There was jubilation in the streets of London, England just over seven years ago, July 6, 2005 to be exact, when the International Olympic Committee announced that that city had been awarded the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. The very next day, those same streets were the scene of death and destruction as four suicide bombs were detonated over a 50-minute period in the London subway and on a double-decker bus. At the time, I would have made no connection between these two occurrences, for although I paid a great deal of attention to the second event, I would have taken little or no notice of the first. In the succeeding years, however, these two events have become inextricably linked in my mind, and with the opening ceremonies mere hours away, I am filled with dread.

At the time of the so called “7/7” bombings, I remember that I wasn’t surprised. Great Britain had been involved since the beginning with the military action in Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks on the US on September 11, 2001. Also, the Brits were a part of US-led invasion of Iraq, and I thought at the time that their involvement in these two campaigns  made Great Britain a prime target for an attack by al Qaeda or some other group of foreign extremists.  What I did not realize at the time, but would come to learn over the course of the next few years, is that Great Britain, especially London, had become a breeding ground for Islamic extremists, and that the “7/7” bombings had been carried out by home-grown terrorists of this ilk.

It had happened gradually. The tolerance and commitment to multiculturalism of British society had allowed, and even in some cases given official legitimacy to, mosques where young, disaffected, and sometimes poor Muslims could be inculcated into radicalism. The North London Central Mosque, which would become notorious for just such activity, had the blessing of no less than Prince Charles, who attended its opening in 1994. The mosque would become home to radical imam Abu Hamza al Masri, and several terrorists would pass through it, perhaps the most well-known being “Shoe Bomber” Richard Reid. Over time, the climate had become much more sinister, as extremists had taken advantage of the very tolerance which had allowed them to flourish, to preach a message of intolerance, hate, and violence.

As knowledge of this change in London became much more widely known, the reaction of some major public figures was puzzling. Prince Charles was heard to say that when he became King, he would be known as “Defender of Faith,” not “Defender of the Faith (Church of England),” as past monarchs had been, and the former Archbishop of Canterbury agreed. The current Archbishop of Canterbury was quoted as saying that the adoption of Sharia, or Islamic Law, was “unavoidable.” This position was a particularly cynical one, an embracing of another type of religious law as a means to justify the legitimacy of Judeo-Christian influence on the legal system. Shortly afterward, the most senior judge in England and Wales took a more measured tone, but still opined that Sharia could “be the basis for mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution.” So, instead of distancing itself from the superstitious nonsense of religious influence, the legal system was instead moving towards more acceptance of accenting religious differences in the law.

From time to time, I would hear or read a story about the London Olympics in 2012. Whenever I did, I imagined that it would be an irresistible target for terrorists. However, I would always think that the organizers of the games, with so much time to consider everything, would have plans in place to ensure the security of the athletes, the spectators, and the city itself.

Events this year, and especially in recent weeks, have left me with serious doubts, however. During the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, a convicted sex offender mingled with the Royal Family after being invited to official Jubilee events by Prince Charles’s (him again) office. G4S, the company that won the contract to provide security for the games, has proven to be extremely unreliable, having failed to recruit enough staff or to train ororganize them properly. And, earlier this week, a story emerged about an 11-year-old boy who boarded a flight from England to Italy without a ticket, boarding pass, or even a passport. These developments don’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence.

The British government has called in 3,500 troops to make up for the recruiting failures of G4S. This is in addition to the 13,500 troops already on Olympic security detail. Adding to those totals, there is also the London Police, and the highly suspect G4S employees. I worry that, with all of those guns, mixing with poorly-trained security personnel, and with the thousands of tourists and spectators, that there will be some sort of mistake, and that an innocent person or people may be hurt due to inexperience or negligence on the part of security forces. Even more, I worry that a targeted terrorist attack will be successful.

Now, more than seven years after those two days shook the city in vastly different ways, I hope that the world sees only jubilation on the streets of London. Still, I can't shake the dread.

Would it be too much to hope that this time, things would be different?

