posted
The nice thing about being in a university is that you automatically have a diverse community. Today I went to this campus-wide memorial gathering where they had professors, the president, religious communities, the school of music and school of theater all say/perform something. There was a really moving skit by the theater people of different intersecting monologues about what people were doing on 9/11 when it happened. I think they were all based on real experiences, but one of them came from a woman who was staying at the hotel in tower 2 on USC business on 9/11. It was a first-person account about how she woke up from the rumble when the first plane hit to how she hid in a building on Broadway when the buildings went down and the air was black, and how strangers grabbed each other and held hands as they ran. It was just very moving.
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I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
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My grandparents lived in Germany. They compare Bush to Hitler. There, I said it.
Also, after Pearl Harbor I think the directive to war was a little more clear. I hardly think that attacking Saddam Hussein a year later is justly caused by a civilian terrorist bombing ordered by Osama bin Laden.
The US clearly sticks its nose in places in the middle east where it doesnt belong. we have been meddling for 50 years and im afraid its going to catch up to us, worse next time.
but this isnt the flameboard, and i really have no desire to discuss it. those of you that wish to continue flame-boardish comments should do so there.
Registered: Sep 2001
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On the bright side, it is now Sept 12, a bright an sunny day, like last year at this time. Days like this will continue long after the majority of us are nothing but dust being tossed about in the air currents....
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
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capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
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Well, it's bright, sunny, and hot here. The only thing keeping it from being a nice day is that it smells like exhaust fumes and its hazy as hell. I can see the haze quite well by just looking across the courtyard. Downtown is just a collection of dark gray shapes. Bleh.
Registered: Mar 1999
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It just happens that Sept 11th, for the time being, is a NEW day.
It is unlike any other remembrance day, because on THIS day, it was not just a military target, full of soldiers, which was destroyed, but planes and building filled with civilians. Women, old folks, and children. All at once.
Because all the people killed in the Blitz were soldiers, weren't they? And those 250,000 deaths at Horishima? All military, were't they?
That's the main thing that gets me. Yes, this was a tradegy, but America isn't the only country to suffer from attacks on civilians. Compared to most countries, it's got off quite lightly.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Liam, have you forgotten that you're a Brit?
We didn't make this a holiday for YOU. There's no need for you to do anything with us or to commemorate it for us, unless you want to do something to acknowledge that your country lost people, too. If you don't want to hear about it, don't pay attention to it.
We don't pay attention to your holidays (Di's death excepted - and I can't begin to tell you how nauseating all that was). This event is ours. We don't expect you to celebrate our July Fourth, why should this be any different?
It is overwhelmingly arrogant for Europeans to try and tell the US what holidays it should have. Let us fight about that amongst ourselves. We don't expect it to mean anything to you.
And by the way, we'd already covered the rest of your post. You may not have a Blitz day, that's your own deal, though. The Japanese, as I already stated, DO have a commemmoration of Hiroshima, though, so bringing that into the equation is a point for ME, not you.
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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Attacks against America European Invasion - Civilian (1500's onwards) Pearl Harbor - Mostly military* Marine Barrack in Lebannon - Military U.S.S. Cole - Military Oklahoma City - Mostly Civilian* World Trade Center - Civilian* U.S Embassies - Military* I am not counting State and Federal Employees as Civilians
Liam, I think this is what 1st was getting at. We aren't talking about the Blitz, the Battle of Britain, the atomic bombimgs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki(sp?), the fire bombings of the Ruhr, or the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway, although they all are regretable. The reason for this is the WTC was in our time, in our home. Our home, which, in our general arrogance, we believed to be untaintable. It is the damage to our pride and arrogance that we are having a rough time dealing with. The thousands of lives lost hurt us, but not in they way that the attack showed our vulnerability. McVeigh took our innocence, bin Laden took our safety net.
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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Although I get what you're saying, I have to say: America was never innocent.
We just weren't used to having bombs going off in our homeland. I'm still not. Hardly think about it, really. I'm more worried of going to an ATM at night than I am about bombs, or crackpot fundies.
Registered: Jan 2001
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It is the damage to our pride and arrogance that we are having a rough time dealing with.
And dealing with it by wanting to carpet bomb any country where they talk funny doesn't seem the best way of going about it.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Alas, I am not in charge.... Yes, the reaction to lash out is the first thing to pop in to the minds of millions.
Question for you Liam, how do, er, did, you feel about the IRA attacks on London? What was your reaction? Of course, then again, you have had this going on for quite sometime, not to this extreme though.
On the plus side, carpet bombing can be a very pretty site, with the proper temperature inversion layers and white phousphorus being used. The fire and flares buring brightly behind and in the mist of it all. Yes, not midst, but the mist of it...
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Oh yes, talking about how aestically pretty weapons that are causing a large number of deaths is certainly going to win you support.
As for the IRA attacks, well, my first thought was that they should try and make peace with the IRA. And, good god, they almost have.
Failing that, arresting and imprisoning those responsible.
Notice that my opinion wasn't that we should launch an invasion of Dublin.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote: We don't pay attention to your holidays (Di's death excepted - and I can't begin to tell you how nauseating all that was).
Di's death is a holiday? Since when? (And I found it nauseating as well).
quote: It is overwhelmingly arrogant for Europeans to try and tell the US what holidays it should have. Let us fight about that amongst ourselves. We don't expect it to mean anything to you.
Now, this has confused me. I don't believe that anywhere in this thread a "European" has told you what holidays you should have. They might have offered an opinion, but no-more.
Having a Blitz day would be tricky, since it wasn't on a single day. And as someone said, we do have a VE and VJ day (although the VJ day has been toned down, which is good, I think). Of course, those events are 60 years in the past, and about remembering sacrifice and whatnot. Was two days ago about simply remembering those who died, or was it also about gathing patriotic support for a war? The former is fine. The later is, at the very least, distastful.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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