Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] Bali/media

GrnVillageGirl@aol.com GrnVillageGirl@aol.com
Sun, 20 Oct 2002 01:32:09 EDT


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Australians and others who lost loved ones in Bali do have the grief and 
sympathy of the world, including Americans, but to liken this mass murder to 
9/11 is not accurate. The perpetrators of these callous brutalities may be 
related to one another, and the impact is shockingly horrible, but consider 
what it would be like if -- G-d forbid -- the Sydney Harbour Bridge was blown 
up during rush hour.
Or the Eiffel Tower had a plane flown into it, as was once planned but 
averted, or the Houses of Parliament were dive-bombed...I could go on. You 
get the idea.
Americans were attacked on their own shores; in the case of us New Yorkers, 
in the very heart of our home. And two of our skyline's icons (whether you 
liked 'em or not) were utterly destroyed, along with almost 3,000 souls.
Not that numbers mean anything when it's YOUR loved one that's been hurt or 
killed, but in terms of sheer overwhelming horror -- yeah, they count.
I understand that for a country with the population of Australia, the 
percentage of loss is relatively higher than the numbers alone would 
indicate. And just as I don't intend to disparage anyone's outrage, pain or 
loss, please don't do that to those of us who had to live through 9/11, and 
the days and nights after. I wouldn't wish that on an enemy.

When it comes to the media, I used to be a reporter, so I have something of 
an idea of how that works. I won't go into it here, but as Jello Biafra says 
on one of his new tour t-shirts: "BECOME THE MEDIA."
That's one solution.






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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"><FONT  style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Australians and others who lost loved ones in Bali do have the grief and sympathy of the world, including Americans, but to liken this mass murder to 9/11 is not accurate. The perpetrators of these callous brutalities may be related to one another, and the impact is shockingly horrible, but consider what it would be like if -- G-d forbid -- the Sydney Harbour Bridge was blown up during rush hour.<BR>
Or the Eiffel Tower had a plane flown into it, as was once planned but averted, or the Houses of Parliament were dive-bombed...I could go on. You get the idea.<BR>
Americans were attacked on their own shores; in the case of us New Yorkers, in the very heart of our home. And two of our skyline's icons (whether you liked 'em or not) were utterly destroyed, along with almost 3,000 souls.<BR>
Not that numbers mean anything when it's YOUR loved one that's been hurt or killed, but in terms of sheer overwhelming horror -- yeah, they count.<BR>
I understand that for a country with the population of Australia, the percentage of loss is relatively higher than the numbers alone would indicate. And just as I don't intend to disparage anyone's outrage, pain or loss, please don't do that to those of us who had to live through 9/11, and the days and nights after. I wouldn't wish that on an enemy.<BR>
<BR>
When it comes to the media, I used to be a reporter, so I have something of an idea of how that works. I won't go into it here, but as Jello Biafra says on one of his new tour t-shirts: "BECOME THE MEDIA."<BR>
That's one solution.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
</FONT></HTML>
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