In reply to:

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It is strange to see how a nation receiving such a lot of sympathy from around the world after that event could fuck up so badly within five years.

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I don't feel sympathy for the United States of America when I think of 9/11, I feel sympathy for the people who died in one of the worst ways you can die, and the families of those who lost loved ones and know they died in this way. And the people of America, New York in particular, who were traumatised by the sudden and sensational disaster which descended on them in such an unexpected way.

A friend told me a few days ago that we shouldn't pay so much attention to this when 1000's die in other countries on an almost daily basis. But it's the shock and horror of a nation of people who live such secure lives that stands out from other forms of war.

Even if I didn't dwell on the dead, I still remember the astonishment I felt when I was told that the towers, the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, had actually collapsed! A disaster that as far as world history is concerned only marks itself on mankind's psyche like events such as the sinking of the Titanic.

America? Maybe an evil empire? Yeah. But even empires are populated by people who are definately not evil.

Am I suspended in gaffa?