12 sept 2001
hi. i found this email i wrote when holidaying in greece, pretty much 5 years ago today, 24 hours after the attacks on the US....
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well i would normally write some cute little travel tales like the long bumpy ferry ride or the electricity blackouts on the island of naxos, but they all seem a little insignificant in comparison to events of recent days.
angela and i returned to athens to turn on the tv and see the first reports coming through from the US. since then it has become clear that the shocking loss of thousands of people is the first of what could be a larger tragedy.
on greek tv there is talk of war, and listening to the spin from george bush it seems very possible. but i cant help but feel frustrated by america's hypocrisy and rhetoric of revenge.
i was watching one commentator on CNN talk of what was lost, in terms of the built structures, buildings that symbolised "everything that america was". the sad irony of this comment is that no one is really asking what america is, instead assuming the whole democracy and freedom thing as a given.
it doesn't take much brain power to see that these places were targeted because they symbolised money, greed, oppression and power- america's true foundations. this point will be sadly lost on the US.
no one can or should condone the murder of so many, but it happens everyday in our implicit compliance in the foriegn policies of the US that have been responsible for millions of murders over the last 50 years. understandably there will be more than a few who will not at all mind seeing these symbols crumble. the real tragedy is that america will now turn to the usual suspects and revenge will be 100 times greater than what we've seen on tv. but as someone said to me the other day, these victims wont have a tv show.
umm there you go. just some thoughts.
having a great time
wish you were here
bye
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----------------
well i would normally write some cute little travel tales like the long bumpy ferry ride or the electricity blackouts on the island of naxos, but they all seem a little insignificant in comparison to events of recent days.
angela and i returned to athens to turn on the tv and see the first reports coming through from the US. since then it has become clear that the shocking loss of thousands of people is the first of what could be a larger tragedy.
on greek tv there is talk of war, and listening to the spin from george bush it seems very possible. but i cant help but feel frustrated by america's hypocrisy and rhetoric of revenge.
i was watching one commentator on CNN talk of what was lost, in terms of the built structures, buildings that symbolised "everything that america was". the sad irony of this comment is that no one is really asking what america is, instead assuming the whole democracy and freedom thing as a given.
it doesn't take much brain power to see that these places were targeted because they symbolised money, greed, oppression and power- america's true foundations. this point will be sadly lost on the US.
no one can or should condone the murder of so many, but it happens everyday in our implicit compliance in the foriegn policies of the US that have been responsible for millions of murders over the last 50 years. understandably there will be more than a few who will not at all mind seeing these symbols crumble. the real tragedy is that america will now turn to the usual suspects and revenge will be 100 times greater than what we've seen on tv. but as someone said to me the other day, these victims wont have a tv show.
umm there you go. just some thoughts.
having a great time
wish you were here
bye
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