You’re letting them win.

When an Internet troll starts posting rubbish, or you get spam emails etc, the best advice is to ignore them.

They just seek attention and/or recognition. By ignoring them, blocking them, paying them no attention, you render their actions powerless.

They may keep trying, but after a while they generally realise that it’s not working, that their actions are being seen as background noise rather than the focus of attention they desire.

So?

Whilst it is very sad that there have been more deaths in the recent ‘terror*’ attacks (*terror my arse. It’s plain and simple murder), the constant media frenzy (that goes beyond simply reporting the facts), the social media outrage and anger, the ‘solidarity profile pictures’ and support statuses, are feeding the attackers ego.

With all the good intentions in the world, your flag colours on your profile picture show both support to those involved, and that the attackers have got the message out. What they are doing is working. Look how many people know about us!!!

They incite hatred, they fuel anger, and they do it by using the news and social media.

‘There was an explosion in Brussels which lead to deaths and serious injuries. The incident is being investigated by the relevant authorities.‘

That’s all you need to know.

I’m not being cold hearted about this, and I’m not suggested a media blackout, but if you have anything to do with anyone involved, you’ll be kept informed any way. The rest of us should just leave well alone and stop fuelling the ‘advertising‘ of what happened.

If you know people and you want to let them know you are thinking about them, then do it privately, call them!

Hell, if I’d been injured or something terrible had happened to me, I’d want to either shut myself away or physically talk to someone, not openly chat about it on Facebook or Twitter.

So whilst I can only imagine the pain, suffering and loss from such attacks, I believe the majority of people should quieten down and stop feeding the trolls.

Donate money. Do something to help, just don’t shout about it.

Whilst on the ‘so called terror‘ subject, If you don’t think the terrorists are winning, then think about this…

I never had to worry about carrying a bottle of shampoo and some water in my carry-on case when flying abroad in my younger days. I never took my belt off and I kept my shoes on as I walked through to the aircraft.

I could drive right up to airports and park out front of them. You had lots of access to areas   to view the aircraft flying about – just as a visitor, not a passenger.

You could visit the flightdeck with your kid (or visit it yourself, you big kid!).

There weren’t parking restrictions and entry restrictions around public displays or gatherings.

A policeman with a gun?!? In public?!? In ENGLAND?!? Never saw that.

They aren’t winning though.

Credit crunch denial?

In this day and age with some less than safe areas to deliver to, can you blame Saint Nick for swapping a reindeer powered sleigh for an SE5a armed with a .303 Lewis machine gun?

We took a walk today into Farnborough to post a letter. It’s a long trek, but the healthy option – and green! Alex walked a fair amount of the way, but his push chair was always on hand (and helpful for me as support as my back isn’t fully recovered yet).

In the main mall there was some proof that the credit crunch has not hit yet…either that, or there are some seriously stupid people out there with no idea of money and worth…but more on that later in this blog entry…

Alex had a great laugh in the shopping centre, jumping and running around like a loon! He thought Father Christmas in the aeroplane was good, but not as much fun as the hall of mirrors was!

In the passageway with all of the mirrors in, there was also a very tinny echo…which was put to maximum use by the excited screaching terror!

Now much as a shrill squeel can set a persons nerves on edge, there was something a lot worse in the mall this day… A lot, lot worse.

I couldn’t bring myself to actually photograph the full terror of what I saw, but it was enough to make Cthulhu back up in horror…

What I did take a photo of was the next level down…

Yes… Dodgy animal pictures printed onto thin shiney photo paper (cheap). This is just the start as the tacky picture is placed in a very flimsy cheap looking frame and then little plastic numbers are stuck onto it to form the dial of a clock… a cheap little AA battery clock stuck to the back of the picture is the finishing touch.

Now this may terrify you, but take a look at the price….

£25.99

Either people can see value in this cheap tat that I am missing, or there are enough idiots with zero taste out there to get the seller of this hideous crap a living wage!

Now I mentioned that there was a worse terror than this picture, and I am not kidding.

The thing worse than this was the glitter covered wolf painting with the same clock affair. One of those dodgy wolf prints you see on black t-shirts or market bought jackets but with added glitter and a Chinese tick-tock.

Pure lowest common trash… Yet people must be buying it – and that is the scariest thing of all, especially as it is likely that they have the power of the vote….

Your life, and the life of those you love is in the hands of voters who buy things like this…..

Be afraid… Be very afraid.