Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id WAA27104 (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 22:49:55 +0100 From: "Aaron Agassi" <agassi@erols.com> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: US Tragedy Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 17:22:57 -0400 Message-ID: <007901c13e2c$96f7f440$6501a8c0@rcn.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 8.5, Build 4.71.2173.0 Importance: Normal In-Reply-To: <001101c13e1e$3335f640$d79ebed4@default> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Sender: fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf Of
> Kenneth Van Oost
> Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2001 3:39 PM
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: Re: US Tragedy
>
>
>
> ----- 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.
The news media are cowardly running dogs.
> 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.
>
But this describes all sides and factions. The rest of us are simply trapped
in the middle!
> What do you think !?
> Hope I did not offend you, or others, in any way;
>
> Regards,
>
> Kenneth
>
> ( I am, because we are)
>
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
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> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
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This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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