Slashdot Mirror
Arthur C. Clarke Reports From Sri Lanka
Jeff Patterson writes "Sir Arthur C. Clarke has filed a damage report from his home in Sri Lanka on the Clarke Foundation page. He is fine, however 'among those affected are my staff based at our diving station in Hikkaduwa and holiday bungalow in Kahawa -- both beachfront properties located in areas worst hit. We still don't know the full extent of damage as both roads and phones have been damaged. Early reports indicate that we have lost most of our diving equipment and boats. Not all our staff members are accounted for -- yet.'"
Glad to here he's alright. Although someone who had said he was a neighbor (in another /. article on the tsunami) said Clarke's house was to far inland to be affected there was still a chance he had been spending the day at the beach or some such.
I'd really hate to see one of Great Authors taken by this disaster, not to diminish the loss of life that did occure.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
Regardless of whether the deaths dwarf 9/11 (they do) unless you have proof this tsunami and earthquake were directly caused by humans, it's not exactly a "foreign 9/11" ...
Actio personalis moritur cum persona. (Dead men don't sue)
if they stay, that's more people who need food, water and shelter. all of which are in short supply.
and more people to catch disease and use up scarce medical supplies.
rebuilding will take years. it is not feasible for them to stay.
if you really want to help then forget about token gestures designed to make you feel good about yourself and just give them your money (directly through appeals or indirectly via foreign aid).
No, it's not a foreign 9/11, it's WORSE. This tragedy, which cost thousands upon thousands more lives than 9/11, was not preventable.
Sure if warning systems were in placed it could have helped lower the death toll, but there is no way to prevent deaths altogether in this situation. At least 9/11 could have been prevented, but right now we have no way to stop earthquakes/tsunamis from happening.
But hey, we Americans don't care. Since only 8 Americans died (thus far) in the trajedy, the news isn't covering it the way you might think they would for a single event that has caused (so far) over 20,000 dead.
Why isn't primetime TV pre-empted for round the clock coverage of this? 8 Americans dead isn't enough to pre-empt programming.
It's events like this that can get one easily pissed off (yet again) over the bias in the American Media.
What's really sad is that the bias reflects most Americans: They don't care about it, since Americans weren't affected that much (except the 8 that died). Typical Americans, at most, only care enough to ask "Could this happen to us in America?"
Everytime I see FOX NEWS show little coverage of this trajedy and move on to the War in Iraq, I am reminded of the hilarious satire song from Team America: World Police:
"America...f*ck yeah!"
He was referring to the focus on one specific person.
Actio personalis moritur cum persona. (Dead men don't sue)
I think you missed the part where he said not all of his staff is accounted for. Or the part where he said he is contributing to the relief efforts. Instead, you picked out the most irrelevant part of what was said, and went with that. Good work.
It's events like this that can get one easily pissed off (yet again) over the bias in the American Media.
This isn't bias in American Media, this is bias in human brains. The further away something is from us personally, the less we care. It's not at all unique to the US.
I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
Why isn't primetime TV pre-empted for round the clock coverage of this? 8 Americans dead isn't enough to pre-empt programming.
Because by and large:
1. It does not affect most Americans. That is not to say people do not care or are not interested; I have not yet found a person I've mentioned this to who hasn't already told me that they know about it. But the reality is, the number of Americans touched directly isn't high. This isn't media bias, it's audience. Saying the media is biased against this is like saying networks should pre-empt programming to talk about elections in other nations. In many ways that would even be MORE important to us locally than a tsunami that, while terrible, is done with. And that said,
2. It is pretty much done with. Yes, there is a TON of cleanup and humanitarian things going on, but how much is there to say about it? "The UN is helping." Okay, great. Do we need to break into programming or dedicate 24/7 coverage on CNN to say that? Do we need experts brought in to talk about what food is or something? Be reasonable. Things like 9/11 are covered in depth not only because of how directly and vastly it affects the average American, but because of how many questions remain unanswered. This was an earthquake, and a tsunami caused by it. It doesn't NEED vast coverage.
I can't believe it. 10s of 1000s of people are dead and all you're concerned about is how the USA will be perceived.
