h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Spare me your superfluous adjectives! Every evening in New Zealand is quiet

But not normally dry. I'm usually half-tanked by now. Bloody work

The person who wrote the original email posted his retraction of what he said. I saw it on a link at The Urban Legend Reference Pages. Anyway here it is:

Dear all,
Last September 13, I’ve sent an email to this list in which I provided some information about the falsity of the images of Palestinian celebration for the terrorism in USA, information given to me by a teacher. I spent the last day looking for that teacher, and, unfortunately, when I found her, she DENIED having access to such images.

She said that she was sure she had seen the images back in 1991, but SHE CAN’T PROVE. She was not willing to provide further information, DENYING what she had said before to a full class of students.

I sincerely apologize for this uncertain information; unfortunately I
can’t prove the information contained in my last post; IT’S ONLY A
CONJECTURE, THAT THOSE IMAGES OF PALESTINIANS CELEBRATING IS FALSE. I
bought the idea myself, and reproduced it for you because of the
importance of it, in the case it was to be confirmed.

Whatever news I get I’ll pass to you.

Best regards

Márcio A. V. Carvalho
State University of Campinas – Brazil

Hi all
The thread is obviously right but in the original sense. The way I read it (after reflecting on new stuff for a while) is that those celebrating were few, mostly kids (and someone said a few sausages ) and they did this IMMEDIATELY after they received the news. Am pretty sure most of us had the enormity sink in a day or so later. Am not supporting these "celebrations" of course but as GTTD mentioned, when the "enemy" suffers, you rejoice!

To the manipulating part. To play it over and over again is, I still maintain, criminal. It was not really news, not the kind that should grab headlines. It played on people's grief and emotions and was designed to stir more than just anger. This is despicable and is an act of terrorism on many people's minds. Why? They cleverly avoided the issue of those being children and emphasised that "PALESTINIANS" celebrated.
Incitement in a situation like this one is close to being just as bad as the original act. For this I aver that CNN WAS EXPOSED!

Peace

I have been reading many posts on the september 11, tradgedy. Being a person who normaly loves a good disscussion and considers debate on subjects of disagreement the key to understanding. I have however just not had my heart in any disscusion lately. I felt however I must respond to the last posting.

Ahmed, you talk about the Palestinians shown celebrating the death of over 6,000 as being mostly children thus excusing their actions and you are right. It is their parents who should be ashamed for indoctrining thier children with such Blind hate of a people they do not know. {racism and bigotry cut both ways} Then as a kind of back up exscuse of these actions you go on to infer that the US is an enemy of the palistinian people. You write {giving GTTD} the credit but still offering it up to the reader "when the enemy suffers, you rejoice" To this I have one small question. When was the last time you heard about an American killing one Palastinian let alone thousands. {please no retoric on israelies} But I guess what really hit me was your last point that showing a vidio {by the why in over a week of watching this horror on the news well over 20 hours I saw this 10 second clip once}is "close to being as bad as the original act" How can you equate cnn showing people celibrating the murder of over 6,000 people with the act itself?

You say cnn exsposed, but the only thing I see is ingnorance exsposed.

Starbirth
A very sad human worried
his three children.

According to my favorite Urban Legend site (snopes) there are over 20 new peices of netlore derived from last weeks events - some of them are confirmed as true some (most) as false (like the CNN news one).

How do these get started? Is it malicious or just people thinking they heard something and bending it a bit more - the story of someone "surfing" the building as it collasped appears to be such a case.

My only wish is people would check on one of the many myth sites before repeating anything they read/hear, especially online.

On the subject, early news said there was a car bomb in Washington as well, where did that story come from? I can find no reference to it anywhere now?

ChawkE

The car bomb sounded likea roomer but it has been "commeted on" science but its gone underground. Just shows you shouldent Trust anyone anytime espeshly not the media.

Hi Stirbirth
You have inferred a lot from my posting, and indeed that is how it should be. If I write and am misunderstood, I like seeing it as a bad piece of writing. Nevertheless, you should not put words into my mout as that is not inference.

<... mostly children thus excusing their actions and you are right...>
The point was (still is) to try and understand what was going on on the ground there. You talk of me excusing their ctions? Now thats a new one. If that is what u understood, please read my posting again. I have not and will not excuse anyone's actions (well other than meself). I did not say it was right, I said they did it, kids. About their parents being to blame is debatable. You obviously have never lived on any front line. And if you are separating the horrendous activities of the Israeli from American policy, well, we need not debate at all.

<...Then as a kind of back up exscuse of these actions you go on to infer that the US is an enemy of the palistinian people...>

I am not very sure I see where this one came from. I was talking CNN and suddenly its the US. Maybe they ARE one, if I am to believe that sentence. And again obviously you dont follow mid-east news very closely either. To the Palestinian people (and you can quote me here) the US govt IS, yes IS and enemy. Its not me saying it, its the Palestinians. So dont take MY head off.

