A public show of support for the terror attacks on London can be found on the World Wide Web. Werenotafraid.com, created by London residents in response to the London bombings, encourages people from around the world to send in pictures emphasizing their refusal to give in to fear.
According to the sites creator, Alfie Dennen, the site is currently getting as many as six submissions per minute, with more than 7,000 images already posted. Dennen spoke with MSNBC's Allison Stewart on Friday's 'Countdown' about the popularity and meaning of his site.
To read an excerpt of their conversation, continue to the text below. To watch the video, click on the "Launch" button to the right.
ALLISON STEWART: Why did you start this site, Alfie?
ALFIE DENNEN, WERENOTAFRAID.COM: It started because a friend of mine had sent an image from his phone when he was on the King‘s Cross train, once he got out, and I published that. It went all around the world very fast. And in the thread, the common thread that was running through that, we had outpourings of support from every corner of the globe. And I thought that the sentiment of not being afraid in the face of this was at least something for me which was definite. And I just had the idea, and I thought I‘d do it.
STEWART: Was the response almost immediate? You just got an in-pouring of pictures?
DENNEN: It basically happened, I think, mainly over around six hours, and it just showed the interconnectedness of the Web. You know, it got picked up by a couple of places, just blogs, and then it got picked up very quickly by German and Italian media. And then it kind of spread that way.
STEWART: You have quite a few pictures on the site already. What are the requirements, should I want to send one in?
DENNEN: Well, the requirements are very simple. Just show imaging saying that you‘re not afraid in your own way. I mean, there are submission guidelines in terms of what we would prefer, which is that at least have a message. You know, don‘t send a picture of your dog just by itself or something. And that‘s kind of evolved over time, as well. So we won‘t publish anything that‘s gung-ho, 'Let‘s go and kick their ass,' because, you know, that‘s not what it‘s like, as we found, because, in fact, they‘re actually British. They were raised British, and it‘s kind of fighting yourself. So we tend not to publish anything like that.
STEWART: It‘s kind of interesting because when you‘re so pro-something, it can obviously bring out the anti in people. Have you gotten any anti-Muslim entries?
DENNEN: We‘ve had a few, I mean, a surprisingly small amount, considering we‘ve had something like 30 million individuals on the site over the last five days. So I can count on two hands and two feet the amount of nasty stuff that we‘ve had. So I‘m pretty surprised and glad of that, as well.
STEWART: For you personally, why was this important to do?
DENNEN: Well, at the time, it was important because a friend of mine had been in the crash. I‘d found out early on that my family was fine. You know, I called around. And then as time went on and I had the idea, I thought it was good one and just a nice one that we should do. It became more important because I think it‘s come to represent, in a way, the first time that a global voice has emerged from something which is generally led by the voice of either the government or the media representing the voice of the people, which would generally be. This is how the people feel.
But I think that by giving a very simple voice which is saying that you‘re not afraid, however that‘s interpreted by the people that see and want to send in, as a pretty unified message.