If you've ever wondered why the rest of the world hates Americans, it's because of people like you.
it would be an even more useful saying if you had directed it at those who blame the usa 100% for everything bad that happens, even the things it has no control over or only shares partial accountability for
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I disagree. Here in the UK there has been rather a lot of coverage. Most of the newspapers here have several pages worth of articles covering how bad things are, and how the humanitarian efforts are proceeding in the various affected countries. I'm not sure how many British people died in this tragedy, but I think it's got to be a dozen at most. So this tragedy is no 'closer' to us personally in the UK than it is in the US, but if the media coverage really is as bad in the US as grandparent poster seems to imply, then I think that really is a clear indication of the different attitudes taken by the media in our two countries.
Santa's suicide mission go!
This wasn't an attack, it was an unstoppable and unpredictable event. Yes, it's sad. No, it's not an ongoing threat nor can we do anything about it (except send food and hope for the best)
So far as I can see (and I live in CA, Earthquake country), the media is covering this quite a bit... But it's not incredibly important to someone on the other side of the world.
Incidently, several thousand people starved to death today, more died in accidents, civil wars and from disease. Why no outrage over the poor media coverage for these?
"Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
Sorry to disagree with you, but worst hit would be the natives that will stay there to face all the conseqences of the disaster, people that have lost everything they had, people that have lost their loved ones.
Sorry, but I got really pissed today watching the news and seeing a tourist comming back from Phuket complaining that they (he and his wife) lost everything they took on their holidays. What have you lost, little men? Two suitcases of clothes and a digital camera??? Look around you, little men, and see all those people that had little and now have nothing, look at the corpses floating and mothers mourning for their children. Then go on complaining about your digital camera little men. I won't cry for you.
Unpreventable tragedies: File under "Shit Happens." It's not that we don't care, it's that there's nothing to be done about it that's not already being done. There's no perpetrator with demands to answer. Maybe it's because I don't watch Fox News, but I've seen plenty of news items on continuing relief efforts and speculation on how to minimize the damage of future tsunamis; what angle would you suggest ongoing coverage take? "Thousands Remain Dead"? "Orphans Are Sad"? That's not news.
I find that statement a little left of center. The worst hit will be the tourists? Hell no. The worst hit will be the hundreds of thousands of poor people whose livelihoods have been destroyed/changed forever. Not mention the fact that 1/3 of the dead are children.
Yes many tourists have lost their lives, but many of those who have not will be able to get back on the plane and go home to their easy lives back in suburbia. The citizens in the likes of Sri Lanka, Thailand etc have no way of escaping this nightmare.
*shrug* Maybe Im just being overly sensitive.
Medraut
thank you for illustrating how prejudice works
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
if i call cnn right now and say "i work at nasa! there's an asteroid headed towards alberta! you have 2 hours to warn people!" exactly what in your mind is going to happen at that point?
the onus is on the governments of the indian ocean for not setting up a system for these warnings to be effective
if every scientist at the noaa and the usgs called everyone they could think of and screamed bloody murder, and in fact, it is my understanding a lot of them did, their armageddon-level predictions would fall on deaf ears
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
american lives are being lost right now so that nonamericans can live in a land of political freedom someday
it is interesting that you speak of human lives and rights, and you can protest american actions that are actually promoting such a thing, while you fall so very silent on what is happening in the sudan for example
your conscience seems to have an unhealthy obsession with america, no?
is the usa the center of the world?
i don't think so, but you apparently do
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Fact is, _most_ have survived, not "some". The death toll is high but the affected area is also huge.
so, you are suggesting that the usa put warning buoys in the indian ocean i assume? ..."usa spying on indian ocean! usa ignoring maritime rights of sovereign nations!"
..."usa ignoring sovereignty and is doing actions tantamount to declaring war!"
and then, in the spirit of your words, the usa has to set up warning systems in the mainland... why? because the local authorities aren't doing so... and you are expecting the usa to shoulder this burden, right?
how about this stunning idea for you: accountability and responsibilty are concepts that the usa doesn't have a monopoly on
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
So this tragedy is no 'closer' to us personally in the UK than it is in the US...
