Not close attention at all, but then our media was too busy giving us placebos like Chandra Levy and Gary Condit non-stop to tell us what the hell was really going on in the mid-east and that there were probably many signs that this war was on the horizen.
Now, of course, all of those subjects are of great interest. But before last month's devastating attacks, they represented a handful of issues among many others. Whether you paid much attention to any or all of them probably depended on your individual interests. Some people are foreign-affairs junkies. Others gobble up science news, including tidbits about biological weapons.
This just shows you how desensitized we've become. This is no surprise since we don't flinch about the vast numbers of slaughtered babies--Why then should we have been concerned about mosloms suicide bombing innocent men, women and children?
"It's hard to imagine people would become terrorists if they were exposing themselves to different points of view," Prof. Sunstein says.
Ahhh..this is the crux of the matter--These people are not being taught anything but hate.
To those who have been following recent events online, that ability has been a boon. Web users can read the latest dispatches from this newspaper online -- then surf to news outlets in Europe, the Middle East and everywhere else in the world. Web sites have been home to vigorous discourse, too, with opinions both expressed and challenged.
Bump for FR!
Actually, we do differentiate:
Why blowing up Israelis is different from blowing up Americans
Foreign Affairs
Source: IMRA
Published: Sept 27, 2001 Author: US Dept of State
Friday, September 28, 2001
State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher
explains why blowing up Israelis
different than blowing up Americans
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
Richard Boucher, Spokesman
Washington, DC
September 27, 2001
...
QUESTION: To what extent does this campaign -- as you constantly review your
Middle East policy, what -- how much influence does this campaign against
terrorism have in that? What's the input? How does it weigh in here? See
what I mean?
MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't.
QUESTION: It's obviously a factor --
MR. BOUCHER: We have talked about this on and off over the last few days. We
recognize that there is an influence. Some have said it affects the
atmosphere, the Palestinian/Israeli issues affect the atmosphere of
cooperation. But, essentially, there are, on some planes, two different
things. One is that there are violent people trying to destroy societies,
ours, many others in the world. The world recognizes that and we are going
to stop those people.
On the other hand, there are issues and violence and political issues that
need to be resolved in the Middle East, Israelis and
Palestinians. But we all recognize that the path to solve those is through
negotiation and that we have devoted enormous efforts to getting back to
that path of negotiation.
And we have called on the parties to do everything they can, particularly in
the present circumstance, to make that possible.
I guess that's about as close as I can come to the kind of sophisticated
analysis I'm sure you will want to do on your own. But they are clearly
issues that are different, not only in geography but also, to some extent,
in their nature.