I'm a pretty patriotic person, grew up idolizing what we (in theory) stand for), and for a long time as I was growing up the US and it's various arms and bodies were the heroes in pieces, even ones not done by Americans.
But I completely understand why the world sees us as villains. 9/11/01 was horrific, certainly and required some response. But the extent to which we've taken it, where we've become the oppressors the radicals would claim us to be, and where human lives are something that we honestly balance against expedience...
We could, as a body of citizenry lose our brothers and sisters. But no bomb, hijacking or IED could destroy what America was. No, we have, as a nation done that to ourselves, by what our leaders have done in the name of 'safety and security' and by what we have allowed them to do in our names.
But I bet that there'll still be authoritarians arguing that by jiminy those terrorists were attacking us! By forcing the guards to murder them! It's not much further than the existing argument that the suicides were, themselves, attacks. >_
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theweaselking
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-19 06:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-19 07:23 pm (UTC)What is lost, and cannot be recovered...
Date: 2010-01-19 09:25 pm (UTC)I'm a pretty patriotic person, grew up idolizing what we (in theory) stand for), and for a long time as I was growing up the US and it's various arms and bodies were the heroes in pieces, even ones not done by Americans.
But I completely understand why the world sees us as villains. 9/11/01 was horrific, certainly and required some response. But the extent to which we've taken it, where we've become the oppressors the radicals would claim us to be, and where human lives are something that we honestly balance against expedience...
We could, as a body of citizenry lose our brothers and sisters. But no bomb, hijacking or IED could destroy what America was. No, we have, as a nation done that to ourselves, by what our leaders have done in the name of 'safety and security' and by what we have allowed them to do in our names.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-20 01:44 am (UTC)