Friday, September 21, 2007

Worst. Tragedy. Ever.

Pants told me about an email today that said it was everyone's duty to fly a flag on 9/11 to commemorate the worst tragedy in American History.

Huh?

I'm not saying it wasn't bad, and it was certainly the worst American tragedy in my lifetime. But come on. Um, Pearl Harbor? The World Wars? The Civil War, where we suffered the worst losses of any war? Ok, we were on both sides and sustained ALL the losses, but hey. Much worse tragedy.

So it's different because it was aimed at civilians?

Let's ask a Native American if 9/11 was the worst American tragedy visited upon civilians. Or how about an African American, whose ancestors were kidnapped and shipped here into slavery. Hmmm. That sounds like a tragedy.

So, let's not be so short-sighted. If we put this into the timeline of American history, I'm not sure this incidence even ranks in the top 10. It was bad, and those of us who were alive when it happened will always remember where we were when we heard. But ask your parents where they were when they found out Kennedy was shot. That was a pretty big tragedy to them and now it barely rates. Perspective.

8 comments:

Kashka said...

Word. I'll spare you "Why Americans should be forced to read more actual history: A rant in three parts by Kashka", but remind me to tell you about when this one President got his hands slapped for trying to mess around in Cuba. Kennedy, you think? Sure, but also Franklin Pierce and just about every President after him....

DiploWhat said...

Can I fly a flag that says "Pay more for diplomacy and less on guns"?

Syl said...

Absolutely!

Happy Veggie said...

I still think we have some nerve complaining about the terrorists when there are people who lived through the IRA, Bast (I think I'm spelling that right) Separatists in Spain, Israel, or any world war. 15,000 English civilians died during the first half of the Blitz. We are so fucking self centered.

Anonymous said...

I agree. I'm sure that we lost many more Americans in the Civil War than any other time in our history. We even lost some civilians then, not sure of exact numbers though. Not that we shouldn't fly the flag or remember 9/11 or anything, I'm just saying, it really is a matter of perspective! I wish we could learn from our past mistakes to try to avoid future mistakes.

Ms. Huis Herself said...

Yeah, it's all about perspective. We, in our time, in our nation, are not the center of the universe. Yeah, it was bad, but worst ever? Um, no.

Pusher said...

Thank you! Big ol' WORD.

sullenfish said...

Why do you hate America?

Um...

Actually, this is in response to your comment from another post in which you condemned showing cleavage.

Carry on.