JUST FOR BEING AMERICANS . . .

[Lyion]

By DAVE BARRY Septemper 13, 2001

No humor column today. I don't want to write it, and you don't want to read it.

No words of wisdom, either. I wish I were wise enough to say something that would help make sense of this horror, something that would help ease the unimaginable pain of the victims' loved ones, but I'm not that wise. I'm barely capable of thinking. Like many others, I've spent the hours since Tuesday morning staring at the television screen, sometimes crying, sometimes furious, but mostly just stunned.

What I can't get out of my mind is the fact that they used our own planes. I grew up in the Cold War, when we always pictured the threat as coming in the form of missiles - sleek, efficient death machines, unmanned, hurtling over the North Pole from far away. But what came, instead, were our own commercial airliners, big friendly flying buses coming from Newark and Boston with innocent people on board. Red, white and blue planes, with ``United'' and ``American'' written on the side. The planes you've flown in and I've flown in. That's what they used to attack us. They were able to do it in part because our airport security is pathetic. But mainly they were able to do it because we are an open and trusting society that simply is not set up to cope with evil men, right here among us, who want to kill as many Americans as they can.

That's what's so hard to comprehend: They want us to die just for being
Americans. They don't care which Americans die: military Americans, civilian Americans, young Americans, old Americans. Baby Americans. They don't care.
To them, we're all mortal enemies. The truth is that most Americans, until
Tuesday, were only dimly aware of their existence, and posed no threat to
them. But that doesn't matter to them; all that matters is that we're
Americans. And so they used our own planes to kill us.

And then their supporters celebrated in the streets.

I'm not naive about my country. My country is definitely not always right;
my country has at times been terribly wrong. But I know this about
Americans: We don't set out to kill innocent people. We don't cheer when
innocent people die.

A DECENT PEOPLE

The people who did this to us are monsters; the people who cheered them have hate-sickened minds. One reason they can cheer is that they know we would never do to them what their heroes did to us, even though we could, a thousand times worse. They know that when we hunt down the monsters, we will try hard not to harm the innocent. Those are the handcuffs we willingly wear, because for all our flaws, we are a decent people.

And now we are a traumatized people. The TV commentators keep saying that the attacks have awakened a ``sleeping giant.'' And I guess we do look like a giant, to the rest of the world. But when I look around, I don't see a giant: I see millions of individuals - the resilient and caring citizens of New York and Washington; the incredibly brave firefighters, police officers and rescue workers risking their lives in the dust and flames; the
politicians standing on the steps of the Capitol and singing an off-key
rendition of God Bless America that, corny as it was, had me weeping; the
reporters and photographers who have not slept, and will not sleep, as long as there is news to report; the people in my community, and communities across America, lining up to give blood, wishing they could do more.

A GOOD COUNTRY

No, I don't see a giant. What I see is Americans. We may have the power of a giant, but we also have the heart of a good and generous people, and we will get through this. We will grieve for our dead, and tend to our wounded, and repair the damage, and tighten our security, and put our planes back in the air. Eventually most of us, the ones lucky enough not to have lost somebody, will resume our lives. Some day, our country will track down the rest of the monsters behind this, and make them pay, and I suppose that will make most of us feel a little better. But revenge and hatred won't be why we'll go on. We'll go on because we know this is a good country, a country worth keeping.

Those who would destroy it only make us see more clearly how precious it is.

[Spazz]

Dude they dont hate us for our freedom or just becuase were americans. Also i dont think were in a real hurry to catch these monsters ( see iraq) Its sept 11 and im sure everyone is all patriotic and emotional but this article is crap and the things this administration has done since 9/11 are a fuckin joke.

[Zanchief]

That article was written 5 years ago spazz.

[Spazz]

Whats your point. Doesnt matter then or now they dont/didnt hate us JUST BECUASE WE HAPPEN TO BE AMERICAN.

[Agrajag]

So, then, why do they hate us? Why didn't they go for Canada? They pretty much have the same freedoms as Americans.

[Spazz]

Ima go out on a limb and say it might have to do with our middle eastern policys and how we conduct our selves in that part of the world. It might be becuase they take religion to a whole nother lvl and think we are desicrating there holiest sites. It might be our never ending support of isreal no matter what they do. But im telling you people dont come a billion miles over seas to throw away they lives just becuase were americans or becuase we are a democracy. That my friend is why they didnt go after canada.

If its easier for you to beleive they attacked us for no reason other than we are americans than have at it but your wrong. Also for you get off your rocker and think im defending terrorist let me say im not. I think they are the lowest of the low. Anyone who attacks america regardless if they have legit beef or not is my enemy same as you.

If youd like to end terrorism your gonna have to get passed "the war on terror" and " they hate us for our freedoms" and look into WHY these people are so fuckin PISSED at us. Short of full scale genocide the war on terror will never end. Id rather find a way to co exist with the middle east then worry about them attacking us every day.

