I wasn't talking about natural disasters, but intentional murders, of which, statistically, there were 20 more today. Probably one happened while you were typing.
9/11 was a deliberate rip in the fabric of society. We better pay attention to it and talk about it every day.
Then what are he 35,000 yearly murders (7,000 by foreigners)? Aren't those societal rips? Should we talk about them less?
And not all of us look over our shoulder every day, or feel that we have to succumb to daily anal rape for tax purposes. Most people don't feel that way.
Yes, and I guess the women in Islamic countries who don't want to get stoned to death can simply make sure they don't show their ankle in accordance with the law. Probably most of them are fine with it. Not sure I agree with the civility of it, though.
Even if I do feel that my taxes are being levied at a confiscatory rate, I still believe we can influence that through the electoral process, although the current state of government is making me re-evaluate that.
Indeed. If you wanted the borders closed, who would you have voted for in 2004? If you wanted the IRS abolished, who would you have voted for? If you wanted an end to the War on Drugs, who would you have voted for?
The only change you effect when voting is who gets to take the bribes by the true lawmakers (the lobbyists).
It's a bribeocracy. Voting is just a "feel good" endeavor designed to make us think we have control over something. If you want influence, you need to make enough money to grease some palms.
Come on. You don't need to resort to straw man arguments like the statements about Islamic women to make a point. You sound smart enough to forgo that.
The fact is, since Cain murdered Abel, human beings have killed and hurt each other. The fact that Cain is notorious is due to the fact that the population of human civilization was very low, being first means something.
The current human population is 6.5 billion people. The current population of the USA is 296 million people. So yeah, with those numbers, there was probably a Cain murdering an Abel while I typed. It is an ongoing problem with mankind, it has been with us since day one. And yeah, we should talk about it. I presume you have ideas, and aren't just going to gripe about it.
What happened on 9/11 was that 19 Cains killed 3000 Abels, and it wasn't a crime of passion. It was a cold, calculated premeditated rip in the fabric of society.
I really want to know: Do you see no difference between an isolated incident of one person killing another person for any reason, and one group deciding to perform that same act on a large scale against a group of innocents for ideological reasons?
With respect to voting, you seem to forget that some people disagree with you. There are people who may not think the IRS should be abolished. There are some who think the borders should be open. There are some who think the war on drugs is a good thing. I may happen to agree on all points with you, but you know what? Not everyone does, and certainly not on every issue. I happen to think we should be pumping more money into our military, and there are a lot of others who think we shouldn't even have a military. If they get their way on one subject or another, I am going to do what I can to get it changed, if it is important to me. I presume these issues you outlined are important to you. What have you done about them?
No disrespect intended, but people can make a difference. If you get off your ass and get involved, you can make a difference. You don't think so, and your cynicism on that subject is clear. If your last paragraph is all you have to offer, then you are part of the problem, not the solution. Please don't take this personally, but cynicism is not what made our country great.