> Current events certainly put an extra perspective on this thread.
>
> jul*bows head*ian

Yes. Unfortunately, the perspective differs. In yesterday's paper there was the most appalling letter to the editor I have ever read. It was from an Australian woman, and said, in effect, "See? SEE? I bet you New Zealanders are going to think again about letting these [expletive] [expletive] extremist-fanatic-babykilling Muslim scum into your country. Bomb the Tampa to hell before it reaches your shores or IT'LL HAPPEN TO YOU TOO, you stupid bleeding-heart morons."

OK, those were not her actual words, and I don't intend to go and read the letter again just to quote her actual words here. But that was what she was saying.

Since we don't yet know who the terrorists are, we don't know their specific reasons for doing this. But like I said in chat, I don't need to know what they think they stand for. Their actions show what they stand for, in the only terms that matter. And anybody who can write a letter like that stands for the same thing.

I've heard a lot about how this was an attack on democracy and freedom and symbols of America and the economy and God knows what else. Yes, it was. But FIRST AND FOREMOST it was an attack on twenty thousand or more innocent human lives. The fact that the terrorists were *capable* of attacking democracy and freedom comes from the fact that they were incapable of seeing it as an attack on *people*.

It is the absolute duty and responsibility of every one of us to stand against this abdication of humanity, whether it is shown in acts of terrorism or in everyday life.