When the consensus view about the bombing emerged (terrorism!), I was strangely baffled. Thinking about some anarchists "doing something" about the G8, I just could not see what they were trying to achieve through murder. Surely this would only push UK and the US towards more drastic, stupid moves ... what a pointless crime! Then of course, in the afternoon, I realised that's exactly what an Al-Qaeda ofshoot was trying to achieve. More polarisation, violence, hatred will be generated in the western side, more idiotic policy idly justifed and reservations righteously brushed aside.

Then this morning it hit me. What both sides are doing is:

A war on rationality

This goes for both sides. While we can't do much about the Al-Qaeda crazies, we concentrate on our western leaders. And the cowboy-in-chief, alpha male of the sad western (imagine a good Morriconne music going with this) is waging his own little reactionnary crusade on science, reason, reality, peace... Both sides are as destructive and feed of each other. The Enlightenment prinples which are dear to me are needed more than ever.

This was eerily confirmed by all the missionaries out on the prowl today: doe-eyed generic christian, and the scientology recruiters (which I almost pity). I swear they were never there before. They could sense an occasion, an opportunity: nice day for recruiting. All this fear and doubts in the air: we could lock in a few londoners to our peculiar thought-patterns and chain them to our myths. Get them while they're down.