| Friday, February 21, 2003 |
Sherman, Mr. Peabody...a Little Help?
As I've said, I don't often talk about U.S./World politics here (except as they relate to the subject of animals since that is kind of a running theme), but I felt compelled to share a thought or two about a recent tidbit in the news...specifically a part of Peter FitzSimmons recent article that struck me in particular -- as it did other bloggers -- is a section about the lesson we (Americans or humans?) should have learned about hatred. To demonstrate what I feel is a preposterous example, conclusion and suggestion, I'd like to invite Mr. PFitzSimmons to hop in the Wayback Machine with me (and Sherman)...to another moment in time of America's* history to test his "lesson" out. We believe that of all the lessons the tragedy of September 15, 1963 (in the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham) demonstrated, the most salient is that just one person with enough white-hot hate in him can become a weapon of mass destruction all on his own.Now, I will grant you that in the wake of this devastating act against the black community--and humanity--Martin Luther King Jr. called for members of the black community to limit their reactions to non-violent ways. But King also believed (or maybe just hoped) that law enforcement and the government would act on their behalf to capture these and other perpetrators of terrorism and to protect them from further terrorist activities in their communities. Note that--the government was and is supposed to act to protect its citizens from harm--to protect those self-evident truths. Of course, sadly, the government and law enforcement frequently failed and people and communities were targets merely because they were black. Terrorists attacking the U.S. on September 11th didn't have a specific grudge against those individuals in the WTC and the Pentagon nor did they fear for their lives if they did not attack those targets and people. They set those planes on locations simply because they were American built and populated. The devastation that was brought surpasses "Americans" (just like the attack on that black church in Birmingham surpassed the black community) -- they were blind attacks on humanity and principals of free thought, actions, and lives. They attacked us because we are different from them, period. Ouch! You know what? Politics makes my head hurt. This is why I don't generally talk world politics. Maybe I'll address more later...maybe not. *I realize Mr. FitzSimmons is from Australia, but if he's going to hypothesize on what September 11th taught us, I feel justified in using another U.S. event to illustrate a point. [ ] |
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