Many of the countries hit by this earthquake/tsunami are former British colonies (India, Sri Lanka/Ceylon, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar/Burma) and others were formerly under the colonial power of European nations (Indonesia was once Dutch ruled, Madagascar was French ruled, etc).
It seems that the UK (and Europe) has much closer personal ties to these countries than the US, so that could explain the increased coverage in the UK.
I agree though, the short attention span of American media definitely has something to do with it. It's interesting that some people are saying "that could never happen to the US, so that's why people don't care."
There's a volcano on the Canary Islands that could erupt and trigger a tsunami that would deluge the Eastern coast of the United States. The west coast of the US is vulnerable to tsunamis created by the "Ring of Fire". Maybe this disaster will not only get counties around the Indian Ocean to take tsunamis more seriously, but also people on the coasts of the US as well.
----- rL
but when madmen from the middle east kill thousands of my fellow countrymen in office towers, then the responsibility has been thrust upon my country to remedy the socioeconomic, geopolitical, and theohistoric forces that conspire to turn men who would otherwise be doctors and lawyers into cold blooded murderers
tell me, you who has all the answers, what an american is supposed to do after 9/11?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Why isn't primetime TV pre-empted for round the clock coverage of this?
What else is there to say about it? Aid is on the way from all over the world, and a repeat event from aftershocks is considered unlikely by seismologists. I expect that the people in the affected countries have rather more to worry about than whether you think the news coverage you see is adequate.
But hey, we Americans don't care.
Speak for yourself. Some of us contribute to aid organizations, and don't use a natural disaster as just one more opportunity to take a cheap shot at our countryment.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
you fail to concede that responsibility and accountability is not the sole province of the usa, and that if something happens in the indian ocean, the usa should help, and it is helping...
but the failure to act in a timely manner and not having a system in place to save lives is something the governments local to the indian ocean have proved shameful about, not the usa
because your pov seems to demand of the usa to respect other people (warn them appropriately to save lives)... by disrespecting other people (set up a system that disregards their own abilities to take care of themselves)
the usa is a member of the global community, not an owner of the global community
you cannot condemn the usa for not doing something that your own pov insists they cannot do
follow the logic of your position to its conclusion, and you will see the logical inconsistencies in what you are saying
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Ok, maybe this is just showing how my brain works, but...
There is a very great difference between a human's knowing intent to cause pain and suffering, and nature once again reminding us who is really the boss.
With willful human intent, you have the questions of who did it, why, how, where did the money come from, are we going to go after their bosses, what scale is the conflict going to be on...?
With a natural disaster, the conversation is more along the lines of "told ya we shoulda had a better warning system" and "told ya we shoulda had a stricter building code" or whatever.
Don't get me wrong, in both cases there is the question of "is my relative OK?" I'm not quite that machine-minded. Also the "who's going to clean this up?" If they weren't already spread thin as hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the answer to the last one was US Soldiers. Believe me, the government keeps tabs on stuff the public could care less about/doesn't know about.
All the recriminations now begin, even before the bodies are buried (or even counted). Bottom Line: This is an unprecedented natural disaster, and the same warning/response systems that existed in the pacific didn't really exist in that area of the world.
This is something so far out of the realm of most peoples experience, that it's quite natural to assume some incredulity on their part. Do you pay attention to the wide-eyed guy on the street corner with the sign that says "The end is near?" I thought not... most people ignore him, just as you probably do.
Just to add to the political fray, some reports have UN officials already complaining that the US and other western nations are being "stingy" with their aid packages... and even suggesting that those countries raise taxes on their citizens to pay for more aid (if you believe the Wash. Times).
Maybe some of these folks should focus more on helping, rather than wasting their breath trying to find a scapegoat.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Run, you will be swept away. Grab something and you will be hit by debris, then swept away. It's like catching the flash of a nuclear blast, sure there is stuff you can do, but you are simply doubling your chances of survival from 0.1 to 0.2 %.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
What makes you think they didn't try? Even if GWB got on the phone and called the heads of government of all the countries likely to be affected, without an emergency response system, by the time the news filtered down to the people who could do something about it, it would have been too late.
Anyone who blames the US for this is simply looking for excuses to blame the US for everything.
