On the most part, I don't like to watch/read the news. I do; however, I find it really disturbing that there are never any good news so if I can get away with not being informed I am okay with that. Lately that has become an increasingly difficult task. The state of affairs in the world is not one that allows for the luxury of being uninformed.Yesterday London was attacked again, the second time in about 2 weeks, and today- also in London- a man was gunned down by police under suspicion of terrorism on the London Underground.
What is this world coming to?
When did human life loose its worth?
At the risk of getting slammed for my views, I admit that to a point I understand the rationale behind terrorism. I don't support it, but I understand the reasoning behind it though I don't find it very clever. As far as I am concerned, killing innocent civilians isn't going to get much sympathy to your cause (this goes to both terrorists and the Bush administration, which I believe is probably the most powerful gang of terrorists out there). By the same token, calling terrorists "uncivilized barbarians" like Tony Blair did after the first attack isn't exactely going to get them to feel bad.
I live in NYC and I walk to my Midtown Manhattan office every single day, and more than once I've had the unpleasant experience of having to deal with bomb squads and terrorists threats. The first time I saw this I was naturally scared, but then now I just find it amusing and this is not a good thing. People in cities like NY, London, and many others are learning to live in fear and it definitely shouldn't be like that.
All of thse attacks are acts of cowardice. I do realize that unfortunately governments are so self centered that they only think about their own best interests, which is technically what they are supossed to be doing it, but unless you are defending yourself at a given moment in time, don't go around killing innocent people just so you can make a point!
For our sake, I truly hope that even if it is out of fear that people start being a little nicer to each other. That we start appreciating human life a little bit more. I hope that these terrorists will understand that no positive change is going to come from such actions and that our leaders will begin to see that their foreign policies should be re-examined.
I don't want to live in fear; but we are being left without much choice.
21 comments:
I read something somewhere once that really got to me. It goes something like this: “For any Country, Security lies in the fear of their enemy”. The thing is this: the people responsible for the attacks ARE NOT AFRAID. The are fighting for a cause they believe to be necessary and even Holy.
I AM NOT CONDONING THIS BEHAVIOR but, like you said Annush, I understand it. However, the way they chose to “get their message across” I will never comprehend. Taking the lives of innocent people is NEVER justified.
Violence begets more violence and until people grasp this concept, no one will ever feel “safe”.
Chico del Apto. 512:
"I'm actually more afraid of those who can destroy our minds rather than our bodies, although these folks are trying to destroy both"...AWESOME COMMENT.
As for the question "who is the innocent?"
Not that there's a whole lot of innocence left in the world, but in this case, I believe that bystanders are innocent, you know the ones that go out for a cup of coffee or a walk in a park and never make it back home because they got blown up by a bomb planted by some asshole “fighting in the name of…whatever”.
I honestly can’t remember a day that I opened the newspaper and didn’t read about the 5, 7 or 12 people killed in Ramallah, Gaza, Baghdad, etc…Now London…Most of the time, the victims of these attacks are people that really don’t have anything to do with the reason terrorists are fighting for in the first place…Just makes me sad, I guess.
(Aside: I am so glad I have smart readers)
I think that we are living in times of psychological warfare. Terrorist attacks and the fear thereof are tactics of a war meant to weaken everyone.
I don't live in fear, nor do I intend to but I must say that it's getting increasingly hard...
When you think of terrorism it surely induces fear. London and United States are only experiencing a nick of what’s to come. If their foreign policies don’t change of course terrorists will mount on their black horses and carry out their holy war or jihad against us, the supposedly infidels.
According to whose standards are we expendable, perhaps to the powers that oversee us?
And as long as we don’t know what goes on behind closed doors of our government our lives will surely be affected by this unwanted fear.
Terrorism is nothing new. It has been going for years in Israel. But now it has reached home. And honestly speaking, it will never stop. Our government has started a chain reaction, especially because of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I think this country’s respect is surely sinking across the world, I mean, it’s still the greatest country, but frankly we made more enemies now than ever before. So of course terrorists are itching to get at us. For the time being we shouldn’t live in fear until it hits close to home.
And fuck homeland security and any security agency saying that they are doing everything possible to deter more attacks, it’s already happening. They are just feeding bullshit to the masses because they have no clue as to when, how, and where these cowards will strike next.
"They are just feeding bullshit to the masses because they have no clue as to when, how, and where these cowards will strike next."
