ONE year ago, the world witnessed a unique kind of broadcasting - the mass murder of thousands, live on television.
As a lesson in the pitiless cruelty of the human race, September 11 was up there with Pol Pot's mountain of skulls in Cambodia, or the skeletal bodies stacked like garbage in the Nazi concentration camps.
An unspeakable act so cruel, so calculated and so utterly merciless that surely the world could agree on one thing - nobody deserves this fate.
Surely there could be consensus: the victims were truly innocent, the perpetrators truly evil.
But to the world's eternal shame, 9/11 is increasingly seen as America's comeuppance.
Incredibly, anti-Americanism has increased over the last year.
There has always been a simmering resentment to the USA in this country - too loud, too rich, too full of themselves and so much happier than Europeans - but it has become an epidemic.
And it seems incredible to me. More than that, it turns my stomach.
America is this country's greatest friend and our staunchest ally. We are bonded to the US by culture, language and blood.
A little over half a century ago, around half a million Americans died for our freedoms, as well as their own. Have we forgotten so soon?
And exactly a year ago, thousands of ordinary men, women and children - not just Americans, but from dozens of countries - were butchered by a small group of religious fanatics. Are we so quick to betray them?
What touched the heart about those who died in the twin towers and on the planes was that we recognised them. Young fathers and mothers, somebody's son and somebody's daughter, husbands and wives. And children. Some unborn.
And these people brought it on themselves? And their nation is to blame for their meticulously planned slaughter?
These days you don't have to be some dust-encrusted nut job in Kabul or Karachi or Finsbury Park to see America as the Great Satan.
The anti-American alliance is made up of self-loathing liberals who blame the Americans for every ill in the Third World, and conservatives suffering from power-envy, bitter that the world's only superpower can do what it likes without having to ask permission.
The truth is that America has behaved with enormous restraint since September 11.
Remember, remember.
Remember the gut-wrenching tapes of weeping men phoning their wives to say, "I love you," before they were burned alive. Remember those people leaping to their deaths from the top of burning skyscrapers.
Remember the hundreds of firemen buried alive. Remember the smiling face of that beautiful little girl who was on one of the planes with her mum. Remember, remember - and realise that America has never retaliated for 9/11 in anything like the way it could have.
So a few al-Qaeda tourists got locked without a trial in Camp X-ray? Pass the Kleenex.
So some Afghan wedding receptions were shot up after they merrily fired their semi-automatics in a sky full of American planes? A shame, but maybe next time they should stick to confetti.
AMERICA could have turned a large chunk of the world into a parking lot. That it didn't is a sign of strength.
American voices are already being raised against attacking Iraq - that's what a democracy is for. How many in the Islamic world will have a minute's silence for the slaughtered innocents of 9/11? How many Islamic leaders will have the guts to say that the mass murder of 9/11 was an abomination?
When the news of 9/11 broke on the West Bank, those freedom-loving Palestinians were dancing in the street. America watched all of that - and didn't push the button. We should thank the stars that America is the most powerful nation in the world. I still find it incredible that 9/11 did not provoke all-out war. Not a "war on terrorism". A real war.
The fundamentalist dudes are talking about "opening the gates of hell", if America attacks Iraq. Well, America could have opened the gates of hell like you wouldn't believe.
The US is the most militarily powerful nation that ever strode the face of the earth.
The campaign in Afghanistan may have been less than perfect and the planned war on Iraq may be misconceived.
But don't blame America for not bringing peace and light to these wretched countries. How many democracies are there in the Middle East, or in the Muslim world? You can count them on the fingers of one hand - assuming you haven't had any chopped off for minor shoplifting.
I love America, yet America is hated. I guess that makes me Bush's poodle. But I would rather be a dog in New York City than a Prince in Riyadh. Above all, America is hated because it is what every country wants to be - rich, free, strong, open, optimistic.
Not ground down by the past, or religion, or some caste system. America is the best friend this country ever had and we should start remembering that.
Or do you really think the USA is the root of all evil? Tell it to the loved ones of the men and women who leaped to their death from the burning towers.
Tell it to the nursing mothers whose husbands died on one of the hijacked planes, or were ripped apart in a collapsing skyscraper.
And tell it to the hundreds of young widows whose husbands worked for the New York Fire Department. To our shame, George Bush gets a worse press than Saddam Hussein.
Once we were told that Saddam gassed the Kurds, tortured his own people and set up rape-camps in Kuwait. Now we are told he likes Quality Street. Save me the orange centre, oh mighty one!
Remember, remember, September 11. One of the greatest atrocities in human history was committed against America.
No, do more than remember. Never forget.
