

[allegro]

IS warned that this (and the Russian plane, and Lebanon) is just the beginning in a series of planned attacks.

[kel]

it makes me so scared for my sister and brother-in-law in new york city. and my best friend in seattle. fuck, i guess there's nowhere safe right now. it could happen in fucking boise.

things are so messed up.

[Exocet]

Im in London and this is terrifying. Only 200 miles away
We have never had a terrorist attack kill 132 people here... Despite long history of terrorism.

The scale of this is one is shocking. This is World War 2 type shit.

I watched this unfold all night on Friday. I happened to watching France 24 (an amazing English speaking news channel)....from the earliest breaking news, of a 'shooting in the 11th arrondessment'.... i found it odd an international news company would report on an individual shooting in a massive city...i could not beleive what it turned into...its just got worse and worse as it unfolded.

[allegro]

it makes me so scared for my sister and brother-in-law in new york city. and my best friend in seattle. fuck, i guess there's nowhere safe right now.

G was wondering if they would again target D.C. and NYC, like on Sept 11 (nearly 3,000 were killed and over 6,000 were injured). I remember being in Chicago, and people were beating it out of the Loop to get away from the Willis (then Sears) Tower because nobody knew what would be the next target. Right now it's like waiting for the other shoe to drop, again.

Earlier today, I was watching CNN and thousands of people in Paris had gathered at a memorial (which isn't supposed to be happening right now since it has been temporarily banned for security reasons) and something spooked the crowd and panic set in and the crowd started running and screaming; people are still very scared and on edge.

Edit: France launches massive air strike on ISIS stronghold in Syria.

The operation, carried out in coordination with US forces, struck a command centre, recruitment centre for jihadists, a munitions depot and a training camp for fighters, it said.

A defence official was quoted by Associated Press as saying the strikes were ‘massive’ and had destroyed two jihadi sites in Raqqa.

[Hazekiah]

^ I worked for Carlyn Berghoff Catering and was scheduled to work at the Sears Tower on 9/11.

I hadn't really seen any news yet that day because I was staying at my hippy (ex-) gf's place and she keeps her TV in the closet, plus 9/11/94 is the date of my first NIN and/or Manson show, so I was watching the bootleg of that like I do every year instead of the news. She heard about the Twin Towers on the radio in the shower and we spent the rest of the morning glued to the TV like everyone else.

We both figured my Sears Tower event was probably cancelled, but I couldn't confirm that so I had to go anyway and it was pretty eerie to see downtown Chicago basically looking like a ghost town in the middle of the day like that.

And, especially considering that the event WAS cancelled because authorities suspected a follow-up attack on the building, it was pretty unnerving to hear almost nothing but the fighter jets scrambled overhead screaming by and echoing through the concrete canyons of Chicago the whole time. Couldn't SEE them, just HEAR them, and we had no idea it was fighter jets at the time!

Definitely an unpleasant, twitchy ambiance.

[allegro]

^ Yeah, after the air traffic controllers had cleared all air traffic from the skies, the only planes left were F-16s.

After that, you had to start providing ID to get into the Sears Tower and a lot of other Loop buildings.

[Hazekiah]

The next time I catered there was about a month later and in the meantime I'd helped my dad build-up the roof of his garage another 10 feet to convert it into a makeshift barn and I didn't realize I still had five inch nails in my coat pocket from the job.

They confiscated them when they set off the metal detector and wouldn't even give them back on my way out, lol.

No problem whatsoever with my bartending knife and bladed corckscrew, though!

So absurd.

[DigitalChaos]

If you want to do something, do something with your loved ones. Fire the XBox up, argue over a game of Catan, plan Christmas, whatever. Watch the stars and discuss about unanswerable shit, learn more about what they love, what they care about. It's never enough.

that was french as fuck, you're awesome.

im ridiculously bad at dealing with things like this, but this entire thread is a great example of some of the great things that the ETS community possess. It's an increasingly rare thing these days. I'm glad to see you have a good place to distract you.

[DigitalChaos]

As for the wider topic of the Paris attacks. I really hope they hold the country together. I'm seeing a whole lot of talk about restricting all kinds of freedoms along the lines of how the USA fucked up after 9/11.

[kel]

taking our shoes off at security isn't a big deal considering.

i'm waiting and terrified for the attack on us soil. it feels imminent. and it is.

[DigitalChaos]

taking our shoes off at security isn't a big deal considering.

i'm waiting and terrified for the attack on us soil. it feels imminent. and it is.

Taking your shoes off doesn't actually improve your security.

However, I'm more thinking about the calls to go after certain mosques and shut them down (even by the french interior minister), calls to go after encrypted communications, and a whole bunch of other stupid shit that I haven't had a chance to keep up on.

[kel]

i never thought it did, was/is an inconvenience, nothing more.

i'm going to open myself up for scrutiny here, but i think mosques are the perfect place to start investigations. when people say that only 9 % of muslims are extremists, well guess what the fuck that means? hundreds of thousands.

none of these assholes represent islam as it is, but i'm fucking sick of this shit.

[orestes]

Nooooooope.

[DF118]

i never thought it did, was/is an inconvenience, nothing more.

i'm going to open myself up for scrutiny here, but i think mosques are the perfect place to start investigations. when people say that only 9 % of muslims are extremists, well guess what the fuck that means? hundreds of thousands.

none of these assholes represent islam as it is, but i'm fucking sick of this shit.

I'm muslim. Does that mean that there's a 9% chance that I'm an extremist?

[kel]

see?

i shouldn't have said that. and right now i wish i didn't. i'm really sorry.

[slave2thewage]

when people say that only 9 % of muslims are extremists, well guess what the fuck that means? hundreds of thousands.

There's an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, I think we'd be a lot more fucked if 9% of that figure were extremists.

Go after radicalized imams? Go ahead. Shut down random mosques? Nope.

[DF118]

see?

i shouldn't have said that. and right now i wish i didn't. i'm really sorry.

Accepted. See- the way you've reacted- that's exactly the fear and discord that terrorists are trying to perpetuate. That's the goal. That's how they win.

[kel]

listen, i said something fucked up that i can't delete. i'm very sorry. that wasn't true or justified.

[kel]

and not how i really feel. at all. its easy to get caught up in this shit and get angry. i'm so sorry to every muslim board member and anyone else i offended.

holy shit. i love all of you and feel like garbage.

[kel]

@orestes you know i mean well. i fucked up this time. in a big way. i'll shut my mouth.

[kel]

i'm sickened with what i've said. please don't drag me through the mud too much. i'm ashamed and very sad.

edit: feel free. i deserve it.