You are going to need a massive education program to accompany said warning system, in nations where large portions of the population can't read. While it can be done, and it should be done, all the technology in the world is not going to fix this problem. Education will.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
I seriously doubt CNN would carry a story of a potential catastrophy, at best they would prepare to cover it when it happens.
The procedure would be to call the secretary of state and let them inform the proper authorities and local media in the area. What is interesting is that they _did_ call the embassies, but somehow the message didn't go much further than that.
Hehe - I'm a spaniard living in America and I too was in Madrid over the weekend (still am, actually). I agree with you that Europe is covering this quite a bit, but not outside the normal shows. TV is still going on, regular shows are being programmed. During the news this gets absolutely top billing and the same footage is repeated over and over again. Still, it's nowhere near 9/11 news reporting. During that tragedy EVERY SHOW on EVERY CHANNEL was preempted, in many cases there wasn't even any advertising. Channels that had no good news reporting simply switched over to the CNN feed.
Nonetheless, I have to point out a flaw in your reasoning and the grandparent post's - the reason this is different than 9/11 is not because of the distance, or evil americans not caring about foreign citizens. That influences only how much time you spend on the specific story in the news shows.
The difference is, 9/11 was a man-made disaster. Back in 2001, someone decided to take down those two towers, and do it in a particularly gruesome way that set back american civil liberties pretty seriously. Some asshole in a hat figured that he didn't like us for a some reasons that I'm sure feel perfectly logical to him and attacked us. Had it been a nation doing the attacking and not a group of terrorists hiding all over the world they would have gotten nuked off the surface of the earth.
This disaster however was natural. The mole people didn't get up last week and figure out they had to kill Arthur C. Clarke before his satellites discover the extent of their underground lair - no, it simply happened. It is tragic, it is terrible, but Mother Nature did not declare war on the Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India - it was just a very unfortunate event. One that could have been ameliorated with the proper warning systems, but that's besides the point now - hopefully they'll be better prepared for the next one.
-Jack Ash
Even if GWB got on the phone and called the heads of government of all the countries likely to be affected, without an emergency response system, by the time the news filtered down to the people who could do something about it, it would have been too late.
Come on man! don't be naive. A red scrolling bar on CNN or BBC would have saved lives. We know that the governments are not the most efficient ways of doing this. Anybody sufficiently powerful alerting news media would have helped.
I think you're just assuming the US isn't covering this much, as another poster said, i have seen almost nothing else on the news, and it is the top story of every newscast. Yes, people who are not directly effected will not "care" as much as those who are, for instance do you think the Ukraine is preempting all their election news with Tsunami coverage? It's doubtful, so while the US is covering the Tsunami coverage EXTENSIVELY, the news channels are also covering Iraq as many people are worried about what is happening to their children.
You're missing what he is saying. He has what is sometimes called a 'delicate English manner', and if you are unfamiliar with it then you might well infer things as incorrectly as you have. He is no way setting human life below property. Be assured that it is quite the opposite, actually. The English do not beat their breasts about things in a Mediterranian fashion, but they do grieve deeply. To a foreign ear, it can be as subtle as haiku.
You seem to be implying that I somehow don't care about all the people who died in 9/11 and you think the reason I don't care is because of my over powering hatred of the US ? Obviously that is complete rubbish and makes about as much sense as the rest of your post does.
When a terrorist organisation carries out an attack on the scale of 9/11 and you realise that these terrorists are largely the same people your country was funding, arming and training in the recent past you should be considering the truth that actions have consequences and sometimes knee jerk reactions influenced by badly thought out morally guided policies are not necessarily a good thing in the long term.
The kind of terrorism espoused by Osama Bin Laden is terrorism which has no sympathy from any country anywhere - virtually nowhere is hard line enough for their fundamentalist policies, before the US became the main target they were targetting other Middle Eastern countries. It is largely because they were so ineffective at gaining any kind of popular support with their actions there that they decided they may get more support by attacking the US.
Had the US simply channelled their resources and power into getting rid of the actual terrorists themselves then everyone would be be applauding loudly and thinking the US is next best thing since sliced bread.
