sigh... i remember it was a morning when i was getting ready for elementary school back before i came to Canada...
because of the global time difference, i just woke up and turned on the tv/news and there it was...
i was thinking "WTF!? is this a joke or something!?"
then i was like... mehh... probably something small and stupid...
a few days later i was like...
oh....................... man.............................
and of course, i noticed that it had a waayyy larger effect here in North America then where i came from haha...
p.s. i hated my elementary life XD.... (not related to 9/11)
because of the global time difference, i just woke up and turned on the tv/news and there it was...
i was thinking "WTF!? is this a joke or something!?"
then i was like... mehh... probably something small and stupid...
a few days later i was like...
oh....................... man.............................
and of course, i noticed that it had a waayyy larger effect here in North America then where i came from haha...
p.s. i hated my elementary life XD.... (not related to 9/11)
KermMartian wrote:
I don't really agree with you there. It was a terrifying experience for many, especially people in New York City, and reminded us that powerful and awesome as our nation/city is in most cases, it's not invulnerable. I feel like no one fully internalized what exactly happened that day, and that memorials and anniversaries are a way to try to come to peace with what happened and draw strength and solidarity from it.
I respect your views, but I can't understand why you would get the impression that Americans have embraced solidarity. We've become extremely xenophobic since 9/11. Some people even seem to be embracing outright Nationalism. It's not just non-Caucasians who are being ostracized by this behavior - anyone who doesn't openly display a jingoistic sense of patriotism in lieu of 9/11 is considered a traitor. The only sense of solidarity seems to be among the far Right, in the sense of snubbing Liberals, Muslims, et al. and bolstering its prejudice against everyone else. Of course, it's always been like that to some degree - it's just worse since 9/11. 9/11 was like an excuse for the worst in everyone to come out.
Zera wrote:
I respect your views, but I can't understand why you would get the impression that Americans have embraced solidarity. We've become extremely xenophobic since 9/11.
Frankly, I feel we were pretty xenophobic before 9/11, and it just exacerbated a pre-existing condition. I don't really have any proof to back that up, though.
That's why I worked-in the, "Of course, it's always been that way..." part. Even though the U.S. is something of a melting pot of different cultures, I don't think we all interact nearly enough. Everybody just keeps to their own, and segregates themselves into groups based on common interest and agenda. That certainly doesn't help anything. It's such an us-versus-them mentality with this country.
A friend and I were discussing this earlier, and I was surprised by some of his thoughts. He's like, "If Muslims hate us, then why do they keep immigrating to the U.S.?" I tried to explain that he was generalizing based on the actions of an extremist-terrorist group, but he insists 9/11 was instigated by the Muslim community at-large. He doesn't even understand what Islam is. He knows nothing about the Middle East, for that matter.
Even if the media could make some effort to summarize details about other countries or cultures for their viewer's digest, I'm sure it would make a world of difference in terms of dispelling misconceptions and prejudices about said cultures. This is the only way some people get their information. People are often left with the impression to generalize upon an entire group based on how any number of people from said group are represented by the media. It's the same ordeal with black crime, as an example. If you live in a majority-white area, then most (or all) of the crimes would be instigated by white people. Should viewers then conclude that white people are just natural-born criminals? Correlation does not imply causation - especially when data regarding something is cherry-picked, or otherwise selectively broadcast. It's called "Deviancy Amplification Spiral" effect, and it's usually the culprit of moral panic in our society.
It doesn't help that our government uses the media as its own propaganda wing. Remember the terror alert nonsense? Let's keep everyone on their toes so they don't question whatever outlandish actions we attempt to justify in the name of counter-terrorism.
A friend and I were discussing this earlier, and I was surprised by some of his thoughts. He's like, "If Muslims hate us, then why do they keep immigrating to the U.S.?" I tried to explain that he was generalizing based on the actions of an extremist-terrorist group, but he insists 9/11 was instigated by the Muslim community at-large. He doesn't even understand what Islam is. He knows nothing about the Middle East, for that matter.
Even if the media could make some effort to summarize details about other countries or cultures for their viewer's digest, I'm sure it would make a world of difference in terms of dispelling misconceptions and prejudices about said cultures. This is the only way some people get their information. People are often left with the impression to generalize upon an entire group based on how any number of people from said group are represented by the media. It's the same ordeal with black crime, as an example. If you live in a majority-white area, then most (or all) of the crimes would be instigated by white people. Should viewers then conclude that white people are just natural-born criminals? Correlation does not imply causation - especially when data regarding something is cherry-picked, or otherwise selectively broadcast. It's called "Deviancy Amplification Spiral" effect, and it's usually the culprit of moral panic in our society.
It doesn't help that our government uses the media as its own propaganda wing. Remember the terror alert nonsense? Let's keep everyone on their toes so they don't question whatever outlandish actions we attempt to justify in the name of counter-terrorism.
You make excellent points all through that paragraph. Even among the more intelligent members of this website, I was surprised that some of them had no idea of the different between India and the Mideast. I feel like people would be quite resistant to such a media exposé, and indeed I don't really see the media going for it either. It's not sensationalist enough.
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