Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life - Wednesday, January 04, 2006
When I read blog posts like Shelley Powers They're Back or Robert Scoble's Microsoft takes down Chinese blogger (my opinions on that), I wonder why I tend to see American bloggers writing angry missives about perceived injustices in faraway lands but never about the oppression by government in their own countries. I guess it's all a case of Luke 6:41 in action.
One of the unfortunate side effects of hate-based crimes such as those that took place on 9/11 is that it tends to fuel an increase in other crimes based on a response to these crimes. Have Americans wrongfully committed crimes against natives of the Middle East in response to the events of 9/11?
Yep.
But lets not replace the true and real victims of the events of the 9/11 attacks by pointing out the crimes that have happened since these original crimes took place. I'm not suggesting we disregard what has happened since. What I am suggesting is we keep it framed to within the context of understanding why these crimes have taken place in the first place. Did crimes such as these happen before 9/11? Probably to some extent, but no where near what has taken place since. I agree... having your freedoms wrongfully taken away from you sucks! Just ask these folks, they'll tell you.
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… or these people.
Hi David,
I wasn’t disregarding this fact. What I am hoping to point out is that there seems to be an overwhelming push to try and point out all of the crimes against innocent Middle Eastern folks but forget to point out/realize that these crimes come in direct response to the events of 9/11.
Innocent people are being killed in Iraq as well. Thats sucks! I don’t want to discount that point. But it seems to me theres a massive push to point out all that the U.S. is doing wrong and little to no concern over the fact that this has been in response to 9/11. Justified. No. But neither were the 9/11 attacks. By disregarding the events of 9/11 we undermine all of the efforts we are making to try and keep similar events from happening again.
Why don’t people get that?
How can that be anything but a victory for the terrorists? It makes the U.S. less tempting as a model for other countries to emulate, thus helping dangerous, authoritarian regimes hold onto power and fund more terrorists.
Up here in Canada, it’s even worse. We weren’t attacked on September 11 (though many Canadians did die in the U.S.), but our government has also happily been making Canada more like the country the terrorists would like to see, by sending innocent, brown-skinned Canadian citizens to countries where they will be tortured, etc.
After World War II, the U.S. showed the world the right way to win hearts and minds, by rebuilding both their allies and enemies (the Marshall plan and the Japanese reconstruction), and responding to a military threat with a brilliant, non-violent response (the Berlin airlift). A lot of the world decided to embrace freedom and democracy at that time, after seeing the U.S. model. And as far as security goes, notice the lack of threats from Germany and Japan today.
After September 11, I was hoping that President Bush would respond the same way that Truman did after WW II, initiating a modern equivalent of the Marshall plan (a Powell plan?) to improve the quality of life in the Middle East and show the Muslim world that democracy can do a lot more for them than a few fanatical terrorists. That may be one of the greatest lost opportunities in U.S. (and world) history.
These are all really good points David. Thanks for taking the time to follow-up!
It gives me something to think about, for sure. Once I’ve had some time to think, I will pull this out into another post as these are all REALLY good points that I think others could benefit from.
Thanks again!