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Life Beyond CNN - The World Trade Center
9-24-01 I'm not going to start off saying how sorry I am
for what happened. While a few of you already probably have your
hands to your face in shock you can remedy the situation by reading
further on. If you don't, you've jumped to a conclusion which appears
to be the american way.
Most every article or web site that offers a thoughtful NON-big-
american-dick-swinging-"let's go flatten the middle east"-discussion
starts off with a some heartfelt feelings for those that were killed
before they start editorializing. I would assume by default that
anyone would think this terrorism was wrong and horrible. I think the underlying
message being portrayed is that if by having an intelligently researched
viewpoint on the attack that doesn't promote immediate military vengeance,
you must be a terrorist sympathizer. So they add an honest "disclaimer"
to try to negate any backlash from the public. I don't feel that just cause I don't
believe in god or don't go to candlelight vigils that I have any
less sympathy for the dead than a christian or any other denomination.
It appears that the religiously
blinded think otherwise.
So if I think we shouldn't mobilize our troops and go flatten Kabul,
I must be a whiny liberal? Ok - I think it's time for everyone to
refamiliarize themselves with the definition of liberal
cause it seems like it has long been bastardized out of context
much as the word feminism
has. Ok, so you've read that having liberal characteristics entails
being broad-minded, free from bigotry and favorable to progressive
ideas. Holy shit - broad-minded and progressive, what losers would
want to be that? (sarcasm)
So why shouldn't we immediately retaliate? Well, we're dealing with terrorism
here. Everyone on TV seems so willing to compare this incident to
Pearl Harbor at every possible moment and while there may be some
underlying similarities the major component is gone. Who do we target?
While every curved hat jock in the country says Afghanistan they
shouldn't be so ignorant to assume that we should kill innocent
civilians to retaliate for the actions of a masterminded plot of
what increasingly appears to be bin Laden's group. This is where
history wraps around on itself. Bin Laden himself is quoted
as saying "American history does not distinguish between civilians
and military, not even women and children. They are the ones who
used bombs against Nagasaki. Can these bombs distinguish between
infants and military?" It is estimated that 1.2
million Iraqi citizens have died due to lack of medical
needs restricted by U.S. imposed UN sanctions.
While the "what ifs" of strategic military methods in finishing the campaign against Japan in WW2 are complicated to say the least the punishment
of innocent Iraqi citizens for the crimes of its government is an embarrassment. Our philosophy is that if we starve the low income citizens -
they will rise up against the well fed and rich government. How stupid is that?
So our shit stinks. Does this validate the attack against america
and its innocent citizens. Definately not. Is going to drop bombs
on the desperately
poor citizens of a nation going to do anything other than
quench the bloodthirsty vow of revenge that apparently 99 percent
of americans want? So we drop some bombs and kill a bunch of innocent
people (which is exactly what happened to US) and what are we going
to prove other than we are what they THOUGHT we were. In which case,
more people look to bin Laden and join his leagues - and more terrorism.
I can't think of it in other terms than the government endangering
my life. If we carry through with our Big Balls attitude instead
of perhaps a less immediate and far more prudent
(important read) method to bringing to justice those responsible, we can see ourselves
far more threatened by maybe an even more catastrophic event of
terrorism in the near future. What next, anthrax?
A nuclear
device? This whole event has done more to separate me from the rest
of america than "unite" - as every quip on every television news
program is so apt to word every 3 minutes. I'm not proud of stupid
racists that are targeting anyone
middle eastern in retaliation. More than four
in 10 acknowledge the incidents will probably make them
"more suspicious of people you think are of Arab descent". So with
that statistic of complete ignorance
I'm supposed to rush to k-mart to buy a flag? I feel as if we're
on the edge of setting up internment camps for all Arabs in our
country.