I woke at 6 am on Friday. I had only been up about 5 minutes or so, just enough time to put on a pot of coffee and log on to the computer, when I read about the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. Every news outlet was reporting about the shooting; there were 14 confirmed dead, 10 at the scene, and another 4 who had died in hospital. I read some of the coverage. I drove my wife to work for her 7 am shift.

When I arrived home, I turned on Canada AM. It wasn’t quite the same as it usually is. All the other segments were given short shrift; the only subject that seemed of any interest was the shooting. I heard the same speculation and the same eyewitness accounts, and saw the same jumpy, blurry, smartphone video over and over and over again for about 20 minutes. There was nothing new to report, but, rather than talk about anything else, the just repeated themselves. Just like all the other times that this has happened. I turned off the TV and took a nap.

I found things to keep me busy. I did dishes, read a book, puttered around, anything to keep me away from the computer and the TV. I went to pick my wife up for lunch at around 11:30.

We watched TV at lunch. The “numbers” had been revised to 12 dead and 59 injured. So much for the 14 dead confirmed earlier; so much for accuracy. Meanwhile, ABC news was apologizing for an earlier report stating that the shooter was a member of the Colorado Tea Party, as if that mattered at all. What does truth mean, when you have to beat the competition? Just get it out quickly, don’t worry whether it’s right. If it’s wrong, if it hurts someone, just forget it and move on. Just like every other time.

The rest of the next two days played out pretty much as expected, because we’ve all been here before, haven’t we?

Opportunism, as always, is the name of the game when it comes to business of news these days. Networks, politicians, pundits, everyone is clamouring for attention, to score political points, generate hits to their websites, or just keep you from changing the channel by putting their own spin on things.

Some of the responses to the tragedy were thoughtful. Roger Ebert wrote a post for his blog, as well as an editorial for the New York Times. On his blog, he linked to a document, from a website named for James Brady (“Does anyone in the US remember James Brady?” I wondered), listing the mass shootings in the US since 2005. The list is 62 pages long. I couldn’t help wondering how this list could get so long. Then I saw where one columnist had written that the Aurora shooting was “inevitable,” as if he was some sort of Nostradamus predicting some unprecedented event instead of just waiting for the next one to come along.

Of course, the politicians came out in full force, uttering nonsense, empty platitudes, or just grandstanding. A congressman wondered why no one in the theatre shot back (Colorado is a carry-conceal state), and characterized the shooting as an “attack(s) on Judeo-Christian beliefs.” Mitt Romney said that it was, “time for each of us to look into our hearts,” or in other words, do nothing. President Obama said even less, calling it, “a day for prayer and reflection,” instead of a day for reasoned thought and action. New York’s chief fascist and soda-pop-hater Michael Bloomberg got off his high-horse just long enough to climb upon an even higher pedestal to chide both presidential candidates for not taking action, while knowing full well that for either to do so would incur the wrath of the National Rifle Association and about half of the American populace mere months before the election. And speaking of the good old NRA, as far as it was concerned, things were just fine.

The Canadian networks were looking for their piece of the action as well. Practically every time I turned on CBC or CTV, they were trying to compare the Aurora shootings with what had been happening in Toronto. I couldn’t make up my mind whether they were being wilfully ignorant, or if they really could not grasp the difference, that what has been happening in Toronto (and Halifax, and a lot of other places in Canada) is as a result of criminals using illegally obtained firearms, whereas in the good old US of A, when these types of incidents happen, time and time again it is with guns which were bought legally.

When something like this happens, I am saddened by the loss of life, but that sadness quickly gets overcome by anger. It angers me that the United States refuses to learn from the mistakes of the past, despite the fact that these shootings keep happening at an alarming rate. It angers me that genuine human suffering can be cheapened by so much opportunism, that a death can be reduced to a sound bite, or a “human interest story.”  It angers me that all those people who died in all of those other shootings seemingly died for nothing, that their families suffer their losses for nothing, and that the families of the many shooters had their lives shattered for nothing. And I fear that the death and suffering from yet another tragedy, this time in a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado on July 20, 2012, will mean nothing.

Is it too much to hope that this time, things will be different?