| Attacks On The USA 11th Sept 2001 |
[13 Sep 2001|11:53pm] |
I'm wary about talking about this subject. It's far too easy to pontificate and become self-indulgent about these kind of issues, and I'm sure many are doing that. I hope to avoid that. But because that's how I'm writing I'm sure some of you will object to some of the things I shall say. But there are issue that I believe are being avoided because of the loss of life, and I'm afraid I feel a need to express some of these things.
The first and most fundamental point to make is the simple one of sympathy. For all those in anyway involved in the terrorist attacks. Terrorism and in fact any kind of violence I believe cannot be justified in today's society. What has happened in the USA is abhorrent and vile. To attack a military base is one thing, to attack office blocks with tens of thousands of mere office workers inside -regardless of symbolism- is a crime that can without doubt be labelled as evil.
I was sat recording a song, a demo, and my phone rang. My friend Kyle asked "have you seen BBC1? .. you'd better put it on." When he told me what was happening I genuinely didn't believe him. A plane had flown into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, and I arrived at Sky News just as the second plane hit the other tower. The most shocking feeling I had upon viewing these events live on TV was that I had seen it all before. It looked exactly like a Hollywood movie. But this time there were no heroes to save the day, and people didn't just get killed they got murdered and stolen away from their families. You made the movies, now see the reality. But I sat through the afternoon unable to fully comprehend that this was real, it was utterly surreal.
The American TV reporter was down on the streets under the burning towers trying to interview firemen and people walking out clearly injured. He interviewed one man with a large cut on his head; he asked what he'd been doing. The man said that it was terrible and that'd he'd been trying to help people. After the reporter had his sound bites he told the man that he'd better get back in, as they needed all the help they could get. This is whilst he ran round the street asking firemen what their brief was and such questions, all in his nice clean suit. Literally a minute after saying that to the injured man in the background of the shot the man was seen being carried to medical attention. This may all seem an irrelevance to the mass murder. It is, but on the other hand it illustrates perfectly a certain nature of person. The media and those titillated by events. Those who go on camera and pontificate that this is a declaration of war. It's such utterly bad taste, as so many people die and so many families mourn it is outright wrong to capitalise on the sense of loss. You can see the media are excited by the thought of a war, and the military too and that's one of the sickest things to see in the face of this awful disaster. Do they have no heart or soul?
What happened at the World Trade Centre was beyond any kind of protest, it pushed back our understanding of the capacity of human hatred. The sensationalists got their kicks out of misreporting the size of the murder omitting such things as the holocaust, but the simple fact was it was happening today. It wasn't in the history books; it was live on TV happening before our eyes for the first time. We saw the images of people waving for attention from the burning towers just before they collapsed, and we saw people jumping out of windows to their deaths. Thousands of people died live as we watched in 2001. It was a brutal reminder that for all the talk of a modern world we are still no more than animals killing each other.
I see all these angry people shout words of hatred; do they not see it was exactly that behaviour that caused this in the first place? Anger and fear breeds hatred and hatred breeds murder. An eye for an eye and soon nobody in the world can see at all. Let's stop blinding new generation after new generation; let's stop the war.
This is no time for war. Nor further murders. Virtually every nation on earth has come out to condemn what has happened; some of the most unlikely of nations have expressed sympathy and shock. Surely this is the ideal starting place to bring justice. If all the nations stand together shoulder to shoulder the very few nations left would be utterly overwhelmed. If all trading and co-operation was to be withdrawn from any nation not to join the anti-terrorist alliance and they had not a single ally in the world how could they possibly go on harbouring terrorism? They can't survive in absolute isolation, they just can't. So never mind more bombs and more spilt blood lets actually talk about this, the mode of communication that separates us from the animals is our only hope of truly ridding the world of evil. The more fighting and the more killing that takes place the more hatred, resentment and fear is bred and the more terrorist attacks tomorrow's generations will make.
Violence is never the answer. NEVER. I say that unconditionally, as a pacifist and as a humanitarian. What gets me most is the constant use of God by the American media and people and politicians. The people who hijacked the planes likely did so with God on THEIR SIDE, and the USA has God on THEIR SIDE. Well in the words of Bob Dylan "if God is on our side then he'll stop the next war." I may be a none believer in God and religion, but I dare make the guess that this God entity no matter what or who it is would never ever condone humans killing each other. Forget this non-sense about innocent and not innocent people; the simple fact is they are people. A human killing another human is plain and simply wrong. "Revenge" for one tribe having people murdered is not justification to murder those in another tribe.