[Guntaag Gorefeast]

/shrug.

it could have been your ass on that plane as easily as it was anyone else. They hate me, and you , and your family for alot of reasons that we have 0 control over (or simply the freedom to ignore, i dunno about you but i dont think my old girl would have stuck around if i tried making her wear a robe over her body in public, how about you kizz? ;P )

Fuck the media, fuck bush, and fuck you hippie pseudo idealists. It comes down to this. Theres alot of people out in a desert right now that wanted YOU to die 5 years ago, are hoping to get a crack at you before they get killed, and are not going to change.

I dont agree with the war in iraq, i believe we're continueing the cycle. Every T we kill over there gets replaced by another at least. I cant imagine if some foreign army came in and "accidentally" dropped a few tons of ordinance on my family in the middle of the night. I'd be on the next list to join the corps. The same goes for these people, and they have even less to lose than me( less opportunity that is,these people are for the most part pretty desperate anyways, easily brainwashed let alone easy to provoke if they have an actual reason to jihad your ass.)

In summary, be pissed for fucks sake. They tried to kill you and the people you loved, and i know some people personally who lost family/loved ones in the towers and at the pentagon.

as far as why they Just hate us, they dont just hate us. They've bombed people from the pacific rim to spain, in africa and the middle east. These are the same people who killed those olympic atheletes in the 80s and used to hijack planes (before 01 i mean). They want to kill you and youre too blinded by your rage against the (R) that you cant understand that. Hell,i dont know why im picking on you spazz, people hiding behind bush piss me off just as much(more?). Take off the horse blinds dudes~ free your mind~

[Guntaag Gorefeast]

thanks for ninja clearing that up <3

wont edit that post because i think its pretty pertinent to alot of readers here, shit like that always frustrates me.

[Tikker]

So, then, why do they hate us? Why didn't they go for Canada? They pretty much have the same freedoms as Americans.

as others have said, its the US's foreign policy that causes much hate for americans around the world

[Spazz]

My mind is free. I think the extremeist leaders do shit to get us to attack them . Then they say see look america wants to kill us we must kill them. Then a buncha poor angsty muslims are like yea yea likes take it to em and they begin the monkey bar training. I think were between a rock and a hard place. You cant fight a never ending war on ideology and you cant sit by and do nothing if they attack or plan to attack. Im one person asking the same question everyone is What are we gonna do about it? I dont have the answers but i think we need to do SOMETHING that doesnt make us look like the badguys they say we are. I guess to me its really a lose lose.

[Guntaag Gorefeast]

aye it really is, this shit will be going on for a long time. It always has been going on really and now that the words a smaller place due to technology we're alot closer and more involve (by our governments own doing) in all of this. I do agree we are up a pretty nasty shit creek and kaiine's the one with the paddle. God knows he'll fuck it up so i dont know.

[Yamori]

So, then, why do they hate us? Why didn't they go for Canada? They pretty much have the same freedoms as Americans.

Namely American foreign policy - which in many ways is pretty damn imperialistic. The "freedom" angle is simply a political soundbite to distract US citizens and vastly over-simplify the cause of this conflict. This isn't to say that Islamic culture in general doesn't have a major grudge against "decadent" western culture - it does, but this is in no way the root of the threat of Terror attacks.

For many decades, there has been an ever-increasing US military presence in the middle east. There are US military bases all over the region. There is constant economic collusion/aid with Israel (whom Islamic culture sees as an enormous military and social threat). The US has on several occasions done significant effort to overturn a number of middle eastern governments (including leading to the deaths of political figures), and has propped up politicians and governments that were more in favor of current US interests.

Saddam himself is a perfect example - the US helped prop him up to further US interests, and the Saddam/US relation was initially a friendly one. He may have tortured and killed a bunch of people, but he was useful to us. Until he invaded kuwait - oops. The CIA funded and trained Osama Bin Laden in order to put more pressure on the red army in Afghanistan - until they were gone and his attention turned to the US's foreign interference - oops. Iran's current religious totalitarian government is a result of US forcible intervention in their politics - oops. There are others as well I'm sure.

US military strikes don't grab much attention from the US population - they are just seen as statistics - but thousands of innocent people have died in the middle east due to US military actions. It's collateral damage to us - it's dead family and friends to those involved. Hell, to the extent of my knowledge, the first missile that was dropped on Iraq post 9/11 killed a number of innocent civilians.

I can honestly understand being extremely hostile towards another culture, if they were vocally threatening against my own and had a large number of troops stationed very close to my borders. (Imagine the soviet or chinese army having had significant troop placements along the border of your neighboring state - who were prone to occasional bombings - that's how it is for them).

Take all of this into consideration - as well as a completely fucked up, violent, and irrational religious-cultural situation (basically, an ideology on par with the dark ages in many ways), and it's at least understandable on some vague level as to why some people would be driven to terrorism and/or suicide bombing. The considerable poverty in much of the middle east (ie: nothing to lose) doesn't help either.

