9/11 Overated?

Question

When i think about the ubelievable cruelty of the Holocaust, or the unjust acts of slavery, the mass murders in Cambodia, why does everyone seem so shocked by 9/11? Most people don't even know about the horror that happened in Cambodia. Is it better to vaporize $200,000 innocent Japanese in the name of victory than it is to crash a plane into a building in the name of God? Why does it bother us more; because Americans are untouchable? Because our lives are worth more? A book called Evil In Modern Thought had some good points.

"Many people yearn for measures of absolute weight. But would we be helped by putting the genocide at Auschwitz at 1.0 on a scale that left the genocide in Cambodia at 0.87, or the other way around? It doesn't take much more than naming such yearnings to point out their hollowness. Comparing genocides, or natuaral disasters, makes sense only with regard to particular goals: preferably, preventing future ones."

Susan Neiman, Princeton Press, 2004

Answer 1

agree, its just the American hyper sensitivity that causes so much fear and hype.

You are right about all the other horrors and disasters. When you look at a global picture you realize how small 9/11 actually is. Not that it is not devastating and important but it is very self centered of the U.S.

Answer 2

...your quote implies that the reader might be the ONLY person to compare genocide "stats" It's flaw is that it fails to consider that a person PLANNING a genocide would do EXACTLY such calculations, say Hitler's quote concerning the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Turks.

...Yes I DO believe it's better to "vaporize" 200K persons if it can prevent a MILLION additional deaths. When you consider that the culture receiving this attack was responsible for 400K bayonet/torture deaths in Nangking in a 3 month period, you can also see the thinking of people who made the choice to A-bomb Japan. What exactly did 9/11 prevent, and do you really the United States is as culpable as Japan was in 1945?

Yes, INTENTIONS play a big part in what is right and wrong. "Moral Relativity" is circular logic and you are foolish to "regurgitate" what some lefty teacher spews from his "ivory tower"

Answer 3

I applaud you for saying how you feel..We Americans have a tendency to exaggerate things to a certain extent..Basically, something is only tragic if it happens to us..Pakistan lost over 70000 people in an Earthquake, but it wasn't covered on the news everyday..We lose less than 2000 people in Hurricane Katrina and we're acting like this is just the worst thing that has ever happened..This is gonna sound harsh,but in America,2000 deaths isn't a lot...If there's a disaster in another country,those people are just statistics,but here we have to cover the same story 24 hours a day,it's really sickening..But after all, we do think that we are the most important people in the world.

Answer 4

You compare genocides belittle the deaths of the latest one. Then you quaote a book that says that comparing them is wrong.

If you dont like america your free to leave it. No one is stopping you. Go live in a country Like Japan was in 1944. A facsist state that enslaved and brutaly comiitted its own genocide in china. Then when the united states stoped trading with Japan for its brutal acts in china, they attacked Pearl Harbor. THEN YOU TRY AND BLAME THE USA for defending itslelf and not putting its own soldiers in a meat grinder of facist suicidal fanatics.You think it would have been better for us not to have a victory against japan how about the there allies who were putting people in camps. America didnt do any of the Genocides of the 20th century WHY do you hold a grudge against the country that stopped japanese genocide german genocide with the our Blood. **** YOU and now where being selfish for being angry about 9/11 phuck you phuck you phuck you you facist phucking idiot

Answer 5

Yes, I think it is totally overrated. Will I ever forget what happened on 9/11? Definitely not. But do I think we need to hype it up every year? Also definitely not.

What I find amazing is that the media plays it up like it was this huge loss in life. But in reality, there were many, many more SURVIVORS of 9/11 then there were people who died. But then again tragedy makes better news ratings then surviving.

Answer 6

okay, so whats the point?

all acts of violence that result in death and tragedy are bad

I got to agree with Susan, why would you try to rate such tragedies

what would be the point

if my daughter was raped and killed, that would be, for me, a tragedy of extreme proportion, but it wouldn't be a big deal in the world at large, such things happen every day

so, you think people mourn too much or grieve too much or react too strong to this recent tragedy? or that their reaction is too weak to more distant and less contemporary tragedies?

I fail to see your point
I don't understand the question

World War II was clearly worse than the current war the US is involved in. Both are bad. What is your point?

Answer 7

I'd have to agree to a certain extent. We must understand how the Illuminati operate though. Knowing that 9/11 was their key event in turning the tide of public opinion toward a prolonged, and unwinnable war on terror, building up to world war 3, we can only expect them to over emphasize it's tragedy, to their own benefit.

Answer 8

I live in NJ, but 9/11 was the scariest, saddest day I have ever experienced.
I wasn't alive for the Holocaust, or slavery, or Vietnam, so I didn't experience them firsthand. This I saw with my own eyes. And it really made me feel for all the people who lost their lives.

Answer 9

Because this attack was completely random, affecting all Americans, of all ideologies. And we're supposed to be above the horrors of third world countries and dictatorships. This attack snapped us back 50 years to a much more dangerous time. All thanks to the rise of Islamic theocracy in the Middle East, which must be destroyed.

Answer 10

I grew up in NY.
23 graduates from my high school went to work like any other day and were killed for no reason.
Religious extremists are trying to take over the world, my world, and they struck home.
You're darn right thats a big thing.