Flare Sci-Fi Forums: "Paradise Lost"

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Posted by Stingray (Member # 621) on :

The headline of my college newspaper.

Is it?

Posted by MeGotBeer (Member # 411) on :

If Paradise was the U.S. to begin with.

If Paradise wasn't lost after World War I.

Or Pearl Harbor. Or even World War II.

Especially if it wasn't lost after Vietnam.

I could've sworn we lost it after Oklahoma City.

Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :

(Sorry if this sounds heartless).

Calling the US a "paradise" is a bit much. It's hardly a shining utopia that the rest of the world envies and is deperate to copy. If something like this happened here in the UK, or in (for example), France, there wouldn't be similar headlines.

I think, maybe, there's been a loss of innocense though. Not because the US is unaware of terroism, but because (as has been shown with someYanks attitude towards the IRA and such), it was always a rather distant thing. The US has never been invaded, and that's given them a feeling of invunarability. The feeling that Britain used to have, seperated from mainland Europe, is what the US has with the world. And that feeling of invunerability has been forever shattered. It has happened, on mainland US soil. World War I and II were fought far away from the US. Even Pearl Habour, the biggest attack on US soil, was an attack on a military installation, and is far, far, different than an attack on a bustling metropolis, and it's citizens.

Paradise Lost? No. But something has been lost. Forever? Time will tell.

[ September 13, 2001: Message edited by: PsyLiam ]

Posted by MeGotBeer (Member # 411) on :

quote:
The US has never been invaded

Yeah, 'cuz those British soldiers never marched inland from Baltimore and torched D.C.

Of course, ever since that flag still waving above Fort McHenry after a night of bombardment, you Brits seem to have nursed a grudge against Baltimore ...

Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :

I have no idea where Baltimore is. Sorry.

Besides, that was centuries ago. Get over it. We're still not shouting at France over the War of the Roses.

But you're right. I should have said "the US hasn't been invaded for well over a century".

[ September 13, 2001: Message edited by: PsyLiam ]

Posted by MeGotBeer (Member # 411) on :

And England hasn't been invaded since 1066. You're doing better then we are, so far.

http://www.gatewayno.com/History/War1812.html

More info on the War of 1812 for ya', Liam.

[ September 13, 2001: Message edited by: MeGotBeer ]

Posted by Obese Penguin (Member # 271) on :

I think America has finally come to realization that the North America is no longer a world away from the rest of the world.

Information can be shared in milliseconds , people can travel from one side of the earth to another in a matter of hours.

We are no longer divided into the old world and the new world. We are now one huge global community , and we as Americans now face the same dangers they face everyday in Europe , Asia and Africa.

America can no longer isolate itself , no matter how much we want to shut the world out , it will not let us.

Posted by MeGotBeer (Member # 411) on :

You know, only the most rigid isolationists haven't believed that we're members of a global community.

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

"And England hasn't been invaded since 1066."

Erm... Didn't the Nazis bomb London during WW2? I'd consider that an invasion...

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

quote:
Main Entry: in�va�sion
1 : an act of invading; especially : incursion of an army for conquest or plunder

Merriam-Webster

Posted by targetemployee (Member # 217) on :

Actually, the last invasion of our country occured in 1916. A Mexican bandit with a small army launched a series of raids into Texas. The US Army pursued this bandit and his army out of the country.

Four years later, NYC had a terrorist attack. This attack occured at Wall Street. Many were killed or injured.

A year later, in the first recorded instance in our country's history, an airplane was used as an instrument of terror. A few reactionary white supremacists in a biplane bombed a black community in Oklahoma City, OK.

I am dismayed that the media hasn't attempted to place this event in the context of American history. There are a few comparisons to the attack on Pearl Harbor, HI, in 1941. I haven't seen or read additional contextual perspectives.

[ September 14, 2001: Message edited by: targetemployee ]

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

Would you actually consider Pancho Villa's raids an "invasion"? I mean, he was just out to get some loot or what-not, his goal wasn't the domination of the U.S.

Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :

Well, that WOULD be the incursion of an army for purposes of plunder...

Posted by Stingray (Member # 621) on :

Paradise as the physical location of the United States or New York City? Perhaps not. But the state of mind that Americans have had since Tuesday about the safety of our homeland, a sense of security and confidence that is unparalleled in history.

If ignorance is bliss, then the United States was in paradise. But not anymore.