Instead the US administration have used "Global Terrorism" as the next big Evil against which the US can fight and are less interested in actually doing anything about terrorism as using it as an excuse to flex it's muscles and continue it's Cold War policies to build a more powerful, stronger government machine.
The main thing the Iraqui invasion has achieved with respect to global terrorism is the creation of many more terrorists and a massive increase in the popular support in the Islamic world.
From your post I can't really see what it is you are trying to say except that it is probably a good idea to force the entire Middle East to Americas will and some crap about "original sin". Possibly you are also saying that the US is justified in doing what it likes so long as it suits the US. You really need to wake up and mayeb try to think for yourself a little, learning how to do up your shoelaces would probably be a good start for you.
...everything bad that happens anywhere in the entire world can be blamed on americans, even tsunamis.
Anyone who blames the US for this is simply looking for excuses to blame the US for everything.
Events like this can make for good filters. If anybody actually seriously tries to put any blame on the US for any part of this disaster, you can safely ignore anything they say about almost anything.
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
This is properly a "tough luck" situation. The planet shrugged, and some people fell off.
If it had happened to California, thousands would have died too, regardless of the USGS. In that situation, I doubt the most citizens of Sri Lanka or other other countries would have given a damn about the loss of life. They would only have been mildly interested for the entertainment value.
Most of us don't care if anyone that they don't know dies. Humanity does not currently have a dangerously low breeding population, so no problem.
--
It's called the proper chain of command. If there's no contact point for this kind of information, then there's no quick way to get people to realize the severity. CNN probably saw it on the AP wire and said *yawn
8,"Another earthquake. Jim see if you can run down a 20 second bit for the 10 o'clock news."
Three hours isn't long enough for a warning when there's no efficient mechanism in place for dealing with the event in rapid fashion. Hell, it takes an hour here in my corner of the US for the local TV/radio stations to get school delays/closings up and running when we have an unexpected snow. If Sri Lanka monitored an earthquake off the Atlantic coast of the US, and suspected a possible tidal wave headed for a group of barrier islands in the mid atlantic region, which TV or radio station would you call? I live 400 miles away, and I have no idea. If you did call, and spoke with a heavy accent (you do know all the languages in the world, right?), do you think they'd believe you and put it on the nes immediately? Of course not, they'd try to verify it before they broadcast such a warning. For an area with so few tidal waves, this sounds like a prank call to me.
Unfortunately, it takes a tragedy before those with the means decide it is worth their while to prepare for such disasters. I'm sure that this will spur more countries to create the pathways of communication necessary to mitigate damage in the future.
This is a tragedy, and a terrible one. I agree that it is worse than the 9/11/01 attack - far worse in human loss.
[aside] I believe it is less shocking because natural disasters occur on a fairly regular basis, whereas terrorists flying passenger jets into buildings is crazy. More improtantly, the cameras were rolling when the real tragedy occured - the buildings collaped on/with many occupants. Drama, horror, immediacy. [/aside]
My thoughts and prayers go out to all who have lost loved ones, and I hope that the country can pull together and get the physical damage repaired as soon as possible.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Come on man! don't be naive. A red scrolling bar on CNN or BBC would have saved lives. We know that the governments are not the most efficient ways of doing this. Anybody sufficiently powerful alerting news media would have helped.
The lives of some of the tourists, maybe. Other than that, how many lives do you think would have been saved in fishing villages where most folks don't have a TV, and have learned to distrust much of what CNN has to say in the first place? You need to have the message go to people on the ground who are able to implement an existing emergency management plan (in this case, an evacuation plan), or the best you can hope for is panic in the streets.
The solution to problems like these is for governments to have Emergency Management Agencies, and for there to be coordination of the various EMAs so they can communicate with one another in times of crisis. Imagine if the folks at USGS and NOAA could have just picked up a phone, called the FEMA contact person for international emergencies, and he could have just turned to the phone banks and called his opposite numbers in Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, the Maldives, etc. That might have been effective.
The difference is that writing a cheque can actually be done - the average citizen if dropped into that situation would only add to the problem because they have no experience. However, donating will help the aid organisation get what's needed, get it into the country, and use it.
