quote:
Originally posted by Melusine:
To be honest I don't think they were much of a threat to "us" (how come everybody here thinks in terms of them and us? US vs the world? I don't) - it is obvious that these terrorists target America specifically. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it isn't "our" problem as long as we're safe from danger, I just wanted to point out the above. Guess it rubs me in the wrong way when Americans point out how they protect us all - kinda like "if we hadn't been around you'd all be speaking German by now (*yawn*)", I mean, do you do it because you care or because you like to brag about it? We have a saying in Holland: Good wine needs no laurels.
I can not speak for every American, obviously. I can only speak my opinion, my feelings.
The attack of Sept 11 was *not* an attack on Americans specifically! It was a politically engineered (and pseudo-religiously fueled) assault on a *global* set of buildings which held some of the world's major financial records/importance. Hello--the *World* Trade Center. There are records of transactions which can never be retrieved and still quite a bit of a gold reserve in the (now) crypts underneath! And may I remind you that Americans were not the only ones who were killed--this was known in advance and still the plan went on. How many folks from the Netherlands? I don't know. Maybe none. If so, then I'm glad. No one deserved to have their lives cut short in a miasma of terror knowing they were to be the weapon which caused countless more deaths.
Why was America targetted? Probably because we *are* the most visible scion of capitalism and importance. Notice I said *visible* scion.
Perhaps one of the reasons we act so bombastically about the whole affair of watch-dogging the world at large is that if all goes according to plan, the world (used
generically) applauds and congratulates itself on how well *they* handled the situation. If ought goes wrong, then it's all those nasty, pompous Americans' fault!
And if we seem to play big brother and watch out for everyone else, then I ask you--if not us, then who? *I* don't like this perceived responsibility of the US to protect everybody as if they were small helpless children. I never have. But who does everyone (again, the
generic everyone) run to if they need financial aid or military weapons or help with an irksome neighbor? Now maybe that *is* our fault. I don't know. But if the world community has such a problem with the concept, then they need to address it, cut the apron strings and start acting like adults.
I am *NOT* flaming anyone here.