NYC

[Kilroy]

Nobody has posted an opinion on this topic here yet, so let me begin by extending my sincere sympathies to all Americans.

The events in NYC are deplorable, and unacceptable, but oh man, what comes next?

How do they/we fight this enemy?
How involved should Canada be?
Will these terrorists attack America's neighbours?
Are we in Ottawa sitting ducks?

I think this will be a very slow and ugly mess. I do not think that that will be the last time this sort of thing will happen. As this heats up, it could get into some very scary stuff.

I certainly hope that they do not end up taking it out on a country or a race. At home here we must remember that prejudice, and hatred is what causes things like this, and we cannot compound it by being nasty to any of our citizens. The things I am seeing happening to Arab Canadians and Americans make me sick.

I am asking for opinions here. We will never have any influence on big world events, so there is no need to get all riled up in this forum. I wish to hold this forum to the same standard of manners and civility as the others, this is not a free for all. Having said that I am sure we will mostly end up being on the same page anyway, but let's see.

[jeff026]

When I heard the news over the radio that 11th day of september, I could'nt concentrate on my work. It was like I was reading a chapter out of a Tom Clancy novel. So I cut out early went to Champlain ( to escape reality I guess...) The course was almost deserted. I finally caught up to other 2 guys on the 6th hole. It was really weird. 3 guys playing golf and no conversation what so ever ... we were definitely caught up in what had happen. We were lost in our thoughts. We eventually started to talk and obviously, the only topic was the NYC tragedy. There was a lot of hatred expressed and a lot of anamousity towards those people and at the same time I felt the worst was yet to come.
Today as I reflect upon the events that shooked the world, we all know that terrorism as no boundaries and its everywhere around us. It will change the way we think about our freedom and how much we took everthing else for granted.
I sympathise with those minority groups who were singled out and persecuted for which they had nothing to do with this murderous act...
I just hope that perseverance and cooler heads prevail and we WILL find a peaceful solution.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims and grieving families and hope they will find the strength to go on with their lives.

[Kilroy]

Anyone else wondering why Canada was not among he long list of countries allied with the US that were mentioned in the President's address last night?

[shawnabramsen]

I was on the way to the course when I heard the news on September 11. I remember where I was on that day, where I was on my wedding day, and the birth of my kids. As an adult ( I'm 31 ), I have cried twice in my life. September 11 was the second time. The world has not stopped changing as a result of that day. I won't bore you all with my political views...after all...there is a vast amount of information that the average person does not have on these issues. But I will say this: Mr.Chretien's lethargic/lukewarm response to the American people may have been responsible for President Bush's omission of Canada in his speech. I certainly hope that the Americans do not judge me based on our current government. One last thing....can we stop spending tax dollars on ridiculous things and build up our military? Our armed forces are a JOKE. I am ashamed of the fact that we have hid behind the American military for so long. Now that they have been hurt, we can't even go to their aid with much more than 1960's era hardware. Disgraceful.

[cchiu]

The day after the September 11 tragedy, my wife was sitting in one of the boardrooms of her Kanata hi-tech office, waiting along with about 10 coworkers for a meeting to begin. The 2 women beside her were chatting about how "I have nothing against THEM, but I will never ever be able to look at one of THEM again and not be scared." When my wife asked her who they were referring to as "THEM", one of the women responded, "You know, muslims." The other women even said "Middle Eastern people". My wife blew a fuse and tore a strip off these 2, attempting to illustrate their obviously flawed stereotypes. When I returned home, she was still riled up by the unfortunate goings-on of that afternoon. Although I applauded her for her stance, I realized at that moment (and from the fresh reports of anti-muslim and anti-arab sentiment washing over North America) and explained to her that there is no sense in trying to rationalize with these people. Any person with even minimal brainwave activity knows, logically, that you cannot blame the actions of so few on so many. No, logic is not at issue here. These people are -no ifs, ands, or buts- simply bigots, who have exploited this monumentally tragic event and finally feel safe enough amid everyone's raw emotions to voice their blatantly racist views, which they have always harboured but had succeeded in masking to this point. I am willing to bet that these people who so easily point the finger at Muslim and Middle Eastern people feel that what Canada and the U.S. did to Canadian and American citizens of Japanese descent during WWII was right. The scariest thing about this anti-Muslim and anti-Middle Eastern backlash is hard to swallow: the attack on these people is really an attack on all visible minorities in North America.

[Kilroy]

While I agree with sentiment cchiu, I do not agree that "there is no sense in trying to rationalize with these people". You can indeed change people's views, even such strong ones as bigotry. Take the example of slavery in the US. People eventually saw the light and stopped.
If nobody objects to blanket condemnation of a race, it will continue. The goal is to fight the real enemy, however this time, they do not wear uniforms and fly around in fighter planes with team logos on them. It will not be as easy.

[cchiu]

Dan,

I guess I'm just a half-empty glass kind of person.

The people in the Confederacy did not eventually see the light vis-a-vis slavery. They were battered into the forced surrender of slavery. Over 100,000 casualties only solidifies this unfortunate fact. Over 135 years later, the states of Georgia, South Carolina, and Mississippi still fly the Confederate flags over their State Legislatures. In fact, the citizens of Mississippi recently voted 2 to 1 to keep the Confederate flag -an admitted "patriotic" tribute to the Confederate forces during the Civil War- flying proudly. Over 135 years later, the state of Alabama still has on its law books a centuries old Act that prohibits interracial marriages.

While you see slavery in the U.S. as an example of how "People eventually saw the light and stopped", I see an example of how people still have not seen the light, over 135 years later.