On the other hand, humans have strange minds. Helping someone rebuild their house to make takes precedence over giving them money. Give me a shovel and fly me the hell in there.
How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
I hate to sound like a bastard, but I second the parent opinion. Remember all that aid that India sent when the twin towers came down? I don't either.
If you guys want to live on the cheap and take our jobs in the process, fair enough. But when shit hits the fan don't come crying to us to bail you out--we take that high cost of living and invest in things like warning systems and medical care. If you want to compete with us with lower costs of living, you get what you pay for.
where did you miss me say "it is most important to remember that thousands died needlessly" in my original post?
But that wasn't the topic of your post. The topic of your post will be "this is going to make America look bad." You're perfectly and rightfully free to say whatever you want, but that doesn't mean you're not a complete and utter bastard.
You're NOT the saviour of the world - and you would know all this if you actually studied the facts instead of listening to the official doctrine along with the rest of the american sheeple.
Way to generalize. I love how Americans would get figuratively flayed alive if they tried spewing such things about other countries, but somehow it's okay for everyone else to assume that all US citizens are mindless drones and support the "official doctrine" unconditionally.
And since it seems pertinent to this point, from your website:
To my american readers. You're not under attack. There are no wars you need to fight. You should look after your own country instead of pretending to be the world police. You need to elect a leader with at least half a brain - and get rid of your two party system as quickly as you can
Almost half the country (including myself) tried, my friend. I get the feeling people like you wouldn't be happy with anything short of a violent revolution, though.
Again, you seem to think that the entire country is akin to a hive-mind - we're all fat, warmongering, right-wing nutjobs.
If the last time this sort of thing happened in Sri Lanka was in 200 BC, then I suppose one can't be so harsh on the Sri Lankan Gov for not being that prepared for such an event (even though IMO after a 8.9 Richter (or anything over 7) event anyone in coastal areas around the epicenter should obviously prepare for tsunamis).
Oh well. Hindsight 20-20...
Wow... fuck you people. We're talking 50,000+ dead and all you can think about is your wallet?! They're now facing an epidemic of disease from all the rotting human and animal corpses. They need money for tarps and drinkable water. There is _no_ comparison with september 11th. These people need help, people like you make me ashamed to be American.
Yes, we all take the official doctrine hook line and sinker. That's why about 49% of us worked so hard to get Bush out of office, and why in almost every one of the states with a well-educated populace he was defeated soundly.
I know, I know, you're really just pumping your blog and trolling as you always do Troed. You could at least acknowledge an "ends justifies the means" debate when one exist.
Clearly Afghanistan is far more democratic now then it was under the Taliban, this isn't even worth discussing - you can't compare Afghanistan with the democracy of a modern first world country, which will take decades to achieve there. And Iraq, of course, I will reserve judgement for, but it's hard to get less democratic than Saddam Hussein's regime (doesn't mean I think the invasion of Iraq was justified however).
As though thousands of voices cried out in terror, and then suddenly silenced.
It's stuff like this that (where somehow the US is being blamed for frickin natural disaster deaths
NO ONE is blaming the US for the Deaths. Some people who are very upset are asking if more could have been done. This happens every time there is a tragic incident. After 9-11, lots of people were asking "what more could they have done to prevent this". Where these people 'blaming' America?
Apparently the US can do no right in pretty much anything we do (we are in the classic Catch 22 scenario, there seems to be no action that we can take on anything that will earn us anything but blame
OK, I'm biting. Notice how when our actions do not involve military force, they tend to be welcomed. When we send food to starving people, they like it. When we send in people to build infrastucture in 3rd world countries, they like it. When we drop bombs on their cities and/or occupy their countries, they don't like it.
Is that really so hard to understand?
I remember every website/tv show/whatever media acknowledged it somehow for the next few weeks, and people did too. Red white and blue ribbons were on google and slashdot (I think), yahoo went black and white, people wore pins on their lapels. The world as a whole just sufferred a massive loss, again, why not acknowledge it in the same way? What could do more for the image of america abroad than the knowledge that every other person is wearing a pin to acknowledge a tragedy that hapenned on the other side of the planet?
Nah. The moral of that sentence is that I miss my dad.