Posted by EdipisReks (Member # 510) on :
U-S-A! U-S-A! United Scoliosis Association w00t!
Posted by Magnus de Pym (Member # 239) on :
"As a lesson in the pitiless cruelty of the human race, September 11 was up there with Pol Pot's mountain of skulls in Cambodia, or the skeletal bodies stacked like garbage in the Nazi concentration camps."
No.
"Remember, remember, September 11. One of the greatest atrocities in human history."
No. The Sequel.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Good link....
Posted by Free ThoughtCrime America (Member # 480) on :
quote: AMERICA could have turned a large chunk of the world into a parking lot. That it didn't is a sign of strength.
You mean, if I don't go out and kill a bunch of people, I am showing off my strength? I must be very strong. Check these pecs, baby!
What it is is proof that we are still at least marginally sane. With all the calls for nukes that were being thrown about, I'm surprised, frankly.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
quote:Originally posted by Free ThoughtCrime America: You mean, if I don't go out and kill a bunch of people, I am showing off my strength?
If those people are openly cheering that one of their number murdered your wife, yes you are. Or you're showing off a tolerance that is greater than your instinct for self-preservation.
quote:What it is is proof that we are still at least marginally sane. With all the calls for nukes that were being thrown about, I'm surprised, frankly.
I'm not. Death by nuclear fire is too swift and painless a punishment for those types.
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
Tony Parsons is a twat. Failed music journalist, shite author, he's reduced to writing for the Mirror, one of the crummier tabloids in the UK. Any Brit would give this as much credibility as you would an article by Weird Al Yankovic.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
And yet, I'd give Weird Al more credibility than you.
Funny.
Posted by Magnus de Pym (Member # 239) on :
Well, obviously, since credibility is apparently a quiality given when someone agrees with you.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Right or wrong, this guy is still a git. At least thats the impression I get from his tone of writing. It's this kind of arse-creepy, high horse journalisum that makes me glad that I don't understand the big words.
Posted by Tahna Los (Member # 33) on :
SHAME ON YOU AMERICAN-HATING LIBERALS
Uh, isn't Tony Blair a Liberal himself?
And didn't I hear about the Conservative-based opposition raising a fuss about Blair being Bush's poodle?
Veeerry misleading.
But I do agree that the writer is overreacting just a tad bit. Emotionally shooting from the hip.
I hear things a little differently. I hear the critics saying that the American foreign policy may be an actual factor in religious fanaticism. Yes, I dispute Religious Fanaticism as the prime cause of 9/11. I would rather believe that American foreign policy is only a small motivating factor (rather than a real factor) of Religious Fanaticism.
The anti-American alliance is made up of self-loathing liberals who blame the Americans for every ill in the Third World, and conservatives suffering from power-envy, bitter that the world's only superpower can do what it likes without having to ask permission.
This I like, alot. And it is more accurate and more respectful than the title of "American Bashing Liberals".
[ October 24, 2002, 22:44: Message edited by: Tahna Los ]
Posted by Yamashiro Den (Member # 510) on :
i always thought that religion was the motivating factor in religious fanaticsm. guess my definitions are off.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Yes.
Posted by Magnus de Pym (Member # 239) on :
If Omega says your definitions are off, then, to the rest of the world, your ideas are perfectly all right.
Posted by Yamashiro Den (Member # 510) on :
assclown.
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
quote:America is all too aware it is hated abroad, thus international reactions whose gist is "No, we don't hate you -- you're actually wonderful, and we recognize your goodness and thank you for it" are going to be quickly seized upon and held up for others to see.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Or we like to applaud those people that don't have their heads firmly planted in their asses....
I guess it is a 50/50 call....
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
This was in The Mirror? The same paper that has been more anti-war than any other tabloid we have?
I'd despute the "crummier" aspect too. It's better than the Sun, Star, Mail and Telegraph at the very least. And it now has a BLACK LOGO! Which means something interesting, no doubt.
Posted by Free ThoughtCrime America (Member # 480) on :
And yet, when Americans write nice things about other countries, nobody could give a fuck.
No point to that, really, except that maybe that is the point.
Posted by Daryus Aden (Member # 12) on :
True. But then if you continually act like a self serving sloth with all the wit, charm and self possession of an alsatian dog after a head swapping operation, you have to expect that somebody is gonna come for you.
Posted by Free ThoughtCrime America (Member # 480) on :
Saddam Hussein, watch out!
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Or was he refering to Bush the First & Second???
Posted by Free ThoughtCrime America (Member # 480) on :
I think he was. But, TWIST!
