Pardon the narcissism

Considering what's going on in the world, my blog entry yesterday feels particularly self-centered. I'm embarrassed to admit that I was rather (blissfully?) ignorant of what happened in London, other than hearing a few notes about it while dialing through radio stations in the morning. But I didn't look for news, choosing instead to trudge through the errands of the day while listening to music and sports-talk radio. And then I spent most of the afternoon in a bookstore. For whatever reason, as I slowly renew the interests that filled my life before my father passed away, paying attention to the news seems the most difficult for me to embrace. But I don't like feeling uninformed. And I definitely don't like feeling apathetic.

So I'd like to tip my cap to my fellow bloggers who chose to write about something more substantial and address significant events occurring in the world. There's an interesting discussion at Evan's blog regarding how some people in this country are reacting to the London bombings. Susannah (who I swear does not pay me by the link) also has an interesting take on how this incident was perceived, while Chris reacts a bit more emotionally. And Terry Foster takes a sharp departure from his usual sports-oriented writing to express his thoughts on the subject.

And if you haven't seen these already, here are some interesting articles and discussions concerning the bombings:

▪ In Slate, Tim Naftali thinks Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff sent the wrong message by raising the terror alert to orange.

▪ washingtonpost.com has insightful discussions with University of South Carolina sociology professor Matthew Deflem about the policing of terrorism, national security and intelligence reporter Dana Priest, and former FBI agent Mike German.

▪ Also in the Washington Post is Yuki Noguchi's piece on the role cell phone cameras played in yesterday's TV coverage.

▪ Novelist Ian McEwan writes that Londoners somehow always expected this in an Op-Ed piece for the New York Times.

▪ Writer Warren Ellis, meanwhile, has a more defiant take on his Bad Signal e-mail journal. Unfortunately, that requires a subscription, so here's a quote: "Listen, Christmas bombing campaigns used to turn up with the same regularity as the Queen's speech. We've done this before, and, frankly, the IRA were better at it."

▪ Also on the NY Times' Op-Ed page, Peter Bergen worries that many terrorist threats are hiding in the United States' greatest ally country.