Slashdot Mirror
Our New Pearl Harbor
Eerily, the scene invokes disaster movies -- a number of which have actually shown the World Trade Center towers being blown up. Staring across the harbor on this gorgeous day, it takes a few seconds to realize that this isn't the evocation of something new and horrible, but the real thing, our own Pearl Harbor, perhaps even worse, since it struck us closer to home and reminded us all how technology can bring us all nose-to-nose with war in seconds, and there are no real barriers between people willing to use it in evil ways and us. Technology allows us to see the building collapse before the reporters even know what has happened. We have to try and make sense of it ourselves.
The silence is stunning, unprecedented for mid-morning, mid-week anywhere near Manhattan island. Everyone is in shock. Stories, malls, business are closing, their workers crying, distracted, unsure of how to behave.
Technology turns planes into weapons. It tracks aircraft hundreds of miles away. It brings us instant and horrific images. It sends us to e-mail, telephones and cell phones to spread news, facts, rumors and stories.
We are both shocked and oddly prepared. Sci-fi and other forms of popular culture have been preparing us for this kind of Techno-Armageddon for years. Technology can do all sorts of amazing things, but it can't protect us from a handful of determined people. We've never seen anything like it, yet in a strange way we have thought of it for years.
Standing over the harbor, I did something I haven't done in 20 years. I dropped to my knees -- following the lead of a bunch of strangers -- and prayed. I have a bunch of friends in somewhere in that Techno-Armageddon, and just wanted to post these thoughts. If anybody wants to post their own, hopefully here's a good place.
fp?
"In the City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apprt by Chaos, while the fotress undures, the great leader will succumb" "The third big war will begin when the big City is burning"
quote -Nostradamus- 1654 n. C.
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gautier
I was going to post this a.m. about the dread
over anticipating another Jon_Katz lame post
about the World Trade Center but declined over
respect of leaving room for real information
about the World Trade Center.
Don't you have something better to do such as
write bad novels or smoke some marijuana?
Woot_spork (helping keep Slashdot JonKatz-free
for over 2 years)
Is JonKatz HIMSELF hunting me down? I can't believe that 5 points have already been wasted modding me down as flamebait and a troll. How low can I go, in a response to a (-1) response to a (-1)? Is ANYONE reading my posts here but JonKatz's most valiant defenders?
-=Best Viewed Using [INLINE]=-
shut up!
i liked what he had to say
That the terrorists use sophisticated encryption measures and that our intelligence agencies are under-funded and don't have the ability to keep tabs on the terrorists
This isn't nesicarily true, cell based organizations, if they are smart, will avoid anything but direct communications.
To answer your other question. No. I will not give up any of my liberties. The world is an unsafe place, we must accept the risks that come with being a free nation. If we do not then the experiment is over. Jerry Pournelle thinks that this is the end of the Republic and the move to an Empire. See www.jerrypournelle.com for more of his thoughts. See www.libertynews.org for discussions and news.
Remember Lexington Green!
shut up, why don't you just go f*** off yourself!
You, my friend, are sadly mistaken.
It's HARBOUR, with the 'u'. Obviously Katz still thinks in its limited American mentality.
This hits us 'closer to home' than Pearl Harbor?!!!!!! You fucking moron! New York is not the center of the US. In the face of this incredible horror can you at least not be an ass?!!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Take that, great Satan!
you should have read his entire post.
Please mod this up.
Unfortunately, what this will probably mean is that America will become a much more restrictive place to live. In an effort to keep people safe, more restrictions on our freedoms will be sacrificed. Ideally, IMHO, this event would be used as a mirror, to see how we as a society helped manifest this reality. Sadly, most of what I've heard has been about retaliation, revenge, standing up proud and showing whoever did this that we are not weak. The people who did this need to be held accountable, but we also need to examine our own complicity if we really want to live in a different world.
The above post was why one should always wait 5 minutes between composing and submitting.
I apologize partially. I saw the lame headline, and then skimmed, and only really read the last two paragraphs, which were exceedingly lame (YMMV).
The first 2/3s of the article had much substance. It is a first-person account from someone who has a unique perspective of the incident. I hope you find that your friend is okay.
I'm sorry I tore into you a minute ago. I may not always respect your journalism, but I should remember to always give it full attention when I intend to reply.
-Grant/"JimTheta"
My stupid web site
Somebody mod this up even higher. This goes to the heart of the matter of why Katz is such a poor commentator on the intersection of technology and culture.
You can finally see what you've taken to many other countries... Chile, Vietnam, Korea... too bad for the innocent people, but finally YOU AMERICANS HAVE SEEN THE SAME HORROR YOU'VE CAUSED IN SO MANY PLACES!
Suck the collective dick of the non karma-whoring population of slashdot.
If it had seven sides, it would be a *septagon*. *sex* has the meaning as *hex*, from the other side of the graeco/roman divide.
triangle
square
pentagon
hexagon
septagon
octagon
nonagon
decagon
...
Don't be an idiot.
That's 100 octane racing gas.
For the speedway.
Hey, Jon: Would you please explain what the "horrific convergence between technology, politics, and information"? You use big words
in the hope of impressing your readers. You are
wrong.
By the way, the sentence should read "among"
rather than between with three subjects.
You need some LSD to bring you back to reality.
Woot.
This is what you can do to contribute:
Don't contribute to Slashdot.
Thanks
too bad Katz wasn't in the WTC himself when it happened!
you dirty bastard
I could kill you with my own hands
As for his story being "tasteless", I'm sure he has other things in mind than producing sensationalistic pieces, given that he may very well have friends who died in one of the attacks.
You don't like his story? Fine, don't read it.
like you just don't like somebody grieving or dealing with this publicly in their own way. So, how SHOULD he express his (though wacked and skewed) sentiment? Apparently, in a fashion that YOU approve of...whatta cocksmoker.
what goes around comes around.
Where does Katz come up with this stuff and why is he getting paid for it? I could sit there and randomly generate articles with more literary merit than his drivel.
shoot them fucking sandniggers and BOIL THEIR CHILDREN IN OIL.
Fucking commies. It had to be them.
tacky, straight up tacky.
for what again? A reaction should be REQUIRED, in fact, a heavy military response, but only after we've mourned our loss, dusted ourselves off, and oh yeah, MADE DAMN SURE that we've got the right people. I guess promoting irrational violent responses about revenge and insulting ENTIRE races and religions worldwide is the only way to be perceived as patriotic right now (at least at /. ) I'm all for flexing our muscles, but the reactions in here from what I would normally consider the more enlightened crowd of people in the world are just plain stupid. As a former infantryman, I'm almost ashamed that men such as myself have PROVIDED you assholes the right to DEMAND anything at all. At least some of us put our money where our mouth was and have served this country (unlike most here, I'm sure), and I find it funny that posters like me are the most calm. It's the "armchair" soldiers that I don't understand. Time to put on the asbestos suit, as every post at /. gets twisted around anyway. Peace