Posted by Tora Ziyal (Member # 53) on :
This article has a weak argument to begin with. It's like saying "your country has been attacked, therefore your subsequent actions are perfect and faultless." What the fuck? I don't have to disrespect people who have died or lost someone to point out the shit this country is doing or about to do. It's a non-sequitur.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
I don't think that's the argument.
I think it's "count your blessings, and try not to bitch SO much, because while the Americans may be being jerks, they're pretty pissed off right now, and they have the means, motive, and opportunity (and, the author implies, possibly the right) to be MUCH nastier jerks than they're being. probably many others would be nastier, in their place."
Posted by Tora Ziyal (Member # 53) on :
So basically, "don't hate America because we could have shortened the lifespan of the human species"? You're right, it's so much more convincing that way.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
The man has a point. I think we can all agree that Americans could be much worse than they are being at this very moment. As they have repeatedly and conclusively demonstrated in the past, Americans have a seemingly infinite capacity for being nasty jerks and wanting to "blow shit up" when their shins are scratched.
By comparison, we should all applaud them for their self-restraint in not launching a few nukes at Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea. Afterall, it would be the American way. No, seriously Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
If I ever get mugged, and lose the ability to use my legs, I will phone up the person who mugged me and thank them for not eating my arms as well.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
mmmm, well, if you were armed at the time, and didn't kill the mugger while he took your legs, then that would show great restraint...
What would your reactions have been had we launched an attack that people at the time felt was in proportion to the attack we received? Popular opinion in my area was to use the Peacekeepers to their fullest extent....
Posted by Free ThoughtCrime America (Member # 480) on :
"...But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is, You're the Weak. And I'm the Tyranny of evil men. But I'm trying, Ringo. I'm trying to be the Shepard."
Posted by Daryus Aden (Member # 12) on :
This sounds like the logic of appeasement, but this time for america.
Take one global bully, add a mild lull in his beating & raping the shit out of nations, and you say thanks for not kicking our heads in.
Or as my computer has so often said: Keyboard error. Keyboard not detected. Press F1 to continue.
Posted by EdipisReks (Member # 510) on :
maybe we should quit giving so much aid money to so many countries around the world. afterall, who wants to take money from an international bully.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Yeah, giving them the lunch money we are going to steal seems a bit much....
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
quote:Originally posted by EdipisReks: maybe we should quit giving so much aid money to so many countries around the world. afterall, who wants to take money from an international bully.
No, like I said, we're welcome when they need money, or bailed out of some war they got into, but when the dying's over, it's "go home, yankee imperialist capitalist bastards!"
Until the next time.
Posted by Daryus Aden (Member # 12) on :
Good twist. But you're not going to weasel out of it that easily. Don't try and tell me that a few million dollars here or there (chump change) is going to in any way make up for the resources that ye take in exhange. Or for the lovely But unequal treaties you are wont to sign. Since you're so generous and obviously the mega corps care so much about the overall development of humanity, why not cancel all 3rd world debt. Hmm?
Posted by EdipisReks (Member # 510) on :
i don't see anyone else cancelling world debt. most of it doesn't lie with the US. the US will never win in the minds of people like you. if we don't interfere with world affairs, then we aren't living up to our super power status and are evil for not doing something. if we do interfere with world affairs then we are accused of being an evil empire hellbent on world domination. and do you want to know something? millions of dollars is only chump change when you aren't the ones earning it. the US gives billions to other countries. maybe you should return the 170 million dollars that was given to Peru in FY1999. afterall, it's just chump change.
[edited to add the word "in"]
[ October 29, 2002, 17:03: Message edited by: EdipisReks ]
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
He's not actually from Peru, Edipis. It's a llama joke.
Hm. I can't think of any resources we take without paying for... I mean, unless you don't count the foreign workers employed and the economic development of the areas we take resources from as "paying."
The US government gave away $10 billion in aid last year, more than any other nation.
Americans privately give at least $34 billion overseas -- more than three times U.S. official foreign aid of $10 billion. International giving by U.S. foundations totals $1.5 billion per year Charitable giving by U.S. businesses now comes to at least $2.8 billion annually American NGOs gave over $6.6 billion in grants, goods and volunteers. Religious overseas ministries contribute $3.4 billion, including health care, literacy training, relief and development. U.S. colleges give $1.3 billion in scholarships to foreign students Personal remittances from the U.S. to developing countries came to $18 billion in 2000
Source: Dr. Carol Aderman, Aid and Comfort, Tech Central Station, 21 August 2002.
However, I don't see anything fundamentally wrong with forgiving all foreign debt.
Provided we aren't asked for any more. No throwing good money after bad.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
From what I remember, the one chart that has been produced to show how much money the US gives to other countries (the AIDS one) showed that comparitively, the US was behind a fair few other countries when it came to donations.
