Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id UAA26857 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk); Sat, 15 Sep 2001 20:00:16 +0100 Message-ID: <001101c13e1e$3335f640$d79ebed4@default> From: "Kenneth Van Oost" <Kenneth.Van.Oost@village.uunet.be> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <NEBBKOADILIOKGDJLPMAAECFCGAA.debivort@umd5.umd.edu> Subject: Re: US Tragedy Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 21:39:17 +0200 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300 Sender: fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: Lawrence DeBivort <debivort@umd5.umd.edu>
> Drove past the Pentagon this morning early still smoking badly. How much
> more real to see it in person than on the little screen. And by
coincidence
> this afternoon I'll be driving past Manhatten and will see the new skyline
> there, two teeth missing like a prize fighter that has taken a beating.
> News media and politicicos still not asking 'why' this happened, so the
> lessons are unlikely to be learned and the situation ripe for further
> incidents of terrorism. Alas. I am going to try and prod 'why' questions
and
> discussion.
Hi Lawrence,
I don 't want to rip up more wounds, but I think the next will be of
interest of how people, like me reflects on what happened.
I did follow up CNN the last couple of days, and it seems to me that
it turns this tragedy into a show.
Breaking News, at about six o 'clock this evening, local time, was the
announcement that the NY police department did not need more
volunteers. Therefor they interrupted an interview with an ex- general
on how to invade Afghanistan.
I wonder, this seems strange to me. I understand that each tiny bit
of information is of some importance to someone somewhere but
this seems odd.
This reminds me of one other interview which I saw this week with
an American woman living in Brussels, who calls this kind of beha-
vior " childish, playful and naive. "
She sees this troughout the American society.
This grasped my attention.
Could the fact that Americans show such a behavior not be linked
to the fact that "Americans do not have a history " !?
Let me explain, in a sense, here in Europe we all lived such events,
WO I and WO II by which Germany get the blame and the trauma,
Belgium had the Dutroux- affair, England the death of Lady Diana.
These are only the recent examples, but our history is full of such
events.
America had only three, recently, Pearl Harbor, JFK and WTC.
In a way, in historic time, America is still in its infancy and the people
acts accordingly.
If America can' t get it, noone will and if somebody has what America
wants they will take it....
This is IMO, yes indeed childish behavior and than there are two
possibilities, it makes you popular or it does not, most of the time, not !
And children behaving like that on the schoolyard don 't have many
friends. They think they do, (NATO !?), but bullies always get what
they deserve.
That is of course no way to see things, I understand, but in the context
of this list of some importance.
In my mind there is no doubt that people get memetical determiniated
by the way they live, I posted this view this week, so couldn 't it not
be that American folks in contrast with Europeans are still, on some
memetical scale, in their infancy !?
It seems to me, watching CNN all the time, that Americans can 't
grasp the fact that they did something, somewhere to somebody wrong.
And this seems to fit in the general picture of the child- analogy.
A bully turns always things upside down. He is not the blame, it is
always the others who don 't understand the way by which he behaves.
What do you think !?
Hope I did not offend you, or others, in any way;
Regards,
Kenneth
( I am, because we are)
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