UK - Gunshots fired outside houses of parliament in London. 22 Mar 2017

[CoolJ]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...cheer-westminster-attack-revenge-british-air/



rbbm.

Why on earth does Isis instruct attackers to use knives? I don't understand that... at all.
And why on earth are there not more attacks if there are as many sleeper cells in the West as they have been telling us there is since 9/11.

Am i the only one who questions these things?

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

Persian is used when talking about Persians/Iranians. I've never heard anyone refer to a Persian as an Asian. I suppose yes, Iran is located in Asia but... well, I would never call my Iranian friend's Asian.

So in Arizona how do you refer to someone who is Iranian?

promise this is not at all snarky and my last post on the topic in this very very sad thread... (thank you all for being here, this is just so far beyond anything I could ever fathom)

I'd ask the person what they prefer to be referred to in that sense. Like I do with others who might prefer Latino/a over Mexican.

 

[Ellmau]

Presumably because thyey're easier to get hold of than guns.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

but technically, Iran is in Asia, so Asian in a much larger sense, no? (I admit, geography is not my forte and I am learning here as well.) IMO Persian is also regional here in the US - meaning, for example, in areas like Dearborn, Michigan, "Persian" is heard and used frequently. Out here in Arizona, I rarely hear the descriptor "Persian" used.

Ironically, the term Persian is only really used here to describe rugs!

Anyway. The bottom line is a British person described the attacker as Asian. In my experience (of being British lol!) that would more often than not mean India / Pakistan / Bangladesh and wherever the other posters said. If he was Chinese she would have said Oriental or possibly the more modern and politically correct East Asian. If he was Syrian or Irani she would have said Middle-Eastern.

 

[MaryG12]

I have not heard "Persian" used to describe the Iranian people - only the language they speak, although many in the west are prone to calling their native language Farsi (Farsi is "Persian" in their own language; it is akin to the Germans calling their language Deutsch). Ethnically, they are Indo-Aryan, and their language, Indo-Iranian (meaning that Farsi is related to Latin although it uses a modified Arabic script for the written language).

Hope that clears it up - knew my college degree in Near Eastern Studies was good for something....

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

Please be good and kind to each other, here and out there in the world. I feel the need to find a grief group tonight. With all that is going on in the world right now, I just want a hug. So so sad for everyone involved in this attack today, and then reading about isil celebrating this massacre... it's just too much. But we can't put our heads in the sand, as they say. So, what can we do?

Thanks again to all who brought news here today, and everyday. My heart reaches across the pond to love you all.

 

[MaryG12]

Why on earth does Isis instruct attackers to use knives? I don't understand that... at all.
And why on earth are there not more attacks if there are as many sleeper cells in the West as they have been telling us there is since 9/11.

Am i the only one who questions these things?

Maybe ISL considers knives to be scimitars....

 

[MaryG12]

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims.

 

[skibaboo]

Please be good and kind to each other, here and out there in the world. I feel the need to find a grief group tonight. With all that is going on in the world right now, I just want a hug. So so sad for everyone involved in this attack today, and then reading about isil celebrating this massacre... it's just too much. But we can't put our heads in the sand, as they say. So, what can we do?

Thanks again to all who brought news here today, and everyday. My heart reaches across the pond to love you all.

I know exactly how you feel lovely!

Here is one from me :hug:

 

[gregjrichards]

Please be good and kind to each other, here and out there in the world. I feel the need to find a grief group tonight. With all that is going on in the world right now, I just want a hug. So so sad for everyone involved in this attack today, and then reading about isil celebrating this massacre... it's just too much. But we can't put our heads in the sand, as they say. So, what can we do?

Thanks again to all who brought news here today, and everyday. My heart reaches across the pond to love you all.

Lovely post thank you.

