More Political
I still chuckle when I think about how on Thursday, less than three days after the country celebrated the anniversary of declaring itself a country independent from the then-British empire, many Americans--Govenor Mitt Romney included--declared that because of the London bombing, we were all British.
Mitt Romney: traitor to the men who fought in the American Revolution!
Of course, beyond that, I find no humor. Not unless you count the amount of patriotism pornography pouring out from TV news programs. It's amazing and a bit overwhelming, even to someone who has tried to avoid the self-celebratory "we are allies" coverage on TV. At least I missed the comments that the bombing might have been good for the war on terror (and other gems) from Fox News, but we still have to deal with the fact that words like these were said with not much outrage from the public.
But back to the "We are British" comments. Why is it we're only comfortable being white people from other countries? Or did someone say during the tsumani crisis that we were all Asian and I missed it?
The US Machine has spent the past few years of creating new enemies through their various actions then using these new enemies to prove to the US that we always were this hated. The same system seems the think that enemies Britain never had before bombing them is proof that Britain was always right in supporting the US (if only it worked on Spain).
But then I look at this post from Corrie, and I think, maybe they have a little more reason behind their reactions, having been through more tragedy than the US even if our country had 2 more 9/11 type events under their belt.
More Random
Mom called me early Thursday morning before I even heard anything, warning me to look for out anyone suspicious. My parents haven't taken the T in the last decade of coming into Boston, so they don't know about the constant "see something/say something" messages the MBTA trains and stations play over and over again. Even if they had, she still would have said it, and I still would have seen it as a sweet gesture. I'm sure she remembers me worrying about gas attacks underground the day the World Trade Center fell (to be fair, I had Tim McVeigh and The Turner Diaries on the brain all that day).
But that was just under four years ago. I now realize the silliness of any terrorist attacking the B train to my old Allston apartment or the E train that goes to the VA where I work. By the way, If that last one ever gets bombed, it will be by a war vet who gets sick of tired of the train getting taken out of service once it reaches the last Harvard building (coincidentally enough).
After hearing about mass transit being set on code Orange, I remembered the whole DNC business last year in Boston, and hearing how the T would be littered with bag inspections and checkpoints while the convention was going on, and even beforehand. Though often
chock-full of junk, I didn't get my backpack checked no matter where I entered for that entire month. Not that I wanted to be stopped, but after all the whistle and bells...
Still, there was quite a bit of added security. Would there, I wondered be as sigificant a presnce as there was during the DNC, (minus the armed forces out in the Common, who were there more for a potential uprising than any terror threats)?
Two days later, I have to say: not even close, unless you count the disinterested guy who leaned back and watched us in apparent boredom (even towards me who sported nearly half a dozen grocery bags, and a backpack, and no I still wasn't checked). To the MBTA's credit, though, they did seem to be extra careful during the morning hours after the bombing, well before any code orange was declared. Not so much since.
I've been thinking of Bret for a while, given that he's now commuting to work via the T. He goes through Park Street as well and fequents the more upscale part of the red line. I wonder if he's seen any sigificant change. Has anyone anywhere, or is this millions of dollars being spent for headlines more than security?
I still chuckle when I think about how on Thursday, less than three days after the country celebrated the anniversary of declaring itself a country independent from the then-British empire, many Americans--Govenor Mitt Romney included--declared that because of the London bombing, we were all British.
Mitt Romney: traitor to the men who fought in the American Revolution!
Of course, beyond that, I find no humor. Not unless you count the amount of patriotism pornography pouring out from TV news programs. It's amazing and a bit overwhelming, even to someone who has tried to avoid the self-celebratory "we are allies" coverage on TV. At least I missed the comments that the bombing might have been good for the war on terror (and other gems) from Fox News, but we still have to deal with the fact that words like these were said with not much outrage from the public.
But back to the "We are British" comments. Why is it we're only comfortable being white people from other countries? Or did someone say during the tsumani crisis that we were all Asian and I missed it?
The US Machine has spent the past few years of creating new enemies through their various actions then using these new enemies to prove to the US that we always were this hated. The same system seems the think that enemies Britain never had before bombing them is proof that Britain was always right in supporting the US (if only it worked on Spain).
But then I look at this post from Corrie, and I think, maybe they have a little more reason behind their reactions, having been through more tragedy than the US even if our country had 2 more 9/11 type events under their belt.
More Random
Mom called me early Thursday morning before I even heard anything, warning me to look for out anyone suspicious. My parents haven't taken the T in the last decade of coming into Boston, so they don't know about the constant "see something/say something" messages the MBTA trains and stations play over and over again. Even if they had, she still would have said it, and I still would have seen it as a sweet gesture. I'm sure she remembers me worrying about gas attacks underground the day the World Trade Center fell (to be fair, I had Tim McVeigh and The Turner Diaries on the brain all that day).
But that was just under four years ago. I now realize the silliness of any terrorist attacking the B train to my old Allston apartment or the E train that goes to the VA where I work. By the way, If that last one ever gets bombed, it will be by a war vet who gets sick of tired of the train getting taken out of service once it reaches the last Harvard building (coincidentally enough).
After hearing about mass transit being set on code Orange, I remembered the whole DNC business last year in Boston, and hearing how the T would be littered with bag inspections and checkpoints while the convention was going on, and even beforehand. Though often
chock-full of junk, I didn't get my backpack checked no matter where I entered for that entire month. Not that I wanted to be stopped, but after all the whistle and bells...
Still, there was quite a bit of added security. Would there, I wondered be as sigificant a presnce as there was during the DNC, (minus the armed forces out in the Common, who were there more for a potential uprising than any terror threats)?
Two days later, I have to say: not even close, unless you count the disinterested guy who leaned back and watched us in apparent boredom (even towards me who sported nearly half a dozen grocery bags, and a backpack, and no I still wasn't checked). To the MBTA's credit, though, they did seem to be extra careful during the morning hours after the bombing, well before any code orange was declared. Not so much since.
I've been thinking of Bret for a while, given that he's now commuting to work via the T. He goes through Park Street as well and fequents the more upscale part of the red line. I wonder if he's seen any sigificant change. Has anyone anywhere, or is this millions of dollars being spent for headlines more than security?
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