NationStates Jolt Archive

Now, this may seem like a very odd story, but last week I received a warning from a friend. I didn't think much about it at the time, but I've heard the same thing repeated several times to other people in front of me. Basically, near to where I live on the outskirts of Manchester is a very large and very expensiv shopping centre/ mall called the Trafford Centre. My friend told me that he was in this building when a man of Asian appearance wearing an Islamic skullcap and a beard dropped his wallet. When my friend picked this man's wallet up, the man turned to him and said. "Please take some money for your kindness." My friend naturally refused and the man said. "Then take this advice. Do not come here again in December. Whatever you do, do not come here in December!" Of course this left my friend very shaken. He relayed the story to me and warned me. I thought it was ridiculous personally.
Now, this same story seems to be going round to everywhere. I took it as little more than a stupid and utterly pointless rumour, as it soon turned into "Don't go to the Trafford Centre on the 9th December. There's going to be a terrorist attack!" However, since then, several suited men turned up at the Trafford Centre and flashed Special Branch badges to several people I know asking them if they had seen a number of men. These men were apparently dressed in Islamic religious dress. This has led to widespread fear that something is actually going to happen...
Is it really the case that what are pretty trivial things have escalated into this sort of hysteria. Do we now live in a climate of fear? Several people I know will not go. As some have had first-hand experience in the Manchester bomb in 1996 and are now too afraid to take what they think is a risk. I fear for what Britain is turning in to...

This sounds exactly like the post 9/11 stories of muslims across the country warning people not to fly on that date.

Terrorists would "encourage" people to be there.

Maybe the guy just wanted your friend to avoid the X-mas rush at a mall. It can be hectic. Or maybe, it never happened and another urban legend is becoming terrorist hysteria.

This happened in Glasgow last December.
Exactly the same story.
Life went on.
Nobody died.

Exactly.public places are targeted for terrorist attacks so they will be a bigger spectacle,show the terrorists are serious and not afraid to die,etc.sounds like bull to me.

If the man in the skullcap was a terrorist, he wouldn't have warned anyone. So we dismiss that point.
If the man in the skullcap had overheard something he heard, one wonders if he overheard a rumor, or the actual conversation of actual terrorists. Because an actual terrorist wouldn't tell anyone or talk up the plan in a public place.

It's the Special Branch's problem now. Do yourself and your friends a favor - don't spread the rumor. If you do actually run into some suspicious person who tells you something like this, by all means notify the police, but don't spread it around.

The story about a muslimish looking guy warning your friend to stay away from the mall sounds pretty bogus to me. I'm sure I've heard similar stories elsewhere. You might want to have a look at www.snopes.com, as they often deal with urban myths of that nature.

That's pretty weird that there are officials asking questions at the mall now though. I don't know what to make of that.

Urban legends like this have been floating around for some time. Check Snopes.com.

Same thing happened to me. I was told "Don't go to Manchester"
"Why? Is there going to be some terrorist attack?"
"No, it's just that it's a shithole."

Wiser words have never been spoken to me.

I don't really take it seriously, but Im alarmed how the rumour can take hold like this...

Even more than bull, it sounds like the kind of thing that a person who wanted distrust of the Muslim community and potentially, violence against them, would start as an urban legend.

Even more than bull, it sounds like the kind of thing that a person who wanted distrust of the Muslim community and potentially, violence against them, would start as an urban legend.
Quite possibly, and If so its appaling. Im not so much concerned that there will be an attack (because there wont) but Im worried about the society we live in, where this kind of thing can spread and people are either too scared or too ignorant not to believe it...

Even more than bull, it sounds like the kind of thing that a person who wanted distrust of the Muslim community and potentially, violence against them, would start as an urban legend.

Even if there isn't such a rumor, it only takes one attack to create distrust of the Muslim community.

Part of the terrorist goal is to alienate the Muslims who live abroad from the country they are living in - to make them suffer the indignation and accusations of others - until they become willing tools of the terrorists.

Spreading rumors is stupid. If you know something that is first hand and true, tell it to the police. But otherwise keep your mouth shut. Don't spread rumors, or "I heard a guy say...".

Same thing happened to me. I was told "Don't go to Manchester"
"Why? Is there going to be some terrorist attack?"
"No, it's just that it's a shithole."


(off topic!!)

I met a girl from Manchester in Amsterdam this year who rather proudly proclaimed to have been born with a tiny testicle.
For the record I can neither confirm nor deny the veracity of this statement.

Obviously it's another instance of a one-size-fits-all urban myth, but I'm okay with it going around, because, you know... the Trafford Centre sucks and I wouldn't be upset by a decline in business done there, even if it isn't because of a rising social/economic/political awareness in the general population.

Terrorists would "encourage" people to be there.
Unless, of course, they genuinely feel they have a cause to fight for, and they would rather do so while harming as few people people that are empathetic towards them as possible. This may surprise you, but they are humans too.