<..."when the enemy suffers, you rejoice"> This one is as true today as it will be tomorrow. I didnt create it, its not even my argument. its just fact. You may not like it, I may not like it, but it is a fact. History bears it out.

<...When was the last time you heard about an American killing one Palastinian let alone thousands. {please no retoric on israelies}...>

An American may not have pulled the trigger but when the govt there claims to be mediators in the conflict and provide Israel with ammunition which are then used to kill kids in the occupied territories... its called accessory to murder out there I believe. When the US vetos the decision of 200+ UN members to censure Israel they CONDONE those murders. Would you like me to provide the statistics of dead Palestinians and Israeli in the battles? Maybe not. 6,000 pales in comparison. Oh, did I mention that kids make up a sizable number of the dead and injured? Shot in the eyes as they play out in the "park"? Picked out by snipers who know the US will veto any motion of censure? I mean whats wrong with shooting a Palestinian kid in the eye anyway? Right?

As a rule I try not to as I have done up here. But I was pricked to the quick here. So i will apologise for anything that looks offensive but hope that we pick on the thread next time. Not the personality.

Peace

Ahmed, You are correct to say that I infered a lot from your writting {post 24}. I however would never try to put words in yours or anyones mouth {I used Quotations where appropriate} and what I surmised was only from the premises you put forword.If I misunderstood your words I can only hope that you are willing to clarify them in the future. You seemed to have taken my response to your post personally as suggested by some of your words. "You obviously have not lived on any front line" {what do you know of me other than the one post of less then two hundreds words I made in response to your post}

Then you make the statement. "To the Palistine people {and you can quote me here} the US goverment is, yes is an enemy. It's not me saying it it"s the palistinians. So don't take my head off." Again calm down my response was in no way a personal attack. Should I also infer that you can speak for the palastinians.

Moving right along you make the statement {if I infer correctly} that since the american goverment supports or does not interfer in Israelie policy they are guilty of condoning murder. I guess I can only answer that with a question : If the US is Guilty through lack of action in not stopping a foreign goverments policy that results in people being killed : Should it in the future, and remenber this list includes almost all middle east countries. stop all aid? or just overthow that goverment? On a similar line is not the afganie goverment guilty of harboring murders in thier country? How should the world respond to that?

As for your last line of questions corncerning dead palastinian children I can only replie as a father and say that no amount of retoric,no sum of money, no political Ideology, no religions calling can justify the death of one child and all the tears on earth and heaven wil not wash away the saddness I feel at the lost of just one child. { that is from my heart}

I know I could have taken more time with this response but I find it hard to talk on this subject without letting emotion take over and that only opens the door for hatred and ignorance when left ungaurded.

Lastly I will reiterate that I say these things only to incite debate. {I do not know you well enough to pick on your personality.} As it is only threw communication that we can learn to accept differences.

> "If the US is Guilty through lack of action in not stopping a foreign goverments policy that results in people being killed"

What is being argued here is that the US is often guilty not through lack of action, but through action. The US is guilty for vetoing a UN resolution to censure Israel. The US is guilty for selling arms and ammunition to Israel. The US is guilty for creating Israel in the first place, and the manner of that creation. The US is guilty of supporting Israel politically. And, incidentally, my own country (UK) is guilty of many of these things too.

War does strange things to the morality of those who live under its shadow, so it is not terribly shocking that some Palestinians rejoice in a financial and military blow to their pereceived enemy. It will be the same in the USA if/when the country gets its 'revenge'...

It is easy to cry over the death of a child - it is sadly much harder to prevent the death of millions of such children.

>"The US is guilty of vetoing a UN resoloution to censure Israel," "The US is guilty of selling arms and munitions to Israel," "The US is guilty of creating Israel, The US is guilty of supporting Israel pollitically."

Or The US is Standing behind an allie.

There a always two sides of an issue. Murdering people because of differing Ideology or religion will never be an answer.

Lucinder, I do not know anything about you but one thing I can tell you It is NOT EASY to cry over the death of one child. At least not for me.

Agreed. But if the US is an ally of Israel, then it must equally be an enemy of Palestine. Which was where this thread was coming from...

Dear Starbirth,

I greet you in the Name of the Almighty, Assalam Aleikum wa Rahmatullah wa Mbarakatuh.

I think there has been a great deal of misunderstanding between you and I (and a few others). Let us try to let our ideas be the points for debate here. This nice lady next to me here thinks so too. And by the way her roots are Jewish and am Muslim. If we can understand each other (we debate a lot though), am sure me and u can do better than we have thus far.

So lets talk about standing behind an ally i.e US standing "behind" Israel. From that position, can they (the US) possibly be anything close to a mediator? Wouldnt you agree then, that the US has no business pretending to be mediating in this conflict?

But back to this thread. Yesterday I watched Q&A on "maligned" CNN and there was a whiff of thinking in America. I have posted a similar request on another thread, but since this is the CNN one, anyone saw the program? Could Margolis be right?

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