Frightened of Each Other's Shadows
Seriously...
BBC
4.1 • 885 Ratings
🗓️ 16 August 2016
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's part of contemporary life we experience but are ashamed to discuss. But Nihal Arthanayake wants to talk it: about the things that are left unsaid. The empty chair next to a person from an ethnic minority on a packed bus or train. That anxious glance, or downright hostile gaze. Nihal hears from people from around Britain about how the threat of terrorist attacks is making us all frightened of each other's shadows; charting the emotional landscape of Britain at a time of heightened anxiety and distrust. Olaoluwa Opebiyi was removed from a plane by armed police after a fellow passenger reported him to cabin crew for acting suspiciously. Karan Chadda shaved off his hipster beard when people started avoiding him. Tomiwa Folounso tells us that she feels guilty for being wary of young Asian men, when she too has experienced prejudice in the past. How do manage these fears? Some of the people we spoke with in this programme have asked to remain anonymous, but we'll hear from Steve Reicher, a Professor of Social Psychology at St Andrews University and Les Back, Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London. We join writer Iain Sinclair as he takes Nihal on a walk through history around the City of London. Nihal also speaks with Robin Goodwin from Warwick University who has been measuring people's responses to terrorist attacks, from 9/11 right up until the November attacks in Paris in 2015. Is terrorism changing the way we relate to each other? Producer: Caitlin Smith.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:02.0 | Hello and welcome to seriously with me |
| 0:08.0 | FEMI Martin. In today's podcast we join Naha Arthur Nayaaka as he |
| 0:17.6 | talks to people from around Britain about how the threat of terrorist attacks is making us all frightened of each other. |
| 0:25.0 | Charting the emotional landscape at a time of heightened anxiety and distrust, |
| 0:30.0 | this is frightened of each other's shadows. |
| 0:34.0 | Paris, Tunisia, Brussels, Istanbul, Iraq, Nice. |
| 0:42.0 | We're all trying to come to terms with a world where terrorism dominates the news. |
| 0:47.0 | I wanted to hear how ordinary people were coping with the day-to-day reality of living in a world full of threats real and imagined. |
| 0:55.0 | As I got on the flight and sat down there was a gentleman to my right and to my left |
| 1:01.5 | I was in the middle row I brought up my phone and I made a |
| 1:04.7 | phone call and I remember saying to my friend on the line I was on a flight and I |
| 1:09.6 | wouldn't be able to stay long on the phone and then I brought up my other phone and I was texting |
| 1:15.4 | another friend to find out if they were joining a prayer and all of a sudden I |
| 1:20.4 | heard the guy on my right side asking me what do I mean by prayer and I was |
| 1:25.9 | quite shocked that someone was actually looking over my shoulder and reading my my |
| 1:30.4 | phone message and then he got up about two minutes later and said he was going to the bathroom |
| 1:35.6 | and so he went off to the front of the plane and I could see him talking to the cabin crew. |
| 1:41.3 | O'Lalu Upper B. He was flying to Amsterdam from his London home in February when a fellow |
| 1:46.3 | passenger reported to cabin crew that he was acting suspiciously. |
| 1:49.8 | I now noticed two armed officers coming into the airplane and they walked up to where I was sitting and asked me to give them my phone. |
| 2:00.0 | I handed over my phones to them and then they asked me to please stand up and take all my belongings and follow them off the flights. |
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