I'm disgusted by the like of Pat
Robertson and Jerry Falwell who were plenty stupid to begin
with but are insistent on continually expounding upon their lack of intelligence
at any opportune moment. These two guys make the nazi government
seem like hippy commune. If, as they say, "god" did this because
he was mad at the gays and the ACLU then fuck "god". Who wants to
believe in a piece of shit "god" that would do something like that?
The state-sponsored religious
fervor in this country at the moment makes me sick. What are they praying for? Their "god" allowed 5000 people to be killed. If you have a job
that allows overtime, don't waste your time praying (yes - i go
on the record as saying it's a waste of time) and instead work a
few extra hours to give money to charity? Or give blood and don't just give blood now but do it 6 months from now also. People need blood beyond events
that get television coverage. That's something concrete
that can be used. I was an atheist
to the bone before and now it's only made me even more so.
What's furthermore perturbing is the talk of personal freedom being
infringed upon. This poll
on excite disturbed the hell out of me. Especially the people that
voted for restrictions of any of the freedoms. I've read many articles
and seen more than just that excite poll that seem to be testing
our limits for restrictions
of freedoms. The government seems more than eager to infringe
upon our civil liberties. Quite disturbing in the face of all the
flag purchases in the last few days. But then again - the people
that most believe in the freedom of the flag think that flag
burning should be illegal. Hypocrisy at its finest.
I don't understand the sentiment that America is the best country
on Earth. We act like France or New Zealand or Holland must be run
by Stalinists the way TV news keeps talking about us being the "freest
country in the world". Funny considering we dropped from fourth
to fifth place in world ranking of "freest economy" in a recent
study. This propaganda is also particularily insane considering the things our
representatives have been saying
and according to polls we assumedly are so gung ho about our government
going to war that we would let our personal
freedom be infringed upon. We have good qualities and we
have bad. Just like other countries. This "we're number one" attitude
is why other countries hate us. We need to grow up and realize that
much of the world has a lot to offer us and we are not the all around
best in everything. No country is. We've done plenty of bad things
in our past and we will continue to - as other countries do to.
What have we done? Read this
and this
and this.
Point made.
I'm nauseated by the fact that if you question the methods used
to bring those responsible to justice and question the brain power
of the president you're a traitor.
On bushwatch,
the webmaster reported that several loyal readers had requested
him to "lay off Bush" during this tragedy. Why? During moments where
the actions of our leaders carry the most weight we should stand
by mute? How stupid is that. I guess noone should have questioned
the actions of Johnson or Nixon during the Vietnam war?
Bush's first statement was wooden at best - it appears this guy
can't even take a heartfelt moment to ad-lib but has to succumb
to the deer-in-headlights reading of a prewritten script from which
he couldn't memorize more than 5 words at a time without pausing
to look down at his notes. On the other hand, Giuliani
has been clear, concise and informative while handling the situation.
And get this, without a teleprompter, notes or a speechwriter!
Upstaged is an understatement. Yet it appears the average
american looks beyond Dubya's poor diction and his bumbling
holding-back-the-tears leadership. If you're going to own the set
of balls that are trying to set us down the path to military action,
then quit acting like a pussy. Maybe Bush was fighting back tears because he was recollecting the memory of his
administration giving the Taliban rulers $43
million dollars in May.
I could go on for a few more pages but I'll desist at this point.
Some will probably gather that I don't like my country from this
article. That is not my point. I do like my country - not just not
very much right now considering I feel like I'm in a sea of one-sided racist "drop
the bomb on 'em" idiots. I know there's more to a story than what's on
CNN. I hope this is resolved in a diplomatic manner that brings
justice and peace at the same time but I know it won't happen that
way. I'll go out with a happy
story.
Any comments? Post them in the forum.
editors note: This was written September 24th and since then
we've learned that this "war" is all about oil. Two essential links
to getting a wider picture of what the truth is behind the retaliation
against Afghanistan (when 15 of the 19 alleged hijackers were Saudi)
are buswatch
and whatreallyhappened.
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