When Londoners woke up to the headlines of the terror attack on London Bridge and at Borough Market on Sunday morning, they were, as John Oliver put it, “insulted.”
A New York Times headline said, “Two Attacks in London as a Reeling Nation Faces More Terror.”
It was a headline that pissed Brits off enough to get a Twitter hashtag trending — #ThingsThatLeaveBritainReeling.
The cheeky hashtag was born out of Britain’s dislike of foreign and American media coverage of the London attack, and it was quickly populated with some equally cheeky posts.
The Saturday night attack that killed seven people and injured 49 others came on the heels of another deadly terrorist attack in Britain — a suicide bomber attacked an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena on May 22, leaving 23 adults and children dead.
So why were Brits so pissed off at the seemingly serious coverage of a serious terrorist attack? John Oliver summed it up on his Sunday night program, “Last Week Tonight.”
“Is [Britain] upset? Yes. Is it pissed off? Oh you f–ing bet it’s pissed off. But to say it’s under siege and that its people are reeling is to imply that it’s somehow weak enough to be brought to its knees by three monumental assholes, and that as an idea is insulting.”
But the British dealt with the “insulting” coverage with their stereotypical sarcastic wit via the hashtag #ThingsThatLeaveBritainReeling.
Twitter user @starcaron had a biting remark for President Donald Trump in response to his criticism of London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s handling of the terrorist attack.
“Americans pretending they have a real president and then trying to tell us we’re the ones getting it wrong,” she wrote.
#ThingsThatLeaveBritainReeling Americans pretending they have a real President and then trying to tell us we’re the ones getting it wrong
— caron scott nadal (@starcaron) June 5, 2017
Other Twitter users were a bit more lighthearted.
“Having to scroll to the bottom of a drop down list for United Kingdom, when United States is at the top,” Twitter user @dyanisis1978 wrote.
#ThingsThatLeaveBritainReeling having to scroll to the bottom of a drop down list for united kingdom, when united states is at the top
— david blake (@dyanisis1978) June 5, 2017
User @GetCreativeBlog wrote, “Pouring hot water first and THEN dipping in the tea bag.”
Pouring hot water first and THEN dipping in the tea bag #ThingsThatLeaveBritainReeling
— Get Creative (@GetCreativeBlog) June 5, 2017
Some were too British to understand.
Not being able to dip your soldiers because your egg was boiled for to long.
#thingsthatleavebritainreeling pic.twitter.com/ly0EUI2IP4— Gavin Dickerson (@Hadesr66) June 5, 2017
