If you happen to be strolling down London Bridge some balmy night, and spot a bunch of men shouting "This is for Allah" as they cut people's throats, the police have three words of advice for you: Run, hide, tell. Run away if you can. If you can't run away, hide. Tell the police what's going on when it is safe to do so.
This is the new guidance for people caught in terrorist attacks. It is no doubt useful. Perhaps it will be taught to school children, the way "duck and cover" was taught to us. Perhaps life will go on and people will go back to normal. But perhaps not.
It is certainly tempting to pretend that what's happening in Britain isn't really happening, or that it's really not that bad. But three terrorist attacks in three months – two in the heart of London, and one targeting little girls – can't be dismissed as bad luck. It seems now as if the bad guys can strike wherever and whenever they want.
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Ah, well, at least we have that plucky British spirit. We love that photo of the guy who fled down the street with his pint – taking care that it wouldn't spill. Angry Londoners declared that, contrary to the foreign media, they were by no means "reeling." They were just fine, thanks. The next day they were making signs that said "Dare to Keep On Loving," with hearts on them.
We desperately want to look on the bright side. We want to believe that love will conquer hate. We are rightfully inspired by Ariana Grande's brave second concert in Manchester, which was called a defiant act of joy. We mourn the death of Christine Archibald, who died in the arms of her sweetheart, and want to honour her goodness. "Volunteer your time and labour or donate to a homeless shelter," her relatives asked us. "Tell them Chrissy sent you."
But love is not enough. Something more is obviously required. The liberal democratic dilemma is: What?
That depends, of course, on whom you ask. Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is not exactly Mr. Tough-on-Terrorism, insists that Theresa May, the Prime Minister, should resign because she cut police funding. Presumably he would do a better job of keeping Britain safe. We'll see what the voters think in this Thursday's election.
There are also the usual calls for more and better policing. They missed the Manchester bomber, even though people had called him in. They seem to have missed one of these killers, too. To be sure, there are more potential jihadi maniacs in Britain than anyone can possibly keep track of. And now that these maniacs know they can create mayhem by simply cutting people's throats (no bomb-making skills required), there's not much people can do to stop them.
Ms. May has a few ideas. She wants more regulation of cyberspace "to deprive the extremists of their safe spaces online." She says there is "far too much tolerance of extremism in our country … we need to become far more robust in identifying it and stamping it out."
Predictably, critics went ballistic. They attacked her "authoritarian" tendencies, and declared that regulating the Internet is both impossible and dangerous. Others pointed out (for the umpteenth time) that terrorism in Britain is a minor problem compared to, say, the Blitz, or the toll of people who die from slipping on their bathmats. And that's a good thing, because there's really nothing we can do. "There is little that can be done on a short-term basis," Steve Hewitt, a history lecturer, opined in this paper on Monday. "In the longer run, profound discussions about the root causes of terrorism including alienation, interpretations of Islam, Islamophobia, Western foreign policy, problems around integration, and many others will need to occur." Translation: Too bad. Suck it up.
This familiar line ignores the widespread extremist attacks on other Muslims, and Christians, and others, in parts of the world that never were a target of the West. It ignores the fact that as dangerous as your bathmat may be, it does not want to slit your throat in the name of Allah. It ignores the argument – as made by Muslim cabinet minister Sajid Javid in The Times of London – that the cure for the disease must come from within the Muslim community itself.
In the meantime, I can guarantee that an increasing number of the populace will not be willing to submit to terror. They're sick of appeals to consider root causes. They're tired of extracting nails from children's faces. In their view, it's time to try something different.