Our Dumb Nation: A Canadian Perspective
Most people I know up here are sick and tired of the rehashing of September 11. Even Albertans feel this way, for the most part. Don't get me wrong. Canadians do feel for New Yorkers and all those who had a friend or family member killed in the terrorist attacks. In fact, 28 Canadians were killed in the attack, not to mention American relatives. But things have gone too far.

The benefit of living in Montreal is that we have an international perspective extraordinaire. We have massive numbers of immigrants who hail from countries that experience real terrorism. Why do I say "real terrorism?" To quote one of my mom's students from Indonesia, "Americans don't know what terrorism is. If the rest of humanity behaved as Americans do on the occasion of Septmeber 11, the world would cease to turn."

Who can disagree? This Dianafication of September 11 is despicable. It has taken extreme personal sorrow of a few thousand families and made it into a mish-mash of false patriotism and commercial opportunity, not to mention a chance at puppeteering around in the Middle-East--it's high-time that the U.S. support a new dictator in Iraq because Saddam is no spring chicken. And what's with all the fear of new attacks on September 11 itself? Do Americans really believe that the terrorist world cares that much about the date on which they make their point? For crying out loud, don't be so ego-centric!

But what gets me more, aside from the disgusting way in which the media remember september 11, with all the really cool shots they got of people falling out of buildings, is all the speech making and the gullible massses who swallow the saccharine words. Bush talks about terrorists who hate freedom and human rights, qualities so dear to America. Wake-up, America! Maybe terrorist attacked America because of its blatant failure to live-up to its loft ideals. Bush says that America is peace-loving, though it has supported and continues to support violent and oppressive regimes (Israel will always be a tough call on this one), not to mention its own terrassing around South America. Bush says that America values women, though prostitution is as healthy as ever (try finding a prostitutional night-life in most Islamic cities). If America were to truly live-up to its ideals, I don't think terrorists would have any motivation to attack it.

All of this is not to say that there is an excuse for the terrorist attacks of September 11 that killed approximately 6, 000 people. Indeed, there is no excuse. Neither is there an excuse for the 20, 000 children who die prentable deaths due to malnutrition, while the world spends US$15, 000/sec. on military, over half of which is spent by the United States. Shame on all.

Posted by Anthony at 7:58 PM |