Violence Reaches Everywhere, Even the Familiar
The shootings at Bondi Beach and Brown University are not isolated aberrations; they are part of a wider and troubling pattern in which violence increasingly intrudes into spaces once considered safe, ordinary, and socially cohesive. Beaches, campuses, shopping areas, religious gatherings, and cultural events have all, at different times and in different countries, become stages for lethal attacks. What distinguishes Bondi and Brown is not novelty, but how clearly, they illustrate the evolving nature of public violence: its targets, its logic, and its consequences. Bondi Beach represents one category of violence that has appeared repeatedly over the past two decades: attacks on open, symbolic public spaces. Similar incidents have occurred at promenades, concert venues, markets, and holiday destinations across the world. The logic is brutally simple. Such spaces offer dense crowds, minimal security, and maximum visibility. When an attack coincides with a cultural or religious gath...