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I have watched the documentary filmed by two french brothers this evening… and wish to make it clear they are a total exception to the below. They shared the danger of their new found friends in the NYFD, survived the WTC collapse side by side with them and throughout told an honest story. I only wish the world of the media had more Men like them. September 11th, 2002 | One comment - (Comments are closed)
 Why do you repeat, time after time, that we are terrorized? We are not. As a people we grieve our dead; we wish life for ourselves and our loved ones, but we are not “terrorized”. Is it perhaps your own coping mechanism, your own cowardice? Why do you repeat, time after time, that we feel vulnerable? We have always known that. Have you already forgotten all but the youngest adults among us grew up knowing holocaust was 15 minutes away, every minute, every day, every year of our lives? Is it perhaps a realization that you too could die that makes you cry out your cowardice in our name? Why do you repeat, time after time, that we have lost our innocence? We have long known and lived with the nightmare that some day an American city would see a mushroom cloud in its’ center. However terrible and unexpected the events we have survived, they are as nothing to what we understand we will have to survive and overcome in the future. Is it perhaps your own ignorance or failure to believe the reality of those risks that make you appear as cowards in our eyes? Why do you repeat, time after time, that we are uncertain about our future? We are not. We will overcome any attack, no matter how deadly, and we will have the resolve to punish those responsible, to hunt them down to the ends of the Earth and kill or imprison them, even if they are crippled old men by the time we find them. Is it your own short attention span that leaves you incapable of understanding that others might take on a task of decades? Is it another sign of your lack of moral fiber and perserverence? We are none of the things you say in our name. It is your own mirrored image you speak and write of, not ours. Do not speak for me. I am an American; I am proud of that fact; I grieve for my dead and I feel pride in the bravery and spirit and individualism shown by our heroes of that day… but I do not cower in fear and neither do my fellow countrymen. Silence your fear-palpitated hearts and palsied hands. Listen to our voice. Listen to our spirit and share our strength….but never again tell us we are afraid or uncertain. September 11th, 2002 | 4 comments - (Comments are closed)
Is it right, on the day when most minds (certainly the minds of most Samizdata readers) are focussed on a war that is very much in progress, to think also about an earlier one, the Cold one, the one that ended, approximately speaking, around 1990? I hope so. Like everyone I have my “what I was doing”, my “how I heard about it” and my “how I felt as I watched it” stories concerning today’s recollections of a year ago. (Someone rang me. I was at my desk. I didn’t like it.) But, rightly or wrongly, appropriately or inappropriately, I choose also to ruminate today upon events from an earlier time. (And besides, I cannot possibly do better than Perry’s photos, or David’s inspired “root causes of American anger” posting of last Sunday.) So anyway, in the latest issue (October 2002) of Gramophone, there’s a letter concerning the Hungarian composer Ernst von Dohnanyi (1877-1960), from Professor William Lee Pryor of the University of Houston. Here’s this letter in full (but with apologies for the absence of Hungarian accents):
→ Continue reading: Not a Nazi and not an anti-semite – just an anti-communist September 11th, 2002 | 5 comments - (Comments are closed)
I flew home from London today. The fact I accepted this for a travel date is one tiny finger of defiance to those who misunderstood Americans so badly. I am not going to say a great deal as much is being said by those with far more right than I to say it. Today we remember. Today we honour. Today we come together and reiterate just how undefeatable is the spirit of our free country Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch said to his BBC interviewer in New York City a few minutes ago: “We will fight. And we will win”. Our enemy does not understand us and has no conception of what they have awakened. If our enemies did have any idea of what they have unleashed, they would be terrified of the fearsome retribution that awaits every one of them. “We will fight them. And we will defeat them.” September 11th, 2002 | One comment - (Comments are closed)
First, let me extend a truly heart felt thank you to people all over the world who shared a moment of silence today. As Perry’s pictorial post shows, although the loss was centered on America, the grief and the support is global. One of the things they teach in the modern American corporate culture is Franklin Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Habit number 5 is Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood. Over this past year, I have struggled to apply that habit to the September 11 attacks. Albeit simplistic, this is so far the best I could come up with. It came to me this morning as a local radio station played some school children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, which ends “with Liberty and Justice for all.” That in a nutshell is what America is all about. A fact verified by the millions of immigrants who arrive destitute on her shores and build a life of peace and prosperity within her borders. And that, in a nutshell, is what her enemies hate. It is not just that we own color TVs, drive big cars and live in relative peace in nice houses. It is that ANYONE, regardless of race, color, creed, sex, political inclination or background, ANYONE who comes here can, with a little effort, share that same life. These terrorists know in their hearts they can never contribute anything positive to the world and instead hate all those who try. Like the vandal with a sledgehammer defacing a statue, they have decided it is easier to destroy than create. Instead of swearing allegiance to a nation that values its citizens, they swear allegiance to a crazed individual who lashes out at the world to fulfill a personal vendetta. What they have yet to realize is that reducing tall buildings to rubble and snuffing out innocent lives does not make a profound political statement. But it does speak volumes about the tiny, hateful, cowardly minds that conceived of and carried out the destruction. Evil minds that, once eradicated, the world will neither long remember nor ever lament. September 11th, 2002 | 3 comments - (Comments are closed)
Here is a completely gratuitous picture of Elizabeth Hurley, who we very much wish would write for our splendid blog September 11th, 2002 | Comments are closed
Pubs, ladies fashion stores, restaurants, banks, cafes, mobile phone stores, boutiques, gift shops… If you are looking for the real England, you will not find it in the pages of the Guardian, but rather on the high streets and in the shop windows. I have just got back from lunch and what I saw on the King’s Road in Chelsea, here in London, amazed me. There is no law requiring it, no government departments ‘encouraging’ it loudly, yet shop after shop are displaying signs saying words to the effects of “At 1:46 pm to day, we will be observing two minutes silence in remembrance of the atrocities on September 11th of last year in the United States.” Others are expressing memorial sentiments, still others just displaying small American flags. No doubt these signs will all be gone by this evening, but they are there now. Some signs are hand written by shop managers, others were clearly printed by a head office… but the signs are there and they come not from above, passed down from the salons of the chattering classes, but from below, from the true heart of England. There is indeed an Anglosphere and it is very, very real. 
September 11th, 2002 | 371 comments - (Comments are closed)
September 11th, 2002 | Comments are closed
September 11th, 2002 | 22 comments - (Comments are closed)
When I was deciding on a category to select for this glorious bit of news my cursor flickered momentarily over the ‘Science Fiction’ section because this item has ‘Heinlein’ written all over it. Except that it’s true. An American company has been given the go-ahead by the Federal Government to launch the first private moon landing:
I can hear the sound of rusty, iron floodgates opening.
And the seductive fizz of genies escaping from bottles.
That’s what we want to see; the commercial development of the moon and the whole solar system beyond. ‘Would you like fries with your McVenus, sir?’. Next stop: the stars! Who knows, maybe, one day, it will even spread to Europe? September 10th, 2002 | 12 comments - (Comments are closed)
You lucky kids! Those cool people at the BBC don’t just know what’s good for you, they even know what you want. All of you. Despite anything you might say to the contrary. If you have forgotten what you want and need to be reminded, just check out this website from children’s news programme “Newsround”. See, it’s telling you: “Kids Want Tougher Air Rifle Laws.” Adult readers seeking a more detailed rundown on this topic, including details of which of the BBC’s own guidelines are being ignored, might like to see my post at Biased BBC. September 10th, 2002 | Comments are closed
September 10th, 2002 | Comments are closed
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