(no subject)

[bubosquared]

People talking about America and pride and how dare they attack the USA (not as in 'my home" but as in "the USA, land of the free, home of the brave, or however that schpiel goes) are scaring me. And hurting me. Because this is about the loss of human lives, not American lives.

And every time someone talks about it like that, I can't help but think, what about the IRA victims? The Red Hand Defender victims? The CCC? The Bende van Nijvel? UCK? All the victims in Northern Ireland, in Britain, in Belgium, in France, in Spain, wherethefuckever, what about them? Are their deaths less tragic because they were not American?

I don't caree if that's not what you mean. It's what you're implying when you talk about America, and pride, and how dare they. And coming from people I like, that's a slap in the face, because it feels like I'm worth less to them because I'm not American. It's as if, should the terrorists have targeted Europe, and sent the centre of Brussels aflame, those it wouldn't have been quite this bad because this isn't the USA, and Belgium is not some ideal, some epitome of freedom or whatever.

People are people are people. Everyone has people who care about them. Everyone. Ever violent death is a tragedy, every deceased is mourned over, and every terrorist should be caught and punished. Geography is not an issue here. This was not a crime against America, this was a crime against humanity. And every time someone gets up in arms about America over this, I feel like they would be less vengeful, less angry, less caring about my death, because I'm just a European. And that's just not something I want to think I'm hearing from my friends.

Everyone has the right to their own opinions, but I have the right to be irrational and frightened and angry, and to do the electronic equivalent of sitting in a corner with my teddybear, hands over my ears, singing "Lalalala, I can't hear you!"

(Edit: Of course I'll let my friends grieve. I'm grieving too. Everyone is grieving, and only a few are turning this into an American thing. And I really don't think this isn't an indication of something that was there all along: the conviction that America is, somehow, more special than any other country, and Americans are more special people than any other people. And that's what hurts me, and that's what I'm refusing to subject myself to.)

Comments

[craftyeuropean.livejournal.com]

I know the feeling... I was talking with one of my American friends yesterday and that hit me so hard...The way they're talking is quite scary "I've never been more proud to be American", "We have to retaliate and we'll win"... Win? I just don't understand them sometimes.

[kezzyau.livejournal.com]

Melle - your American friends are grieving and in shock. You may not like what they are saying or how they are expressing that grief or shock. But just let them grieve. Please.

[kkscatnip.livejournal.com]

the thing is, i can see both viewpoints.

americans are greving, and because they dont really know any other way, they are turning their greivance into pride for their country. let them.

everyone else sees it as a loss of human life, and like you, are angry that it is being turned into an american thing. i agree with the other person who said let them, for now, because they dont know what else to do. this is a hugely world-shattering event. people will have very admant opinions.

[ex-verdandi713.livejournal.com]

I think I should have "We're Not All Like That" tattooed on my forehead--not that any of you folks would actually believe it. LOL.

I love my country, but I don't confuse that with a generalized carte blanche to stomp on someone else's. Most Americans do not. The most intelligent and well-spoken of us are, unfortunately, usually the last people you will see staring back at you on your television screen.

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Oh, of course you're not. Seriously, there's really only a few people in my direct envirmonment that've made me feel like this. Most of you, as I said, are grieving for the people, not their nationality.

Trust me, I do know not all of you are like that. I'm just scared most of you are, and that the top is like that.

Sorry, Melle

[kezzyau.livejournal.com]

I wasn't having a go at you personally, but it's getting hard to judge the tone of people's entries and comments at the moment. Which I now realise is partly what you were trying to say.

[zillahcross.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm always horrified when I see acts of terrorism. Always. It's never something that I ignore, never something that I say "Yeah, not here, doesn't matter" about.

But it does feel different to me, now that it's closer to me. It does feel different now that I'm the one who's had the fighters overhead, and I'm not going to apologize for the fact that it took it happening here for it to really, really, be made real to me.

That doesn't mean that I feel less about people in other countries, it means that I'm even more sympathetic now than I was before.

And I won't apologize for feeling somehow more American now, because I can't explain why I do. It's how I feel. I'm Irish, and I've lost family in Ireland to terroist attacks, and it hurt and scared me, but I'll admit to it scaring me more when it happened in New York. It doesn't mean I think less of you because you're not American, either. It means that I'm holding on to what I can.

A lot of what you're seeing is people trying to process this, a lot of outpouring of emotion from people who aren't equipped to deal with this firsthand because they've never had to. I'm one of those.

[suka.livejournal.com]

I understand what you're getting at... That's been bothering me, too.

And I thought of you when I heard NATO had been evacuated in Brussels, you know. *hugs*

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Thanks. (The Land Of The Brave thing has been bothering me for years, actually; it's just the fact that people are saying it even in the light of such tragedy that's ... unsettling.)

*hug* Thank you! Although in all honesty, I didn't know about that until I heard it from you lot. :)