[Ansteorra] Fw: [thelongship] [Fwd: (Fwd) From Seattle Times]

[Rhonda & Chuck Leggett]

-----Original Message-----
From: Rhonda & Chuck Leggett <leggettr at netzero.net>
To: Jessica Rechtschaffer <jr650 at columbia.edu>
Date: Thursday, September 13, 2001 11:03 PM
Subject: Re: [thelongship] [Fwd: (Fwd) From Seattle Times]


>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jessica Rechtschaffer <jr650 at columbia.edu>
>To: thelongship at yahoogroups.com <thelongship at yahoogroups.com>
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>Date: Thursday, September 13, 2001 12:53 PM
>Subject: Re: [thelongship] [Fwd: (Fwd) From Seattle Times]
>
>
>>
>>Hi folks,
>>
>>I don't know most of you but I just wanted to say, that as a New Yorker, I
>>take some issues with some of the things in this article, in particular
>>the parts that vow retribution.
>
>    As an American, I feel I have been personally attacked.
>
>>
>II work in the Middle East and Asian Lang. and Cultures Dept. at Columbia
>>Univ. and folks here are deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic events.
>>I also work and am friends with people from war torn societies who have
>>lived through this sort of thing every day.  I think in this time of
>>mourning we should remember those who are now suffering here at home as
>>well as those who do live through this sort of thing daily.
>
>>    I grew up overseas, during the Cold War/Yankee go home/Radio Free
>Europe/Radio Moscow years; I started school in Istanbul, Turkey(where my
>baby brother was born); I saw the news about John F.Kennedy's assasination
>on the BBC in Scotland; I speak Mandarin Chinese with a Taiwan accent, and
>what
>little Tagalog I know with a Guam accent.  A close friend of mine is from
>Iran - he has been through the wringer, too:  he tells (select people)
tales
>such as the time one of the Ayatollah's planes bombed the neighborhood
>behind his house - at 15, he spent days sifting body parts out of the
debris
>for proper burial.  He came to the U.S.when most of his friends
dis-appeared
>or were just plain killed for their political beliefs. My brother was in
>Korea when the North Koreans murdered the American Marines at the
>(so-called) DMZ with an axe; I think he may have seen it.  Not one of these
>people make any sounds that even resemble what you've expressed.  I suppose
>that must be the difference between actually experiencing something, and
>philosophising about it.
>
>I hear Bush and Colin Powell and yes, even Hillary, rattling their sabers
>>and talking about this being a war.  It's not a war,  it's a f&cked up
act,
>>committed by F%cked up people who should be brought to justice LEGALLY
>>without bombing civilian targets and without killing even more people.
>>Retribution is not the answer, it hasn't worked for Israel for the past 50
>>years and it won't work for us.  It just perpetuates a cycle of violence.
>>
>    I haven't heard, before your message, anything that even insinuated
>bombing of innocent/un-involved civilians.  Everything I have heard so far
>has been about taking Military action AGAINST THE PERPETRATORS AND THEIR
>SPONSORS.  Maybe I'm just too dense to read between the lines effectively.
>
>>I also think we need to look at our international policies and examine why
>>we are a target.  What is driving people to committ these acts of madness?
>>Sure, every place has it's loonies but we have to look at the conditions
>>that some people live in and see why this drives them to do the acts they
>>do.
>
>>    On this point, I must agree.  Every place has its loonies. Most of the
>time they are not only relatively harmless, but in some wierd way,
generally
>are well-intentioned.
>
>>Bread and honey save a lot more lives (and are a lot cheaper) than guns
>>and bombing.  The way to prove we are strong is to go about our
>>daily business.  The beauty of America is that most of us are repelled
>>by radicalism in any form.  I think this is what we need to show.
>
>    Growing up as I did, moving from place to place and culture to culture,
>I met with a fair number of punks and bullies.  Sometimes, if you turn the
>other cheek, they would ease off (those with some sense of social order);
>sometimes they would take that as a sign of weakness, as an almost willing
>victim.  These last, after a "vigorous discussion of their unacceptible
>behavior," almost never came back for more even if they won the fight,
>because it ceased to be fun when they shared the pain.  Every bully is but