 

[CoolJ]

Presumably because thyey're easier to get hold of than guns.

not in the US of A

 

[Elley Mae]

but technically, Iran is in Asia, so Asian in a much larger sense, no? (I admit, geography is not my forte and I am learning here as well.) IMO Persian is also regional here in the US - meaning, for example, in areas like Dearborn, Michigan, "Persian" is heard and used frequently. Out here in Arizona, I rarely hear the descriptor "Persian" used.

Persians are an ethnic group of people in iran, not all iranians are persians. Jmo

 

[dotr]

Please be good and kind to each other, here and out there in the world. I feel the need to find a grief group tonight. With all that is going on in the world right now, I just want a hug. So so sad for everyone involved in this attack today, and then reading about isil celebrating this massacre... it's just too much. But we can't put our heads in the sand, as they say. So, what can we do?

Thanks again to all who brought news here today, and everyday. My heart reaches across the pond to love you all.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

[CoolJ]

Maybe ISL considers knives to be scimitars....

a knife is a knife. Not a pretend sabre. Regardless the object of terrorism is to do as much carnage as possible

 

[bluesneakers]

So that makes no sense at all then?

Personally I'd call an Iranian an Iranian, an Indian and Indian, someone from Japan, Japanese. Avoids all kinds of confusion and awkwardness.

Not all Iranians are Persian. But most are.

The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group that make up over half the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language,as well as closely related languages.

Hope that clears it up for you.

 

[MIKAYOYO]

Persians are an ethnic group of people in iran, not all iranians are persians. Jmo

I always see "Formerly Persia" in my crossword puzzles and the answer is Iran. I'm extremely bad at geography but I do know that at one time Iran (or parts of it) was once called Persia.

 

[Eloise]

a knife is a knife. Not a pretend sabre. Regardless the object of terrorism is to do as much carnage as possible

Knives are universal and easy to get hands on, especially in countries with strict gun controls where you'd probably draw attention from intelligence if you were smuggling them in.
Knife attacks require little planning and can be done completely spontaneously by anyone.

As for the mass carnage, cars and other vehicles take care of that easily for the same reasons. They're universally available and easy to access and require very little planning compared to large scale gun or bomb attacks.

ETA Not to mention, I don't think you need to kill huge numbers of people (though I'm sure they'd love to) to create fear, hate, and panic, and to alter people's way of life.
And that's the real aim.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

As an aside, I went on a school trip with 90 kids (ages 7-9) last week, we visited a mosque and learned a bit about Islam and the culture, food, prayers and clothing. The kids got to try on traditional Muslim dress and learn some basic greetings. There is only one Muslim child out of the 90 and he was the only one that had ever been in a mosque before, the rest of them learned a bit about a different faith and asked lots of interesting questions.

I'm glad they went last week before this happened, I think it's important for the next generations to be culturally educated. This attack will be probably be discussed at school tomorrow and I hope our trip means that they will not identify Islam as equalling terrorism.

 

[CoolJ]

Knives are universal and easy to get hands on, especially in countries with strict gun controls where you'd probably draw attention from intelligence if you were smuggling them in.
Knife attacks require little planning and can be done completely spontaneously by anyone.

As for the mass carnage, cars and other vehicles take care of that easily for the same reasons. They're universally available and easy to access and require very little planning compared to large scale gun or bomb attacks.

ETA Not to mention, I don't think you need to kill huge numbers of people (though I'm sure they'd love to) to create fear, hate, and panic, and to alter people's way of life.
And that's the real aim.

Fair answer. The second part of my question though is why are there so few attacks if there are so many sleeper cells operating in the west in the past 15-20 yrs?

 

[Eloise]

Fair answer. The second part of my question though is why are there so few attacks if there are so many sleeper cells operating in the west in the past 15-20 yrs?

I haven't really heard much about their being sleeper cells per se. From what I can tell/have noticed most 'organised' stuff gets picked up before it happens thanks to intel.
Now there is more the fear that individuals can be quite quickly radicalised via the Internet. Not really much need to be part of anything organised anymore thanks to technology.