Anyone who thought the US was one of the safest countries in the world was deluding themselves to begin with; we've got one of the highest violent crime rates in the first world. While we're not anywhere near the horror that some places, like Darfur, see, there should be a huge debate on why our approach to crime and punishment is such a catastrophic failure.
And it frankly should have come as no surprise to anyone that the US was attacked on 9-11. There was a ton of open source literature from both government and scholarly sources indicating that the United States was long overdue for such an event. It was more good fortune than anything else that kept us safe for so long.
I have seen absolutely zero change post 9-11 that would make any person on this entire planet safer.
The realization that Americans are not as safe as they thought means absolutely nothing if they can't bridge the disconnect between the fear that knowledge brings and how domestic and foreign policy impact individual safety.
The thing that most of us (and I do mean us, because Australia hasslavishly followed the Bush Administrations lead) dont seem to get that our supposed "National Interests" seem to fuck over anyone unfortunate enough to spark our political interest.
Real security will only be possible when this fucking stupid "Us or Them" notion is dropped, and we start treating the people we're "supposedly" trying to help like equals. Diffferent isnt bad, its just different.
From outright warfare, this IS(based on the isolationistic attitude) one of the safest countries. From violent crime, not so much. But it's different having someone shoot ONE person down in the streets than it is when a whole building with THOUSANDS of lives lost because someone decided to dive into it with a big plane.
And when you live in the midwest, in your quiet little town, where nothing ever changes and it's still the "best little town on earth" mentality, it's really hard to imagine such atrocities as Darfur. And again,individuals cannot make a difference on how policy is placed nor acted upon. Our government hides massive amounts of "true" reports from the average American. And unless you go out seeking such reports, you'll not find them. This is my shame in the government. I'm not arguing the things you say, however, the average American feels safe because nothing has happened on their homefront in their entire lifetime. Nothing of what your granddad says about WW2 really impacts you as much as you experiencing something similar yourself.
Joined: Wed Mar 16 2005, 01:18am
Location: in a Finnish goat hut north of the Arctic circle
Posts: 1534
I don't think we have any kind of isolationist approach We just feel isolated because we keep to ourselves and our lives.
911 was an inside job
There is no way those building fell from burning jet fuel
All 3?
When no skyscraper fire in the history of skyscrapers and skyscraper fires - EVER - ended in a total collapse?
Believe the myth Pay for the gas Be fat and stupid Watch the world fold into itself Live the dream of 'Circus and Breadlines' The masses are enslaved...
To be honest, Mike, it wouldn't shock me if there was some inside job going on. Truth is, I'm not privy to such details. All I know is I watched planes fly into those buildings, and I know I sat there dumbstruck and I felt a sense of fear for what was to come. By isolationistic attitude, it's not so much the government I was referring to, it was individuals. WAY too many don't feel like anything could happen here. And they got their cages rattled pretty badly with 9/11.
This morning while I was looking at cnn.com, I noticed one of their breaking news stories was that a woman was crying at the memorial where they read all the names.
Man, that's some breaking news. People crying at a memorial service.