a
>coward with an effective bluff.   The U.S. has actually been quite tolerant
>up 'till now.  It is now time to bring down the bullies; they aren't smart
>enough to quit before they get hurt.
>>
>>Jess
>>
>>
>>> > What lesson did you hope to teach us by
>>> > your coward's attack on our
>>> > World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us? What
>>> > was it you hoped we would
>>> > learn? Whatever it was, please know that
>>> > you failed.
>>> >
>>> > Did you want us to respect your cause? You
>>> > just damned your cause.
>>> >
>>> > Did you want to make us fear? You just
>>> > steeled our resolve.
>>> >
>>> > Did you want to tear us apart? You just
>>> > brought us together.
>>> >
>>> > Let me tell you about my people. We are a
>>> > vast and quarrelsome family, a
>>> > family rent by racial, cultural, political
>>> > and class division, but a family
>>> > nonetheless. We're frivolous, yes, capable
>>> > of expending tremendous
>>> > emotional energy on pop cultural minutiae,
>>> > a singer's revealing dress, a ball
>>> > team's misfortune, a cartoon mouse.
>>> >
>>> > We're wealthy, too, spoiled by the ready
>>> > availability of trinkets and material
>>> > goods, and maybe because of that, we walk
>>> > through life with a certain sense
>>> > of blithe entitlement. We are fundamentally
>>> > decent, though - peace-loving
>>> > and compassionate. We struggle to know the
>>> > right thing and to do it. And
>>> > we are, the overwhelming majority of us,
>>> > people of faith, believers in a just
>>> > and loving God.
>>> >
>>> > Some people - you, perhaps - think that any
>>> > or all of this makes us
>>> > weak. You're mistaken. We are not weak.
>>> > Indeed, we are strong in ways
>>> > that cannot be measured by arsenals.
>>> >
>>> > Yes, we're in pain now. We are in mourning
>>> > and we are in shock. We're still
>>> > grappling with the unreality of the awful
>>> > thing you did, still working to make
>>> > ourselves understand that this isn't a
>>> > special effect from some Hollywood
>>> > blockbuster, isn't the plot development
>>> > from a Tom Clancy novel.
>>> >
>>> > Both in terms of the awful scope of its
>>> > ambition and the probable final death
>>> > toll, your attacks are likely to go down as
>>> > the worst acts of terrorism in the
>>> > history of the United States and, indeed,
>>> > the history of the world. You've
>>> > bloodied us as we have never been bloodied
>>> > before.
>>> >
>>> > But there's a gulf of difference between
>>> > making us bloody and making us fall.
>>> > This is the lesson Japan was taught to its
>>> > bitter sorrow the last time anyone
>>> > hit us this hard, the last time anyone
>>> > brought us such abrupt and monumental
>>> > pain. When roused, we are righteous in our
>>> > outrage, terrible in our force.
>>> > When provoked by this level of barbarism,
>>> > we will bear any suffering, pay
>>> > any cost, go to any length, in the pursuit
>>> > of justice.
>>> >
>>> > I tell you this without fear of
>>> > contradiction. I know my people, as you, I
>>> > think, do not. What I know reassures me. It
>>> > also causes me to tremble with
>>> > dread of the future.
>>> >
>>> > In days to come, there will be
>>> > recrimination and accusation, fingers pointing
>>> > to determine whose failure allowed this to
>>> > happen and what can be done to
>>> > prevent it from happening again. There will
>>> > be heightened security,
>>> > misguided talk of revoking basic freedoms.
>>> > We'll go forward from this
>>> > moment sobered, chastened, sad. But
>>> > determined, too. Unimaginably
>>> > determined.
>>> >
>>> > You see, there is steel beneath this
>>> > velvet. That aspect of our character is
>>> > seldom understood by people who don't know
>>> > us well. On this day, the
>>> > family's bickering is put on hold. As
>>> > Americans we will weep, as Americans
>>> > we will mourn, and as Americans, we will
>>> > rise in defense of all that we
>>> > cherish.
>>> >
>>> > Still, I keep wondering what it was you
>>> > hoped to teach us. It occurs to me
>>> > that maybe you just wanted us to know the
>>> > depths of your hatred.
>>> >
>>> > If that's the case, consider the message
>>> > received. And take this message in
>>> > exchange: You don't know my people. You
>>> > don't know what we're about.
>>> > You don't know what you just started.
>>> >
>>> > But you're about to learn.
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>

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