Unless, of course, they genuinely feel they have a cause to fight for, and they would rather do so while harming as few people people that are empathetic towards them as possible. This may surprise you, but they are humans too.
They wouldn't give that kind of advance notice. They'd do as some European groups do--call an hour beforehand and give the cops a chance to evacuate the area and maybe disarm the bomb.

By the way--this should not be interpreted as a condoning of terrorist tactics on a civilian population. Just a statement about the nature of the tactic itself.

*rolls eyes* Pure bullshit, I say. Terrorists would do everything they could to maximize damage, and they'd never notice any kindness shown to them by "infidels" and "heathens", if you're going to talk about religiously-motivated ones. They see what they want to see. I'd say your "friend" is lying and the others are suffering from self-created false memories after hearing the "credible" story one too many times.

Unless, of course, they genuinely feel they have a cause to fight for, and they would rather do so while harming as few people people that are empathetic towards them as possible. This may surprise you, but they are humans too.

As far as Islamic terrorists go, that's complete BS. They don't give anyone any warning.

If Carops is telling us about something that happened to his friend, it's probably just someone acting out the urban legend. If Carops copy/pasted an e-mail he got that tells about what happened to a friend of whoever wrote the e-mail, it's just more of the urban legend.

edit: and it is some sort of sick joke

This sounds exactly like the post 9/11 stories of muslims across the country warning people not to fly on that date.

Terrorists would "encourage" people to be there.
So are you saying the Hijackers were the good guys?:eek:

Manchester is not a shithole.....erm... well... some of it is... however this is irrelevant. I suppose I could have worded the opening to this thread a little better. What I mean by all this is that perhaps we now live in a climate of fear when stories like this can spread like wildfire and cause such panic.

Manchester is not a shithole.....erm... well... some of it is... however this is irrelevant. I suppose I could have worded the opening to this thread a little better. What I mean by all this is that perhaps we now live in a climate of fear when stories like this can spread like wildfire and cause such panic.
Didnt it take 2 weeks?

Didnt it take 2 weeks?
It did to get to me... but then Im not very popular. Everyone I asked already has prior knowledge of this tale...

It did to get to me... but then Im not very popular. Everyone I asked already has prior knowledge of this tale...
Oh well how many Irish people said dont go to X-Location on this date back in the 70's and 80's?

Oh well how many Irish people said dont go to X-Location on this date back in the 70's and 80's?

What happened if I said "Don't go to Nationstates"?

Would I have killed NS? :p

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/warning.htm

Yeah. Credible.



Not.

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/warning.htm

Yeah. Credible.



Not.
See, now you're just taking all the fun out of it. :D

See, now you're just taking all the fun out of it. :D

I'm sorry, Nazz, how DARE I confuse the issue with facts! ;)

I'm sorry, Nazz, how DARE I confuse the issue with facts! ;)
Ok now I feel like im in a trend....

Now, this may seem like a very odd story, but last week I received a warning from a friend. I didn't think much about it at the time, but I've heard the same thing repeated several times to other people in front of me. Basically, near to where I live on the outskirts of Manchester is a very large and very expensiv shopping centre/ mall called the Trafford Centre. My friend told me that he was in this building when a man of Asian appearance wearing an Islamic skullcap and a beard dropped his wallet. When my friend picked this man's wallet up, the man turned to him and said. "Please take some money for your kindness." My friend naturally refused and the man said. "Then take this advice. Do not come here again in December. Whatever you do, do not come here in December!" Of course this left my friend very shaken. He relayed the story to me and warned me. I thought it was ridiculous personally.
Now, this same story seems to be going round to everywhere. I took it as little more than a stupid and utterly pointless rumour, as it soon turned into "Don't go to the Trafford Centre on the 9th December. There's going to be a terrorist attack!" However, since then, several suited men turned up at the Trafford Centre and flashed Special Branch badges to several people I know asking them if they had seen a number of men. These men were apparently dressed in Islamic religious dress. This has led to widespread fear that something is actually going to happen...
Is it really the case that what are pretty trivial things have escalated into this sort of hysteria. Do we now live in a climate of fear? Several people I know will not go. As some have had first-hand experience in the Manchester bomb in 1996 and are now too afraid to take what they think is a risk. I fear for what Britain is turning in to...

Seems as if the national front is looking pretty good now. Fear not though, The Green Street Elite have got your back!

This happened in Glasgow last December.
Exactly the same story.
Life went on.
Nobody died.


Nobody died in Glasgow during last December? Immortality is within our grasp! We must just replicate the conditions of winter in Scotland worldwide and we shall all live eternal.

Nobody died in Glasgow during last December? Immortality is within our grasp! We must just replicate the conditions of winter in Scotland worldwide and we shall all live eternal.
*Wipes brow* Finally

Nobody died in Glasgow during last December? Immortality is within our grasp! We must just replicate the conditions of winter in Scotland worldwide and we shall all live eternal.

Tennants lager, buckfast tonic wine, fried food, cigarrettes ... the keys to the gate my friend.

Tennants lager, buckfast tonic wine, fried food, cigarrettes ... the keys to the gate my friend.

* flashback to the scene with the doctors of the future from Woddy Allen's Sleeper *