If you know me, or have read this blog before, then you’d know that I am not one to keep my opinions to myself. I feel that if you have an opinion, the you should speak out and let the world know your thoughts. Because that is what things, including this blog are there for. Expressing.
Except, yesterday, I held back. If anyone has spoken to me or read what I have written about ‘The War on Terror’, you will know why I held back. I have a lot of American friends who are part of a country which still mourn the fact that 9/11 happened. And speaking my thoughts, I was scared that I would offend one of my friends. Why? Because, if you say anything which makes the distruction of the twin towers seem equal to anything, such as the suffering of victims of the ‘War against Terror’, you are a disgrace. I know this, because that is what I have been called each and every year I have braved to open my mouth.
So this year, I stepped back, and tried not to be annoyed by the contradiction that occurred because of that fateful day. The fact that the world grieves for America’s richest city, but nothing is said about the innocent men, women and children who died as victims of the resulting war. If you are going to mourn those poor people who died in the attack that started the fight, then mourn those children who died in their sleep as their homes were burnt down in Afghanistan. No one death should be deemed more important than another.
And if you read this and have the nerve to say that the death of New Yorkers was more serious than the deaths of Afghans, then you need to take a long hard look at yourself. All innocent victims were killed because something happened that was beyond them. Something that they had nothing to do with. These people, all of them, died for someone else’s cause. And that is horrible. That innocents need to die.
It has been bothering me. It also bothers me, that for someone to show they ‘care’ they need to publicly show that they are mourning. Why? Yes, pay respect, mourn if you need to. But don’t dismiss someone who doesn’t mourn with you. Some people find it uncomfortable shouting I AM SAD THESE PEOPLE DIED. It seems cheap to some, and it makes it impersonal. If you are to mourn, it is a private thing. A prayer, or positive thought to those who you are mourning for. The internet has encouraged this, and if someone is struggling. Someone has lost a husband, a child, do they really want to see memories about it splashed around everywhere as if it is gossip on the Kardishans? Is that respectful? I don’t think it is. There is a name for the sensationalism linked to a disaster in this day in age. It is called Manufactured Mourning.
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I wish I could say it was respect that caused me to keep my mouth shut yesterday. But it was fear. Fear that someone would take what I said the wrong way, and would send me death threats. It has happened before. So I bit my tongue, but still wanted to put across my thoughts. All people who die innocently should be mourned. But in a way that is respectful to them. Rest in peace to the 3,500 people who would have lost their lives as I have written this entry.
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