sorrow.
By anders pearson 16 Sep 2001
my god, i actually find myself agreeing with the pope.
Pope John Paul II has offered prayers to America and urged those affected by the terrorist attacks to show restraint and commit themselves to peace.
<p>after this week, the only thing i’m left feeling is deep sorrow. i’m sad that so many innocent people were killed in the attacks. i am even more deeply saddened by what i’ve seen of this country’s reaction. </p>
<p>this tragedy has triggered a nationalistic bloodlust that makes me want to go crawl under a rock until the world smartens up. the opinions of <a href="http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ucac/20010912/cm/this_is_war_1.html">bigoted raving lunatics</a> unfortunately seems to be shared by the <a href="http://us.news2.yimg.com/f/42/31/7m/dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010913/us/attacks_congress_14.html">current leadership</a> of our country, <a href="http://us.news2.yimg.com/f/42/31/7m/dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010912/us/attacks_editorial_rdp_5.html">the media</a>, and a surprisingly large percentage of the population.</p>
<p>i don’t understand how anyone could even briefly consider (let alone how it has become the publicly acceptable belief) that the murdering of many innocent people is an appropriate response to <em>anything</em>.</p>
<p>lately i’ve been having flashbacks to may of 1999 when tuck and i were in china and <span class="caps">NATO</span> bombed the chinese embassy in belgrade. the nationalistic frenzy that the chinese media whipped the people into involved numerous attacks on american citizens (just as we’re seeing here now with hate crimes against middle eastern and muslim people) and a public cry for retaliation and war. americans love to consider themselves more free and free thinking than the chinese who live under a government which doesn’t even pretend to be democratic. i think a re-evaluation may be in order.</p>
<p>as Joe <a href="http://goatee.net/2001/09#_11tu">says on goatee.net</a>: “The desperation of these actions speak of fear and impotency. And I hope America doesn’t respond in kind.”</p>
<p>and don’t even get me started on <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28620-2001Sep14.html">Falwell</a>.</p>