I'm not defending the middle east or muslim extremists at all of course. Obviously directly aiming at killing innocent civillians removes any ethical claim an anti-american movement would have. I'd personally like to see Islam demolished and destroyed in general - I think it's the greatest ideological threat in the world at the moment. But to look at this situation as a cookie-cutter 'thems-be-evil-freedom-haterz' perspective is very wrongheaded as well. These problems won't diminish until the US stops using military means and foreign political intervention to further their economic agenda.

If we want to end terrorism, work needs to be done to develop an efficient alternate fuel source as soon as possible so there is no longer significant interest in that part of the world, and the US needs to cease spending resources and significant attention on Israel and the middle-east in general.

In the end all of this boils down to two groups being at fault for the shit going on in the world today:

1) Fat, corrupt politicians who use other peoples' lives as fodder for their own personal (usually financial) agendas that are not linked to America's basic protection. Most of them are appointed and not even accountable to voters.
2) Islamic extremists who use the barrel of a gun as a replacement for reason and thinking.

Most everyone else is a victim of these two types of idiots in some way or another.



/rant off

[Tikker]

good fucking post yamori

[Narrock]

So, then, why do they hate us? Why didn't they go for Canada? They pretty much have the same freedoms as Americans.

as others have said, its the US's foreign policy that causes much hate for americans around the world

To aid foreign countries in their time of need is a bad policy? To help rid the world of dangerous dictators is a bad policy?

Keep tokin' on that glass pipe.

[Guntaag Gorefeast]

absolutely , very well said dude.

[leah]

regardless of political views, that column was still pretty good. i like dave barry, though it's disconcerting to read him being serious about something.

[Tikker]

So, then, why do they hate us? Why didn't they go for Canada? They pretty much have the same freedoms as Americans.

as others have said, its the US's foreign policy that causes much hate for americans around the world

To aid foreign countries in their time of need is a bad policy? To help rid the world of dangerous dictators is a bad policy?

ridding the world of leaders dangerous to the US(not the country they're leading) is what irks the people of that country

aiding a...
forget it, you're so indoctrined in the propoganda your news spews that you have no idea

[Narrock]

So, then, why do they hate us? Why didn't they go for Canada? They pretty much have the same freedoms as Americans.

as others have said, its the US's foreign policy that causes much hate for americans around the world

To aid foreign countries in their time of need is a bad policy? To help rid the world of dangerous dictators is a bad policy?

ridding the world of leaders dangerous to the US(not the country they're leading) is what irks the people of that country

aiding a...
forget it, you're so indoctrined in the propoganda your news spews that you have no idea

lol, then why do the majority of Iraqi's want us to stay there and continue helping them? We got Saddam. We're on the hunt for Osama (who has to hide in caves because of us), and Mahmoud is about to get the nerf stick. What more proof do you need that the U.S. aids where it is warranted? I don't listen to propaganda... I listen to facts. The U.S. has excellent foreign relations with the countries that matter. Your statement is strange.

[Spazz]

Your not a real person are you. Your someones internet alter ego who says the most retarded shit to get people to react .

[brinstar]

that's been suspected for years actually

[Guntaag Gorefeast]

so where do you guys get your news that is so much better and un biased than his?


my buddies IN iraq right fucking now, and one of them back home with a considerable less amount of bone in his arm have all told me most iraqis are glad we came and ousted saddam.

[Diekan]

So, then, why do they hate us? Why didn't they go for Canada? They pretty much have the same freedoms as Americans.

as others have said, its the US's foreign policy that causes much hate for americans around the world

To aid foreign countries in their time of need is a bad policy? To help rid the world of dangerous dictators is a bad policy?

Keep tokin' on that glass pipe.

No... it's our continuously sticking our nose in where it doesn't belong. Constantly having to satisfy this urge to play World Cop. Then when we DO get involved we inevitably take the wrong side, or do so secrety (see all the warlords we've supported over the years).

[Lyion]

Your not a real person are you. Your someones internet alter ego who says the most retarded shit to get people to react .

Mindia is Vonkaar, if you didnt already know. Let him have his Sybil charade!

[Harrison]

so where do you guys get your news that is so much better and un biased than his?


my buddies IN iraq right fucking now, and one of them back home with a considerable less amount of bone in his arm have all told me most iraqis are glad we came and ousted saddam.

Same here, I talk to them often.

[Zanchief]

Wait. So "they" (I'm not quite sure what "they" means yet, but I'm guessing means it's Arabs or some other such generalization) ...

They hate me, and you, and your family for a lot of reasons that we have 0 control over

Yet at the same time "they"...

most iraqis are glad we came and ousted saddam

Same here, I talk to them often.

So which is it? Do they hate you, do they love you? Do they just want to drink Coca Cola and listen to Brittney Spears in peace?