I am appalled at how immediately, murderously angry this attack has made people who I've always known to be generally very nice people. It's a further tragedy that this sort of thing brings out a retaliatory bloodlust even in the most decent of people. I'm terrified at what this means for the scores of idiots in our midst.
There is no proof yet of the purpetrator. I've heard contradictory reports already of the speculation that Osama bin Laden is responsible for this. "He said X, so he's the one who did it" versus "he couldn't possibly have because X, Y and Z".
War is the wrong answer.
Comments
I can't say that I understand what you're going through. I know it must be horrible though. I'm just watching the news and I'm in tears.
I know that intelligent people (like you) know that there's a difference between _feeling_ like killing out of anger in response to something like today and actually _doing_ it. I'm just not confident that everyone understands how to deal with anger properly.
This is a common part of fundamentalism - be it Islamic, Christian, or Capitalistic. When it happens in your own backyard, it's not funny or simple CNN horror-tainment. It becomes very very real.
I'm quite sure that the celebrations that were reported were small and isolated. I do not believe the news media when they claim that an entire culture is of one feeling. That's like claiming that all Americans carry pistols. It's a stereotype that's often used in propoganda to assign blame away from many places that it could also be assigned.
Why blame poor airport security when you can blame people you don't know who are Indian, Muslim, Persian, Turkish, or anything else? Why blame the FAA for not acting quicker when the planes were obviously hijacked? Why blame the Armed Forces of the US when it doesn't defend itself against attacks if they're domestic? It's just easier to point the finger over seas.
The US celebrated the bombings of civilian targets around Hussein's palace, and the Palestinians are celebrating surgical strikes on US soil. The USA is the friend of their enemy, and therefore their enemy. That is how things work.
That said, you're right, going and killing people for these attacks IS wrong. All life is sacred, and we must mourn those lost and move on, correcting the problems that exist. The problem is that fixing a lot of the problems with security and the like at airports tends to walk on what Americans refer to as their "Civil Liberties." You know, that bit of logic that suggests the needs of the self outweigh the needs of the many.
Whew. That's all for now. I'm not justifying anything that's happened. ALL the people who've died today were a net loss for humanity. Further deaths due to retaliation won't fix anything.
Sigh. I keep hearing the word 'retaliation' on the news and it makes me sad.
I am scared for the world.
How did we ever get to this point?