Ravellion
serves Gnome Master
I feel that as a non US, but still western, citizen my view on the events might shed some light on certain things.
I just had a class (Dutch English translation), and it was 3 in the afternoon, Central European Time. At five I needed to be at my very first "Philosophy of Science" class, in the biggest lecture hall of the University of Amsterdam.
A friend called on my cell as I stepped out of the university building: "A plane crashed in the WTC!". I thought a single engine plane rammed into one of the three 12 floor buildings of the Amsterdam WTC. He clarified the situation, and then I thought it was just an incident, as did he.
In the next two hours he continually gave me updates on the situation, and an accident had been ruled out as I took my seat at the lecture. I think 300+ people were present.
The professor started talking through his microphone: "I hoped I wouldn't ever have to start a lecture like this, but here goes. For those of you who have not yet heard the news: Four planes crashed in the United States, Two of them in the Twin Towers, one on the Pentagon. These plane crashes are, according to the media, most likely terrorist actions."
After the lecture, we (about 50 students) watched CNN at the university. Most of the others went home to do the same. After tony blair's emotional speech I rode my bicycle home on the deserted streets of Amsterdam, accompanied by a few friends and fellow students (we still needed to get dinner) .
After we recovered from the shock of seeing so many people die when the towers collapsed, we started thinking about what was going to happen. The next emotion almost everyone of us felt was fear. What were the United States going to do?
Images of Japanese people being put in concentration camps in 1942 came to someone's mind. Extreme Right wing "patriotic" US citizens harrasing Muslims (or doing worse things to them) came to mine.
A few weeks later I was pleased to find that we were wrong about those assumptions, but now, a year later:
Edited out political commentary. Apparently, I can't say how I feel . This thread has a nobler goal than political discusson, I apoligize if this would lead to a hijacked thread.
Rav
I just had a class (Dutch English translation), and it was 3 in the afternoon, Central European Time. At five I needed to be at my very first "Philosophy of Science" class, in the biggest lecture hall of the University of Amsterdam.
A friend called on my cell as I stepped out of the university building: "A plane crashed in the WTC!". I thought a single engine plane rammed into one of the three 12 floor buildings of the Amsterdam WTC. He clarified the situation, and then I thought it was just an incident, as did he.
In the next two hours he continually gave me updates on the situation, and an accident had been ruled out as I took my seat at the lecture. I think 300+ people were present.
The professor started talking through his microphone: "I hoped I wouldn't ever have to start a lecture like this, but here goes. For those of you who have not yet heard the news: Four planes crashed in the United States, Two of them in the Twin Towers, one on the Pentagon. These plane crashes are, according to the media, most likely terrorist actions."
After the lecture, we (about 50 students) watched CNN at the university. Most of the others went home to do the same. After tony blair's emotional speech I rode my bicycle home on the deserted streets of Amsterdam, accompanied by a few friends and fellow students (we still needed to get dinner) .
After we recovered from the shock of seeing so many people die when the towers collapsed, we started thinking about what was going to happen. The next emotion almost everyone of us felt was fear. What were the United States going to do?
Images of Japanese people being put in concentration camps in 1942 came to someone's mind. Extreme Right wing "patriotic" US citizens harrasing Muslims (or doing worse things to them) came to mine.
A few weeks later I was pleased to find that we were wrong about those assumptions, but now, a year later:
Edited out political commentary. Apparently, I can't say how I feel . This thread has a nobler goal than political discusson, I apoligize if this would lead to a hijacked thread.
Rav
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