If we are going to be cold and look at this in a less emotive manner there is a terrible picture to be seen. What I'm about to say may well annoy some people, but as far as I'm concerned it's the truth hidden behind the hysteria.
In terms of black and white here we go: The USA and Britain (and allies) have been engaging in terrorist acts for years. And they hold guns to nations heads and make threats thinking that somehow that will make the nation more stable -ignoring the quite obvious reality that it makes them resentful and breads hatred. In the past they have often created enemies for political gain, look at Iran and Iraq. Saddam used to be the West's ally, now he's some kind of Hitler figure, the truth being nothing in particular changed other than the West themselves.
Interestingly all Saddam Hussein had to say about the matter was that you reap what you sow. This may seem harsh and uncaring, but his people have been repressed for a decade by distant nations who deem it their position to enforce their culture on people across the entire globe. Innocent people in his nation have been murdered by the West. Picture the innocent Iraqi family who look out of their window to see a cruise missile heading towards their five young children. Murder, Saddam is saying, leads to murder. I'm not saying Saddam is right, I'm merely pointing out that this is a vicious cycle and that more killing and murder will always just lead to more killing and murder. It's this very cycle that must be broken. We can't keep bullying and bombing people, it doesn't defeat them it just alienates them and leads to resentment.
President George W Bush is a heartless murderer. He has sentenced many people to death personally and now has the power to stop the death penalty but actually supports it. So never mind talk of "good and evil" as he put it, never mind talk of innocent and guilty parties. We're all guilty of society and innocent of humanity.
Though it's an issue for another day, I believe the only way to peace is for total disbandment of the military immediately. Britain should lead the way. We should disband the entire military and declare to the entire world that "WE WILL NOT FIGHT". And of course the Nuclear Weapons should be the first things banished to the history books. There would still be a UN Peace Keeping force, the main priority being to help in times of national crisis (such as driving fuel tankers in the petrol crisis.). But holding our hands up and declaring we shall never fight again would be a leap of faith in the human race, and gosh darn it this human race needs faith in itself. We aren't separate peoples, we are one species of animal, and we must come together now or forever kill each other.
~~*~~What Now~~*~~
The American attitude of isolation (or rather "ignorance") must surely now have been shattered. The world has seen that the USA is neither untouchable nor invincible and one can only hope this will be the one positive to come out of this most terrible event. It's time for the entire world to come together and talk amongst ourselves as human being to human being. Not religion to religion, not nationality to nationality, not even "east to west".
There has been talk that the USA considers the attacks to have been committed with weapons of mass destruction and as thus they won't rule out the use of similar weapons. To me this has to be one of the most moronic things I've heard in my entire life. Yes the planes caused mass destruction, but to even suggest using Nuclear devices in retaliation is the most perverse and sick thing I've ever heard. We are talking in much speculation now but I urge everyone that if this becomes any more realistic get out on to the streets, get to the embassies and protest. WE are responsible for this world and WE are responsible from trying out utmost to stop mass murder. Just as you feel angry and disgusted at whoever did this terrible act and how you'd feel a need to try and stop it if you knew before hand, the USA and NATO and anyone must be stopped from committing mass murder and screwing up the world even more.
As tens of thousands directly mourn and millions join them in an indirect outpouring of grief we must remain absolutely calm. We must fight those easily arrived at conclusions that punishment should come in the form of war and killing. It isn't the answer, it is the problem. We must stop the drive for murderous vengeance, just because we've seen animals murder doesn't mean we should be animals. We must fight the prejudice that shall arise from this terrible event. Already I've seen people on television saying terrible things about everything follower of Islam and even those just of that kind of ethnicity and clearly this is something we must fight against.
Those responsible for these terrible crimes must be brought to court. They must be made to explain their actions, no matter how uneasy the listening may be. We need to hear their voices and see their faces and we need to understand where and why their hatred has developed. It's only by understanding the problems that we can truly stop them from occurring again. We need to listen and we need to show understanding and indeed compassion. That may well be a leap of faith, but a leap of faith is what we need.
Bob Dylan's Masters Of War seems rather relevant..
Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks
You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain
You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul
And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead
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bouncy
artistic
cheerful
amused
depressed
tired
curious