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

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Ask the h2g2 Community' to 'Talking Point: 11 September, 2001'.

Definitely not the Brisbane I grew up in then.

I'm sitting in Broome waiting to hear about my niece in Manhattan, and thought I'd just cruise the Yahoo news. Clicked on a message board thread. The rhetoric over there was absolutely dreadful.
Never going there again.

Going by the way the American media is crediting Bin Laden with single-handedly planning today's outrage whilst at the same time managing to keep the operation 100% secret from America's secret services, the man is right up there with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Well maybe not Wonder Woman.

Jimmy Carter, Ronnie Reagan and Maggie Thatcher would have loved to have him on their side during the Cold War. After sending in a couple of helicopters to rescue the hostages in Iran, he could have arranged for four large jets to hit various strategic targets in the Soviet Union in his spare time.

Back in the 'real world', seeing that the CIA, FBI and SAS bungled the first and never tried the second, I suggest the instigator is someone with more resources than America's favourite enemy, Wonder Sheik Bin Laden.

I hear a Muslim leader in the UK yesterday make a statement to the effect of (ie. this is not a quote!)

We condemn completely the vicious acts of terrorism commited in the USA yesterday. Please do not tar all Muslims with the same brush. The people who commited these acts are not Muslim, they have about as much to do with Islam as the IRA have to do with Christianity.

This I think is an appeal for tolerance and I wholeheartedly agree.

However, a guy I work under hear I happen to know donates money to Islamic Jihad - I can't bring myself to talk to him at the moment. I'm not sure I want to know his views.

I'm sat here in front of a screen, wanting to say so much, but incapable of finding the words.

A message to all those who are touched by this madness, no, that's not right, we've all been touched by this madness.

A message to all directly touched by this madness: I can't begin to imagine what you must be going through, but I am praying for you all, something I haven't done for years.

May your God be with you,


Now a message for the American government, please please follow the advise we were all given as children, stand back and count to ten before acting.

Anger is natural, the wish for justice is normal, but at what cost?


whisky

I haven't been to this site in months, but searching the net and reading other people's reactions, I find that this is the only place I feel I can go to. I absolutely agree with Whisky's comments, I could not have said it better.
I am sitting at home just now, far away from everything that has happened, watching the news and I find myself weeping. I cannot imagine how those who have been directly affected must feel. My heart, and my hope goes out to them.

Did you see the Palestinians celebrations? It was published that foreign press in palestinian territories were threatened of death if they were to publish more of palestinians celebrations.

I've been watching the news since this happened, and seeing the same images over and over and over again has lessened the shock - they just showed a different angle of the plane crashing into the building - it's awful. Really horrible. It made me feel like it had just started again - funny how a different angle can bring things home again...

My seven year old son has rearranged his bed to be closer to the door, in case the same thing happens to our house. And he is feeling very sad for the children of New York, without parents tonight and the ones with parents who are bleeding. He asked me to write this, so people would know he was thinking of them, (he knows that I talk to you guys from all over the world) and he sends them all a

I just want to reiterate that if you want to help out and cannot donate blood or volunteer appropriately, the American Red Cross is accepting donations for disaster relief on their website and phone lines. It's a good way to help out even if you're on the other side of the world.

Still thinking of you all .

Whilst I sit here, straing at my PC, I am trying to comprehend what I have witnessed. My neurones are finding it quite hard filing this event as a fact! This must be fiction, and Die Hard movie, it is not real! When they do managed to get into the fact area, the knock over the boxes containing emotions and it spills over the floor.
My thoughts are with those who have suffered a loss. Those children who are still waiting for a parent to come home, and for parents waiting for their children.
Events like these make us put all of our own hardships in to perspective as we cannot help but think "What if that was me?". With a twist of guilt and self preservation the thought is followed by "Thank God it wasn't!"

My thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by this. Give us the strength of serenity and resolve to come to a response that does not mean a war.

