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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132240
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Posted: 11 September 2021 at 7:27am | IP Logged | 1
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Two full decades since those three aircraft slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and global civilization does not seem noticeably improved. No one’s agenda, right, left, moderate, extreme, has evolved in any positive way. Basically, everyone seems to have gotten dumber. To the Earth, then, an apology. You’ve carried us for millions of years, and all we’ve done is rape and torture you. You deserve better.
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Conrad Teves Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 28 January 2014 Location: United States Posts: 2174
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Posted: 11 September 2021 at 8:48am | IP Logged | 2
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13.7 billion years of stellar evolution, life rising from muck with countless beings struggling to survive as precursors to our mere existence. We have a truly Cosmic heritage, and unlike our ancestors we know it, and this is how we choose to act.
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Charles Valderrama Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004 Location: United States Posts: 4721
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Posted: 11 September 2021 at 10:42am | IP Logged | 3
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Perfectly stated, JB.... so tragic that we have not grown better since the 9/11 attacks. 20 years later we still "try to honor" those lost souls... and I can't help but feel we've not don't much but become more divided.
-C!
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Petter Myhr Ness Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 July 2009 Location: Norway Posts: 3823
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Posted: 11 September 2021 at 11:35am | IP Logged | 4
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I remember watching the towers fall live on TV. It felt monumental, like something was about to irrevocably change. And it really has, in a much worse way than feared.
I stand by what JB says, but the Earth will have the last laugh. We're a blip in time, I suspect that soon we and the damage we brought will be gone.
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Rebecca Jansen Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 February 2018 Location: Canada Posts: 4499
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Posted: 11 September 2021 at 12:47pm | IP Logged | 5
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I always remember the rescue workers and their families; surely they represented the best among us. If we had a lot more of the stuff that so many of them showed on that day...
I tuned in out here just before the second tower fell and it was difficult to catch up on what I was looking at. Roughly a week later I was at a B&B in Vancouver for some scheduled hospital tests over a couple of days and it was still full of U.S. visitors having to stay longer than booked and going to the airport every day for any flights info. One of them gave up a room with it's own shower I had booked as I really needed it to be ready for the hospital procedure!
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Joe Zhang Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004 Location: United States Posts: 12857
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Posted: 11 September 2021 at 4:46pm | IP Logged | 6
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A few days after 9/11 there was an op-ed, maybe on CNN's website, that posited it was basically our fault. America's imperialism hurt people's feelings and that's why their kids became terrorists. That idea grew and engulfed all of aspects of Western liberalism. Ecological devastation? Because America. Global poverty? Because America. Prejudice and racism? Because America.
We're navel gazing ourselves into bits and pieces. Maybe that was part of Osama's plan too.
Edited by Joe Zhang on 11 September 2021 at 4:59pm
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Dave Kopperman Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 December 2004 Location: United States Posts: 3135
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Posted: 11 September 2021 at 9:14pm | IP Logged | 7
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Ah, yes: the “an op-ed on CNN’s website led to the downfall of Western Civilization” argument. You’ve definitely solved it.
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Joe Zhang Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004 Location: United States Posts: 12857
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Posted: 11 September 2021 at 11:53pm | IP Logged | 8
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No, my argument is that we are going through what Bin Laden thought would happen. Bogged down in Afghanistan with no path to a clear victory, American society would start eating itself, like it did with Vietnam. Except that It didn't happen that way, exactly. Bush Jr. supercharged the process by invading Iraq. Distracted, he let the Great Financial Crisis happen. Which led to a decade of sub-par economic growth. Which led to voter discontent, the rise of radicalism and Trump.
Edited by Joe Zhang on 12 September 2021 at 12:04am
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David Farley Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 07 August 2004 Location: United States Posts: 600
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Posted: 12 September 2021 at 5:04am | IP Logged | 9
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Well stated Joe.
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James Johnson Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 March 2009 Location: United States Posts: 2057
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Posted: 12 September 2021 at 7:19am | IP Logged | 10
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Rebecca Jansen Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 February 2018 Location: Canada Posts: 4499
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Posted: 12 September 2021 at 11:24am | IP Logged | 11
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Get well soon? Please... get well soon, real soon! It's painful for almost everyone. :^(
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Eric Ladd Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 August 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 4506
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Posted: 12 September 2021 at 11:54am | IP Logged | 12
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The way the US handled just about everything post 9/11 was a mistake or lost opportunity. Should have never mistreated “detainees” in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Should have never attacked Iraq, dismantled the government and military then leave without building them back up. Mistakes piled up by the Bush administration lead to future presidents passing the buck. Bush was the wrong person in charge for an emergency of this magnitude. In a time when even the worst enemies of the US were sympathetic because of the horrible attack a global change could have occurred in favour of US interests. But the Bush administration squandered the opportunity and literally turned the world against the US by becoming just as immoral as the terrorists.
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