Twin Towers Toy Recalled

[Lorna]

Talk about really BAD taste.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/ ... 9056.shtml

[Loretta Ann]

Lorna,

What classification of a troll would that come under?

[Merinda]

Unfortunatly there are those who have a very sick sense of humor ,

someone at work had a sms message sent to them on their mobile phone , when he opened the message it was a pixelated pattern of a plane hitting a building and exploding.

how sick is that

[Alexandra]

*devil's advocate mode*

on the other hand, a large percentage of the world view us as evil and a toy "denouncing" the devil (us) would appear to be a perfectly normal thing to do.

[Eloise Goth]

a large percentage?? may I ask where you get that figure from?? ok, some islamic countries may see america as evil, but they are only a small percentage of the world population. the american media seems to put over the idea that its america asgainst the rest of the world, when that is simply not true.
many countries, including britain, admire america and the 'chase the dream' ethic that you seem to have over there.
there is as much justification for that toy as there would be for one depicting the tragedy at the russian school last week.

[Alexandra]

how about if I narrow it down to less than 100 million, less than a 1/3 of the population of the United States? Even if amounts to a fraction of the Earth's population, it still a large number.

true, in many developed countries the US is admired. But elsewhere the world's population is mostly hungry and if anything they do know about the USA is that they're hungry and we're not. Add in political propaganda, the masses can easily (although wrongly) convinced that we're evil.

[Alexandra]

there is as much justification for that toy as there would be for one depicting the tragedy at the russian school last week.

Unfortunately, in that part of Russia there are people who think the Putin Gov't is "evil" too. Sure, its probably not justified, but within that culture, some may say it is.

Who are we to say what's justified? We Americans have a historically-bad track record of coming out on the wrong side of "justication."

[Virginia]

Justification and "culture" do NOT justify shooting children in the back when they are running away in fear!!
Virginia

[Alexandra]

Native Americans will agree with you no doubt.

[CJ]

Hi all,

Agreed, the toy is in bad taste.

I think that, for once, I'll disagree with our resident Devil's Advocate (boy, that feels weird! ); most people who live elsewhere in the world just don't care or don't have an opinion on the U.S. giant any more than we North Americans have an opinion about them... they're just too busy getting on with their lives. Often, skillful manipulation by domestic media will present an image of the U.S. and, worse, its citizens, to you, its target audience, as evil in the eyes of the rest of the world that is just not a reflection of reality. They do this in order to mobilize popular sentiment against non-Americans by encouraging us to adopt an "us-versus-them" attitude and to believe that there's a massive hatred of America out there, in the big wide world. Well there isn't.

Like the tragedy at the Moscow school, or the Spanish train station, or the Malaysian discotheque, or the institutionalized dynamiting of innocents in the Middle East, the killing of thousands in the destruction of the World Trade Center, as horrible and unthinkable as it was, is the work of fanatics--political, religious, or otherwise. Fanatics aren't the voice of the people no matter how much they claim to be so. I think Americans should be wary of the trap that consists in thinking that fanatics and terrorists (of whatever ilk) represent a majority of the world's population. They don't. And there's a huge difference between a war on terrorism and a war on a nation--any nation-- whose population may have sympathies with their more disenfranchised segments.

Most of my friends are either first- or second-generation immigrants from Asia, Africa, or the Middle East (Montreal is very multi-ethnic). My best friend is a Palestinian Arab. What I hear is this: most have nothing whatsoever against Americans (in fact, they often admire the enterprising spirit that seems to so much be a part of your national character). No, what they struggle with is the rampant corporatism that leads to the dehumanization of so many people around the world. And that corporatism is not just American, it belongs to the West, as a whole. This is what the brainwashed idiots who make things blow up hope to strike against, not the firefighter who lost his life on 9/11 and who maybe planned to watch a sitcom later that night, nor any of the other hundreds of regular Janes and Joes who perished on that day. Americans aren't any safer from this kind of psychopathic individual than are the Brits, the French, or Europeans generally, or even Canadians. On the other hand, if it appears you (Americans) are more vilified, it's merely because of the size of your country and of your presence--economic and military--on the world scene. To every Goliath there will always be a whole slew of Davids.

I was nine years old the day the federal government (people my parents and elders put into power) sent the Army tanks rolling into the streets of Montreal to quash political dissention. There's always been a strong secessionist current in the French-Canadian population in Quebec, and it came to head in October of 1970 when the FLQ (Front de Libération du Québec) planted explosives in mailboxes in the richer (read: Anglo) parts of town and kidnapped, and later killed, a high-ranking diplomat. To this day, we've had two referendums (popular consultations) on the issue of whether or not Quebec should separate, both ending up with a No vote. I know for a fact that many of my fellow Québécois devoutly wish to have a country of their own. I also know for a fact that not a single one of them who does will ever agree that the FLQ's way of getting this was the way to go. These people were fanatics and their hatred of the English eclipsed all awareness of what they might have had in common with them or how they may have better gone about struggling for an independent state.

All this to say, to Virginia, that, no, culture never justifies committing barbarous acts... but it can serve to explain them. There's a big difference between a cause (something that sets something else in motion) and a reason (an explanation of why something was set in motion). That Palestinian children, who live in camps or in the rubble of what was formerly their home, are taught, from a very young age, to handle an assault rifle in the hopes of one day having an "enemy" within their sights, is cultural. It didn't use to be. But it is now.

My question is this: can we best prevent harm coming to us by hiding behind beefed up borders (walls, virtual or otherwise) or by going the other way and reach out to those who see us as enemies and show them, not just by our words but by our deeds, that they have little reason to see us as enemies? So far, I've yet to see any nation in the West make a move in that direction that isn't self-serving in some fatal way. We're just not listening. And I think we should, for the good of all.

Okay, I'm getting off the box now. Sorry.

Love,
CJ

[Jassmine(SO)]

Hey Gang

Great post CJ I agree %1000.

*Hugs & Love*

[Kathy]

Hi All,

CJ, thank you for stating, so eloquently, the sentiments that I was having trouble finding the words to express.

Your post was right on target.