Why have the attacks in London, suddenly become about New York?!- Page 2

[OnTheAisle]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 1:21pm

CM2 - Philly continues to wander around blissfully ignorant of any possibility of an attack - when you're sandwiched between NYC and DC, that tends to happen...

Our local conservative radio guy was trying to find an angle that somehow Live8 was the catalyst for all this, and that Bob Geldof was somehow responsible for rousing the terrorists...

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 1:56pm

JPopa, I think asking the question, "How does this affect me?" makes absolutely perfect sense.

Asking the question, "How is this about me?" is not.

[vbplayer]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 2:15pm

"I wated to scream at them and say "No, you were the F*CK not! Did you walk through putrid smoke and raining soot? Did you run? Did you smell burning flesh for weeks after? No you were NOT New Yorkers that day. WE were!"


Not only New Yorkers died that day. This comment was totally uncalled for. Anyone on this board could have had a family member or friend or co-worker die that day. What a nasty thing to say.

Updated On: 7/7/05 at 02:15 PM

[Madame X]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 2:25pm

as far as relating it to new york. well, that was the last time a major terrorist attack took place so the parallels are going to be drawn. it is inevitable.

I don't disagree, but just wanted to remind people of the 3/11/04 bombing in Madrid that killed 191 people.

Updated On: 7/7/05 at 02:25 PM

[RobbO]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 2:31pm

correct, madame. i was trying to make the connection, though, between london and news broadcasts drawing parallels to new york.

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 2:32pm

Why don't we ignore the media and focus on what is important? The families of the victims. Pray for them...

Updated On: 7/7/05 at 02:32 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 2:34pm

"Our local conservative radio guy was trying to find an angle that somehow Live8 was the catalyst for all this, and that Bob Geldof was somehow responsible for rousing the terrorists... "

Why? Because they couldn't get tickets on eBay?

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 2:35pm

I actually had a sort of opposite reaction after 9/11. People kept calling long after the immediate danger was over, asking "How are you doing?" (I live in NYC, and while I actually saw the towers fall, it was from a safe distance).

I couldn't understand this. I was not directly affected. It didn't happen to me.

I also didn't understand the people who weeks later professed to be afraid to use the subways - even to go outside! These, again, people not directly affected - if you were in or around those towers that day, feel free to have full-blown PTSD, but I don't understand the people who internalise it as they it happened to them.

Maybe it's the only way they can process it.

[OnTheAisle]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 2:40pm

TD - no, it was more like "see what happens when you make a big deal about the G8 - you wake the terrorists up and they get all sorts of ideas" - maybe that would be cause for discussion at some point, but I thought it was in poor taste (subject matter and timing-wise)

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 2:45pm

Sounds like it was not only in poor taste, but also one helluva stretch, Aisle....who was this guy?

[mabel]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 2:53pm

I thought the general consensus was that this was a well orchestrated, long planned out sort of thing...it's pretty lame to try to pin this (even partially) on an event that was intended to bring some sliver of justice to the world.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 3:26pm

How did I turn this into being about "us?"

Well, I instnatly hoped that one bit of empty rhetoric used as recently as last week in Bush's propagandistic speech might disappear, the jingoistic "We're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here..." arugment that's pro-Iraq.

People in London certainly found out today that fighting them "over there" didn't keep them safer. But if I get really cynical: considering the ostrich-like stance of many Americans, I wouldn't be sujrprised if some people consider London itself "over there."

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 3:33pm

"People's relatives/husbands/friends are dying in Iraq now b/c of that day."

Not that Iraq had any connection to "that day" or anything like that that would make that sentence logical.

[UglyBug]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 3:56pm

"Not that Iraq had any connection to "that day" or anything like that that would make that sentence logical"

But it's involved in the war on terrorism, even if Iraq doesn't have direct links to 9/11.

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 4:12pm

It's all grist for the info-tainment mill. Watching the self-important, loudmouth, and loathsome blowhards on Fox News like Sheppard Smith is enough to make one PUKE.


Natasha Rostova
St. Petersburg, Russia

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 4:38pm

Oh Ugly Bug, while I agree with you that 9/11 wasn't JUST all about New Yorkers (though I do understand what PJ was feeling in his post), I do think that including Iraq in the war on terror is shaky ground. I don't know if I buy that whatever reason we REALLY went into Iraq for includes the war on terror or not. I'm still thinking oil, but I'm a bastard liberal. It is very likely that it will make things better in the war on terror, but right now--it's made things worse.

Hmmm. I guess maybe in that case Iraq has BECOME an issue in the war on terror. Nevermind.

[RobbO]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 5:00pm

if you think you are all going batty now, wait until the likes of madonna, angelina and gwynneth weigh in on the london bombings and what it means to them.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 5:02pm

LOL that was pointedly true, my lil cheeky monkey!

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 5:06pm

And in defense of PalJoey...I think I know what he means. A lot of people who lived AWAY from New York or Washington DC *did* lose friends of relatives. But an awful lot of others, who were affected more abstractly, took ownership of the tragedy, too. And I think everyone *meant* well. But in reality, there *is* a difference when something that catastrophic happens on your home turf. Hundreds of people from a single home town died on the same morning and were gone "just like that"; there's a huge blank space on a horizon that is permanently altered and is a constant reminder of what happened every blessed day. The experience of the terror of that day is different in nature when it happened in "real time" and not just as an image on the TV screen. Attacks in other places like Madrid and London can easily rip off the scab and reopen wounds for people who experienced the attacks live back in 2001.

I think that comments like "we are all New Yorkers" are meant to be comforting and show solidarity, but they often just feel patronizing to people who experience 9/11 in one of the hot spots.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 5:19pm

We live in a 15 minute, sound-bite-driven world, so "We are all New Yorkers," no matter how well meaning, fell on many ears the way the platitudinous "support our troops" does today. An easy homelie when deeper thought is required.

I'm still wondering if the phrase "we're fighting them over there (Iraq) so we don't have to fight them here" will dare to surface again. It's about as empty, now.

Updated On: 7/7/05 at 05:19 PM

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 5:25pm

and to add to your thoughts, if I may, Iflit--the attacks could have happened in other cities/states and not just DC and NYC (and consequently PA).

But, that morning, our entire nation was in a panic. I was living in Houston--the ONLY city in the country that has everything on an attack checklist (this was true during the Cold War, too). No one knew if the madness had stopped or not. We were all on alert as I would imagine all of Great Britain was and is today. And it does make sense that every major city in the world should feel some worry--what if they try to attack more than one city in different countries? What about if and when we are attacked again--today showed us that it CAN happen?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 6:10pm

What makes a lot of sense (not) is too broadcast what security measures we are taking & where our weakpoints are. I never will understand why the news media feels the need to do this

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 6:19pm

Well, you can blame Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff who listed every single thing that is being done to beef up security at this time. Given that he did this at a press conference, and not in response to a question, you might want to not blame the messenger.

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 6:40pm

I don't think anyone would quibble that 9/11 didn't have worldwide and countrywide ramifications, or deny the risks and contributions multitudes from other parts of the nation made by coming to New York and DC to help in the immediate aftermath. And I'm not implying that the fear Jerby felt in Houston or the panic my family was in out in Ohio were any less real or less valid than anything experienced in the tri-state area or DC. My point is merely that the reality of have visual and olafactory components, and having it actually happen on your own turf creates a different experience.

Updated On: 7/7/05 at 06:40 PM

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/7/05 at 6:41pm

oh, of course, sweetie--I agree completely! :)