Karen:>Why do the victims of 9/11 deserve this massive international commemoration any more than any of the individuals murdered on a daily basis throughout the history of the human race? If we are going to go about commemorating victims of fatal acts of intentional violence, we should commemorate ALL of them. But who can honestly say he gives even a passing thought to the hundreds - thousands - of murder victims that are killed daily in the U.S.?<
Mike:> probably because the attack was not directly on those killed but, on our country. as with any act of war, until the conflict is resolved, there is potential for more being killed for the same purpose. as for the international support, as W. said "you're either with us or, against us."<
Just some considerations:
Neither is the whole world commemorating (important reminder for non-Anglo-Saxon readers: although "commemorate" or something similar means "celebrate a happy event" I guess in most Romance languages, it's more like "remembering an event" in English) the attack, nor is any other country supposed to support the US reactions.
I agree with Mike that Americans (or better, all those living in the US) have a special reason for mourning those specific deaths, as they were (and still are) potential targets.
As for the other countries, there's this stupid and unacceptable argument stating that those people, although not directly guilty, deserved, as "Americans", to pay for the thousands of deaths your State/Empire has caused around the world, including its financial support for Milosevic, The Taliban and Saddan Husein while that was considered politically advantageous.
Although I agree that the American State has picked the fight and is so partially to blame for Sep 11, I don't agree that the American people has anything to do with the side effects of an Empire they have no control over anymore. All you want to do is live your lives like most normal people that is, Al Qaeda members not included) do.
But I think the most important is to warn Mike that that "you're either with us or against us" has caused the US to lose all the little support worldwide anti-Americanism (which is as stupid as that utterance) allowed it to have right after the attack. It's always cited as a confirmation of how self-centered you are. That was maybe the biggest of Bush's diplomatic faux pas.
Best wishes (and supporting the war on Iraq, which is something I think not even Americans are so sure should be done),
Caio
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