Hmmm. Let's see how this works.

Post #96,803 by Another Scott 4/16/03 9:46:42 AM Reply	Hmmm. Let's see how this works. "12/7 was a tragedy. I'm sad it happened. But to put it into perspective, 12/7's [link\|http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth1_1200.htm\|death toll] was a few weeks of highway fatalities. That's it. General Motors kills more people every year than [link\|http://www.nps.gov/usar/ExtendWeb1.html\|Yamomoto did on 12/7]. Its sad but that's life (and death)." Lots of people see 9/11/01 and 12/7/41 as similar events. Lots of people can and do say that 9/11 wasn't that big a deal. It didn't threaten our way of life. But one can make a similar argument that an attack on some ships at a small island in the middle of the Pacific wasn't that big a deal either. I don't think it's a good argument myself. 9/11 did tens of billions of dollars of damage to the US economy in the span of 2 hours or so. It'll take years for the US to recover from that damage. It's a much bigger impact than the tragedy of car accidents. IMHO. YMMV. Cheers, Scott.
Post #96,842 by Simon_Jester 4/16/03 12:53:15 PM Reply	Hmm...have to disagree on that. 1941 and 2001 are similar. Both represented attacks that got us into wars. No argument there. (Strickly speaking, 1941's attacks on ships weren't a big deal, Japan had done it before, so nothing, except the war, had changed. -- Likewise, 2001 wasn't a big deal, the WTC had been bombed before, so except for the "War on Terrorism", nothing had changed.) However, in 1941, the attacks caused a general lessening of civil rights and justice problems, most notably the internment of Japanese Americans. 2001 the attacks are causing a general lessening of civil rights and justice problems. (An interesting justification - do we not learn from our mistakes?) However, unlike 1941 where we declared war on Japan (Germany declared war on us, iirc), we're now attacking countries that weren't associated with the attacks.
Post #96,844 by tuberculosis 4/16/03 1:00:57 PM Reply	Not equivalent acts "Lots of people see 9/11/01 and 12/7/41 as similar events." In a lot of ways they are. In a lot more ways they aren't. Yamamoto represented a government and commanded a huge military machine capable of repeating his attacks until defeated. The 9/11 terrorists had some razor knives and succeeded based on the complacent mindset of the passengers. There is no way that 9/11 could succeed today. The people are more vigilant and will now take action to protect themselves. Do you honestly think that some set of wackos with box cutters could pull off a 9/11 today with the current US awareness? No fucking way. Because people are mad as hell and unwilling to put up with that shit anymore. I'd beat the fucker to a bloody pulp myself just because I'm sick of bending over and coughing everytime I get on an airplane. And 9/11 didn't trash the economy. It just gave it a bump. It should be gone by now. Why is the economy still trashed? Is it 9/11? Or is it paralysis caused by uncertainty fostered by a regime intent on unsound economic policies and an unrelated military agenda? I think its the second and I'm mad as hell because I've gone from a 6 figure income to unemployable (and as Petroleum Engineering grad - I've been here before). We have lost 2 MILLION PERMANENT JOBS in the US economy - something that's never happened before and its got nothing to do with a small cadre of X-acto wielding psychopaths. Read my lips - 9/11's sole connection to the Iraq war is the creation of fear and confusion in the american populace thats been exploited by the current US regime to push through their own economic/miltary agenda. "Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes. Contestants in a suicidal race." - Synchronicity II - The Police
Post #96,891 by Ashton 4/16/03 6:29:38 PM Reply	What. He. Said.
Post #96,892 by rcareaga 4/16/03 6:32:31 PM Reply	Me. Too. Plus. ICLRPD. I'd beat the fucker to a bloody pulp myself just because I'm sick of bending over and coughing everytime I get on an airplane. "Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist."
Post #97,333 by mmoffitt 4/18/03 5:59:19 PM Reply	Ibid. Well put. bcnu, Mikem The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice and always has been...We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had-- the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism. - Mark Twain, "Monarchical and Republican Patriotism"

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