9/11 has appraoched the level of the Holocaust (her ein the Us, anyway), in terms of what you rae allowed to say and how you are allowed to say it. You really can;t compare anything to level of horro of the Holocaust and not get some kind of backlash, 9/11 has becaome tha way to, you can't say anything about hte policemen, involved, the fireman, etc.

I lost count of the number of times I have been called a terrorist sympathizer, etc. for things I said on US policy in the Middle East.

I as an American think the medi aon the 5th anniversary of 9/11 was a bit much, not that I don;t htink they shouldn't remmeber those who died, but I have to wonder why American citizens arepushing their leaders on the hard questions, of what are they really doing to prevent future terrorism, not just here in the US, part around the world, we only really quasi ask these questions.

Maybe you should consider exactly how many Canadians HAVEN'T died thanks to being bordered with the United States. Your asses would have long ago been conquered by somebody.

I totally agree. Shack, I'm sorry if I came off as some die hard American patriot earlier, but I really don't think you can just downplay the attacks by saying "what's the big deal, like 1000 people got blown up by some terrorists, who cares?" when A) that's not even the case and B) it's really crass and C) you don't think about how saying something like that could offend people.

Exactly, the worst response to diehard not well thought patrotism is to say the attacks meant nothing and are no big deal, the reality is it somewher in the middle. I have friends whose parents died, obviously its alot more personal for them then me, yes, I know people who died, a few in the WTC and 2 on of the planes, but these were not people I talked ot everyday or were really close to, so I can have some emotional distance. So I undertsand why there was alot of hoopla on 9/11, even if I thought it was a bit much, but I am more concerned now with the US foreign policy. If my dad had died, or my husband, I'd feel differently.

I htink we all have atendency at points to dismiss the difficulties of other countries, and given how the US media tends to shove alot of thigns down the throats of other people I can see someone haveing Shack's reaction.

Are people actually serious about the media overhyping 9/11?

The media overhypes crimes like OJ, Scott Peterson, etc

When 3,000 people who are just doing their jobs have their lives taken away from them by brain washed tools flying 3 planes into buildings, thats war and war isnt something that can be overhyped.

Well... it can.

I think freedom fries was going a bit far.

No it's not war, it's a crime. The terrorists in their dreams would like it to be war, because that puts them on the same playing field as more honorable real soldiers but they are just two bit criminals who deserve to rot in some remote prison in some small town in America.

Apparently they were not, and I am just an evil terrorist sympathizer.

Uh... right. Because the U.S. has defended us so many times.

Maybe you should read all the comments, some of us are talking about overhyping the remembrances, do I think they have a right ot a memorail, yes, does it need to be on every station and every channel, even Howard Stern, no. When I turn to CNN is interesting to rewatch the live read from 9/11, but when I turend on Stern is was because I needed an emotional break from the whole thing.

What happened that day is a helluva alot more complex then your one sentence can possibly convey.

Uh...d'uh?

It wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that you're bordered with the world's #1 badass of a country, and nobody messes with you because they don't want to mess with the USA, would it?

You think?

No one wants to mess with the USA? What the hell have we been talking about? What would you call 9/11?

You guys being the "#1 badass of a country" hasn't stopped terrorists from attacking you guys, while Canada has yet to be attacked. I think, if anything, our allegiance to you has hurt us far more than it has helped us, especially considering America's reputation around the world.

Jeez...you're just a naive kid, huh?

America has been attacked very few times, and whenever that's happened, the person who did it was soundly pounded for it. That's why 911 was so profound, because America is NEVER attacked. Trust me, you're safe under the security blanket that we provide for you, and your "allegiance" hasn't hurt you, because your little fighters don't add up to enough to really get noticed.

If you weren't on friendly terms and weren't sharing our border, they wouldn't think twice about fucking you up. I'm just glad that your attitude isn't represenative of most of the good people in Canada.

Who is this 'they' that you're referring to? The terrorists? I'm just wondering who hates Canada so much that they're just itching to get a chance to invade us.

You've never been to Canada, have you? My attitude is actually quite representative of people here. We're not all down on our knees thanking America for the warm security blanket we sleep under.

This is the point were I implore you both agree to disagree, and go your respective corners, because this has going downhill fast written all over it.

Yes, I've been to Canada, and I seriously doubt that your circle of travels represent the whole country. I just hope that the good people there aren't so dumb as to think that when the WORLD trade center was attacked, it was an attack on the US.

Anyway, I'm out of this conversation. I can't reduce my cerebral activity enough to follow.

Can someone remind me: what was it that France did to the USA again?

(...other than backing America in gaining it's independence from the British, giving them the Statue of Liberty, etc...)

And I'm German and even if I was an Inuit, I'd still love the film for its cinematic measures.

Well, I guess we can all agree the film isn't very good.

Oh wait...

Also what makes 9/11 so, for the lack of a better wird, "special" is the sheer unprecedence of the whole thing. Wars will remain wars, epidemics will remain epidemics, natural disasters have always happened, but a terrorist attack executed in this blatant, open and unprecedented manner is...uhh..."unique" to this very day.

The same thing with Holocaust, besides the fact that it was immensly tragic, it was also unprecedent. This is the reason why the genocide in Rwanda is/was (sadly) "overlooked" because it would not be the first case in history.

The first nuclear terror attack will be regarded in the same way (bound to happen one day or another).

And I can't wait for the docudrama.

Perhaps even with a shaky cam.

Errr... didn't that already happen back in 1945? Japanese had been trying too surrender through that summer, but Yanks throw down the nukes anyways, killing 214,000 civilians, mostly women and children. Many say that it had less to do with ending WWII, and was more of an opening salvo in the coming cold war. Talk about yer terror attacks...

BTW, where's the Titanic-esque English language dramatic movie based on Hiroshima? Of course, children getting vapourized or dying of radiation burns is perhaps not as photogenic, nor as dramatic as U93's "heroics"...

Thats being generous, i've read the casulties were well over a million, though thats tough call, dropping the nuclear bombs back on Hiroshima saved at least 1 million American Soldiers, Japan would have been tough to conquer.

Ya know, if you really are going to torque people off with the 9/11 comments, the least thing you could do is get your facts straight. If its so overtalked about like you say it is, it shouldnt be hard to find out the number of deaths. At least be close.

Pwned.

Seriously, though, that's a good point. I guess it's not that overhyped if people are off on the number of deaths by almost 2,000. Heh.