I really understand your point, and it really freaks the fuck out of me going through at least 2 checks every morning before I get to work: They now stop buses ramdomly from NJ to NY, and the past two days I got stopped and got my bag searched at Union Sq. as part of the whole new security thing. No matter how much bs they feed the public with, the the truth remains: There's no way to know when something is gonna happen.
It was on the BBC News today that the police had shot a man dead on the tube. I just hope they got the right man. It must be a tough decision to make. "Do I shoot him, or do I hope he hasn't got explosives under that coat?"
It's highly unusual for the police to use firearms in a crowed place in the UK. In fact, it's unusual that they use them at all. I can imagine how freaked out the people were down there. We're not used to guns.
...and I agree with el chico.
There's an interesting development in the London bombings...the word 'terrorist' not being used the media. The link here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8204281/#050719a. They ARE terrorists. Let's not sugar-coat it.
I also read an article (that I can't find, of course) which analyzed the trends of terrorist organizations and noted that once the terrorists got what they wanted, they stopped all terrorist activity. All the rhetoric being spewed lately points to our involvement in the Iraqi War.
A letter found after the first London bombings was by an Islamic group claiming the bombings " were in retaliation for Britain’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan." Link here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8496293/
Insurgents just want us OUT of there. So why not go? Isn't it time?
Chico, that’s just the thing…they DO believe their cause is noble, but what scares me the most is that they are NOT AFRAID. Religion is everything for those people and so is their cause. Even the term “jihad” is interpreted to mean Holy War…They sacrifice in the name of Allah which is more than can be said about other countries who fight because they’re drafted and have to…These people consider dying an honor an a sure fire entrance to whatever is their version of Heaven.
Hey Tomas, faith (along with a bad situation) makes you do crazy things. I think we can all agree on that. But I think that even I would consider sacrificing myself for the greater good if I saw a bomb kill my friends and family.
I think that there are A LOT of people out there who have lost their loved ones in these ridiculous wars (this includes but is not limited to Afghanistan, Irak, Israel, Somalia, etc). It is these same people who will want to retaliate. Pain and hurt can drive people to do just about the most horrible things.
You should see and hear what's on the news over here. A man was shot at the tube station before he was going to blow up the bus and yesterday we saw a man being arrested in front of Downing St. Is the US news reporting this?
There are still arrests going on today..
Well Annush, I don't live anywhere close to New York, much less London, but I can tell you I'm already living in fear for you guys that do...
I just wish all this nonesense would stop, terrorists and war altogether.
If wishes were horses...
Aunque uno vive en Santo Domingo, tiene familia y amigos en Londres y N.Y. y no puede evitar sentir miedo y ansiedad con estas vainas...
Y Bush y Blair más insoportables que nunca.
Y ya van como 25,000 en Irak...
Zanahoria I get deleted for having a different opinion. So you should redirect your message about tolerance to someone else.
I've never attacked anyone on a personal level like you or anybody I have a right to disagree just the same way I agree when I do and I leave a comment for it. And I've never said or implied that I'm better than anyone else. Where do you get that from? And yes I am Dominican proud of my heritage and all my Dominican roots. However, since I live here in the U.S. and I enjoy the benefits and opportunities that this great country has given me the least I can do is be very grateful to this nation. And yes I am an immigrant but remember that this is a country of immigrants and everyone who has helped build this nation into what it is, has been either an immigrant or a descendant of an immigrant and therefore I am also and American. And if I did not considered myself an American I would get in a plane and go back to D.R.
Zanahoria,
Allright pacifist you can't believe people who condone war. So without war what would you have done to deal with terrorism after 9/11? Because before it being a pacifist didn't help at all. Anyway, I'll just laugh at the stupid assumptions you made about me.
if you guys keep it up i'm going to delete each and every comment from both of you for as long as I keep this blog!
Zanahoria
Good reply man I laughed,mainly because you went through all that blabbing but couldn't give me an answer to the simple question I asked you. And you are very right I'm an ignorant, I don't know anything about history I don't know anything about anything but somehow I always manage to back up my opinions with facts. You think you know the asnwer to all those questions you threw at me? I will tell you to really look up things for yourself, the truth and not what people think is true just because they are popular ideas or reasons that "seem" reasonable. I suggest spending sometime at a library, not just the internet. It will do you some good.
As far as calling Annush a hypocrite and a liar well she acted like hypocrite and she lied. I posted the reasons why I called her those things and she still deleted them(probably because they were true). I'll post them again but I bet shell take them off immediately.
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