Bill DurodiÃƒÂ© Fear and Terror in a Post-Political Age - Bill Durodie

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446 GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITIONtimes. People often come together in an emergency in new andlargely unexpected ways, reaffirming core social bonds and theircommon humanity. Research reveals communities that were consideredto have benefited in some ways through having had to cope withadversity or a crisis. 63 Rather than being psychologically scarred, itappears equally possible to emerge enhanced. In other words, whilsta disaster, including a terrorist attack, destroys physical and economiccapital, it has the potential to serve as a rare, if unfortunate, opportunityin contemporary society to build up social capital.Of course, terrorists hope that their acts will lead to a breakdownin social cohesion. Whether this comes true is up to us. Civilians arethe true first responders and first line of defence at such times; theirsupport prior to – and their reactions subsequent to – any incidentare crucial. Disasters act as one of the best indicators of the strengthof pre-existing social bonds across a community. Societies that aretogether, pull together – those that are apart, are more likely to fallapart.Whilst there is much empirical evidence pointing to the positiveelements of ordinary human responses to disaster, it is usually afterthe immediate danger has subsided that the real values of society asa whole come to the fore. 64 It is then that the cultural outlook andimpact of social leaders and their responses begin to hold sway. Thesedetermine whether the focus is on reconstruction and the future, oron retribution and the past. Sadly, despite the variety of ways in whichit is possible to interpret and respond to different emergencies, theonus today seems to veer away from a celebration of the human spiritand societal resilience, towards a focus on compensation and individualvulnerability. The recent trend to encourage mass outpouringsof public grief, minutes of silence or some other symbols of ‘conspicuouscompassion’ is likely to be negative in that regard.In the long run, cultural confusion as to who we are, what we standfor, and where we are going undermines our attempts at buildingsocial resilience. Contemporary society may seem less coherent andless compliant than it was a generation or so ago, but above all itappears less confident as to its aims and purposes. This can not be63 F. Furedi, ‘Disaster and Contemporary Consciousness: The Changing CulturalFrame for the Experience of Adversity’, draft report 2004, available at http://www.terrorismresearch.net/finalreports/Furedi/FurediReportFull.pdf.64 R. Dynes, ‘On Disasters and Popular Culture’, University of Delaware DisasterResearch Centre Preliminary Paper 295, Newark, University of Delaware, 2000.© The Author 2007. Journal compilation © 2007 Government and Opposition Ltd
FEAR AND TERROR IN A POST-POLITICAL AGE447resolved by training ourselves to respond technically to disasters, butby a much broader level of debate and engagement in society, notjust in relation to terrorism and other crises, but to broader socialissues. Presumably, people are prepared to risk their lives fightingfires or fighting wars, not so that their children can, in their turn,grow up to fight fires and fight wars, but because they believe thatthere is something more important to life worth fighting for. It is theabsence of any discussion as to what that something more importantis that leaves us effectively unarmed in the face of adversity today.SOCIAL RESILIENCEIn September 1940, at the height of the Blitz, 5,730 people lost theirlives in London alone. This is one hundred times larger than thenumber killed by the London bombers on 7 July 2005. By the end ofthe Second World War the final fatality count in London had reached30,000. How could the British population be so resilient in the face ofsuch adversity? In his landmark study, representing the official interpretationof these events, Richard Titmuss suggested the key factorsto have been clear leadership, equitable treatment and the provisionof full employment to keep people occupied. 65 Others, such as AngusCalder, have questioned this interpretation, pointing to the existenceof looting, a significant black market and juvenile delinquency asevidence that the famed ‘Blitz spirit’ was not all that it was cracked upto be. 66 Nevertheless, it is clear that the overall response was a remarkabledisplay of fortitude. And whilst government motives may havebeen brought into question, at the time and subsequently, at least itis reasonably clear that it had some motives. During the SecondWorld War, there was a clear sense of the need to carry on withnormal life and to maintain everyday roles and responsibilities. Mostof the population was actively engaged in the war effort and there wasa particular focus on ensuring that people would not develop a‘shelter mentality’. 6765 R. M. Titmuss, Problems of Social Policy, Nottingham, HMSO, 1950.66 A. Calder, The Myth of the Blitz, London, Jonathan Cape, 1991.67 E. Jones, R. Woolven, B. Durodié and S. Wessely, ‘Civilian Morale During theSecond World: Responses to Air Raids Re-Examined’, Social History of Medicine, 17:3(2004), pp. 463–79.© The Author 2007. Journal compilation © 2007 Government and Opposition Ltd
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Bill DurodiÃƒÂ© Fear and Terror in a Post-Political Age - Bill Durodie

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