What shall we do?
Insist that all countries who had businesses in the WTC to categorically state that they are against terrorism and support the capture of the criminals. Then get these countries to insist that any other country that they do business with that has not already voiced support do so. Then, and only then can we go after them.
What about Justice?
Do these criminals receive a trial? Do they go to prison? Or should they be removed from existence?
We face an extremist group that have developed in to a well-organised, well-structured machine. Any person that we ‘take out’ will be held as a martyr. Unfortunately, I do not think that taking out their leader will stop the onslaught. As an amateur gardener I can compare these people to Bindweed. Unless you kill the plant when it is very young it will develop a very large and strong under-ground network of roots. After a year you may be able to kill the odd sprout at the beginning of summer, but this is replaced by another and another. The weed is near impossible to get rid of.
How did I get rid of the Bindweed?
It saddens me to say, but I had to spray weed killer over the whole area which killed everything growing, left it for 6 months and re-planted!
God bless us all!
Nizan

i'm telling everybody i can to go donate to the red cross. unfortunately, one guy's reaction was: 'I can’t really see how donating to the richest country in the history of the earth will help' and i had to explain just what the phrase 'not for profit organisation' means. unbelievable.

actually, i really can't believe the way some people are reacting to this. surely, the most important thing is the number of people dead, injured, and in mourning. don't let's point any fingers until there's some concrete evidence. also, i am v scared about how the us govt will react. an eye for an eye does not solve anything, it just makes it worse. i hope they realise that.

Its very possible that the attack was carried out by someone other than the "usual suspects". Here, i mean the usual suspects being of arab origin or muslim backgrounds. I dont believe that this is the case, for lots of reasons. Firstlt, this sort of clever coordination, high tech, wellplanned attack is way beyond arab's capabilities and resources. Ask me, im an arab.
Secondly, how could 8 planes have been hijacked similtaneously from american aiports without some sort of american intervention?
I hate to say this but there must have been a helping hand.
Moreover, i think all arabs & muslims (including fanatics and anti-americans) are VERY AWARE that they cannot tolerate the consequences of such crimes. Dylan once sang: 'if you cant do the time, dont do the crime'.
Here in Egypt, people are outraged by the attacks. Our hearts go out to the vitims' families and friends. Even though the US goverment had it coming, (considering its foreign policies), violence is not the solution. And as for muslims, jihad & islam, well, all i can say is that Islam is a peaceful religion. If, indeed, the attackers are muslim, then they are irrational maniacs and are not the norm. Muslims everywhere consider these attacks just plain unforgivable murder. Please dont generalize, or worse yet, jump to conclusions.
email: [email protected]

WH Auden's poem "September 1 1939"

A poem which he ended with the line:

"We must love one another or die."

which he said "That's a damned lie, we die anyway" so he later changed it to a more clinical:

"We must love one another, and die."

Which has none of the resonance, and then cut the line altogether in later versions.

But EM Forster said "Because he said 'We must love one another or die.' he can command me to follow him."

Surely this should be the watchword, "We must love one another or die." and nobody needs to get nailed to anything.

I don't usually write about world events, but this has moved me to attempt to chronicle that fateful yesterday:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A630361

I had a sleepless night yesterday. This devastating act has shaken me over the pond in the UK. I can barely imagine what those in the US, and in New York City, and the friends and relatives of those slain are thinking.

Witty Ditty

Well I dont think meany people slept well last night.

THis is quite an outrage, but what I am finding worse is the Reaction from Bush. I'm Sorry, but he is Reacting too fast, and he is using bin as a scapegoat to help the 'people of America ' Focus their anger into someone.
I wish to express concern that Arabs in America may end up being victims of racial attacks in retaliation to this disaster, and I plead that the trigger happy portion of America's Population thinks before they act Rashly.

Perhaps this is a good point for us to ponder on the meaning of Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

If anyone wants to talk about "what should happen now" there is a convo on at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F76594?thread=140857&post=1307197#p1307197 . May peace be with us .