Of course, that was just one chart. Anyone with overall international aid figures?
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
I think you're talking about the chart that showed our aid as a proportion of our economy, which may be true.
But since we have the biggest and most thriving economy of all the donor nations, that's to be expected.
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
quote:Originally posted by EdipisReks: i don't see anyone else cancelling world debt. most of it doesn't lie with the US.
Canada has agreed to write off debts to about 50 third world countries, IIRC.
quote:the US will never win in the minds of people like you. if we don't interfere with world affairs, then we aren't living up to our super power status and are evil for not doing something. if we do interfere with world affairs then we are accused of being an evil empire hellbent on world domination.
Nobody wants America to pick up its ball and go home. We just want it to play the game fairly and sportsmanlike, keep its elbows down and pass from time to time.
quote:and do you want to know something? millions of dollars is only chump change when you aren't the ones earning it. the US gives billions to other countries. maybe you should return the 170 million dollars that was given to Peru in FY1999. afterall, it's just chump change.
I think somebody with a rather flagrant ignorance of international economics who can't draw a distinction between development aid and using World Bank leverage to buy out domestic control of someone's economy and moving financial policy-making from the hands of democratically-elected governments into the hands of unelected bureaucrats at the IMF had best shut up before they say something too ludicrous. Oh, wait, they did.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
quote:Originally posted by First of Two: I think you're talking about the chart that showed our aid as a proportion of our economy, which may be true.
But since we have the biggest and most thriving economy of all the donor nations, that's to be expected.
quote:Originally posted by First of Two: I think you're talking about the chart that showed our aid as a proportion of our economy, which may be true.
But since we have the biggest and most thriving economy of all the donor nations, that's to be expected.
Actually, the chart just showed overall totals, like the other you posted. I divided it by total population.
After all, comparing the US' total contribution to somewhere like Germany is hardly fair, is it?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
So, let's show those figures again, taking into account the fact that the US has a population of 288 million, and Canada has a population of 31 million.
For the 2001 figures only. Population in millions from 2001:
So, going by that, the only country the US beats on foreign aid per capita is Italy. And you brag about this?
Hats off to Norway though. God knows where they get the money from.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
If you're going to insist on looking at the statistics per-capita, I'm going to insist you add the $33.6 billion that the other non-government organizations and individuals donated.
Which means 44,484 / 284.8 = 156.2
So the question is how do other nation's non-governmental donations stack up?
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
I would think that statistics relative to the GNP would be more relevant, no?
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
It would, but sense people can spin numbers in anyway needed to satisfy themselves on creating an image of superiority, or, infuriority, it matters not....
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Also, I only realised that half way through, and couldn't be bothered going back and adding them in.
I'm not convinced that you should add in non-governmental sources anyway. Unless you are saying that Bill Gates only makes money from Americans.
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
Well, he hasn't made any money from me. Unless you count that time he pimped me for NT service packs.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: Also, I only realised that half way through, and couldn't be bothered going back and adding them in.
I'm not convinced that you should add in non-governmental sources anyway. Unless you are saying that Bill Gates only makes money from Americans.
Not at all, but the governments of other countries also make money from Americans (as the American government does from the citizens of other countries), primarily on things like the tourist trade (and taxes derived from the income from it.) Therefore, the amount of that money which is 'ours' and the amount of it which is 'yours' becomes even more blurry.
So it's simplest to add the sum totals of all donations, governmental or not.
Posted by Free ThoughtCrime America (Member # 480) on :
I gave five bucks to the American Cancer Society.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Excellent.
Curses, my limited research skills (by which I mean my lazyness) have thwarted me again! I have no idea where to find this relevent information...
Posted by Daryus Aden (Member # 12) on :
Then I suggest you do what the oil companies do. Make up something to suit your argument.
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
Not just the oil companies, Greenpeace did it during the Brent Spar fiasco.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I gave my lunch money to some Cherynobl kids, or something, once.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
And I'm sure it cleaned the radiation right off...
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Not as charity. They were menacing me on the playground with their four arms and their enhanced strength. Protection money! HA!
Posted by Solommagnus de Pym (Member # 239) on :
Wait: Why were Soviet children in Farmville Washington?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Secret mission. Think Hunt for Red October, only minus the submarine. And the hunt.
Posted by Free ThoughtCrime America (Member # 480) on :
So, vodka, and bad Russian accents?
Posted by EdipisReks (Member # 510) on :
and Scottish beards?
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
Yes, they all said to themselves. "Ve vant to go to America, they haf clothes there."
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Surely they're not so desperate as to go to Simon for clothing?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
