I can't say I'm too thrilled about going to class today. All the teachers have been instructed to discuss this with their classes, and they're putting televisions all over the place.
God.
I know for a lot of folks in Kalamazoo, the shock is of this attack actually happening but, you know, when you grow up on the east coast it's pretty mind boggling. I can't even begin to comprehend the sort of wasteland that lower manhattan is.
And I have to say, I'm really angry. I'm angry about how we, as a country, are dealing with this. I'm angry because our attitude collectively is one that can only result in more destruction.
I was reading today that in the Chicago area, a molotov cocktail was thrown at an arab center . Also, in a suburb, a mob of three hundred people charged a mosque with the intent to destroy it. There have been accounts all over the US of this sort of behavior. If you're of arabic descent, then you're subject to violent attacks.
What makes me angry is that the media has created this situation with their sensationalim. According to the Pakistani government, the parade footage we saw was of only ten children, all of whom were punished for their behavior.
It's scary. The news has compared this to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Yesterday, over 90 percent of Americans supported going to war. Already, personal freedoms are being infringed upon as a result of this. How long is it until we see internment camps, like the ones Japanese-Americans were forced into during World War 2? It angers and terrifies me.
And then there's the increase in surveillance. The US government has already announced that it will start keeping surveillance of webmail. The FBI came into AOL with warrants, after it was found that one of the hijackers was suspected as having an account with them. This is only the beginning, too. In weeks and months to come, we're going to find our lives increasingly monitored by the government. Hell, since practically right after this happened, they've announced the intention to "increase intelligence operations domestically." There's something really wrong going on with the way this is being handled. And there's something we aren't being told. I don't know what, but there is.
Additionally, Afghanistan is denying all responsibility and speaking out against this. That is in the news. But according to the European news (which I tend to trust more in times like these. Things that get omitted in US news for "security" reasons are usually published there.) Iraq has come out in support of the bombing, saying it's what we "deserve".
Now what I want to know is this: why aren't we looking more at Iraq? Why is it that Iraq can make comments like that, cheer on the terrorist attacks, and barely a blip is made in the news about it, but Afghanistan has denied all responsibility and spoken out against the attack, and the government remains convinced that they're responsible? Obviously, we're being prepared for a war on Afghanistan, but why? Did they do this? If so, why would they so fervently deny it? And why would we ignore other suspects that are quite possibly responsible?
The whole thing is pretty fucking scary and a lot of badness is going to come out of this.
Already, I've gotten this McCarty-esque feeling whenever I've questioned anything in the media. I've had insinuations on my Americanism, on the extent to which I care about the victims, and everything else that you could imagine.
Fact is, the extent to this is incomprehensible. They're predicting death tolls exceeding 10,000 people. It's terrifying.
But I can also see that the media is playing the public for a reason, even if I'll be damned if I know what that reason is. And there's alot of laws being passed that wouldn't be tolerated under any other circumstance. And that's creepy. I wonder if the government saw this coming. In the very least, they seem to be taking a very opportunistic approach to this. And I seem to be one of the only people that notices. And that scares the fuck out of me.