going on the information we currently have, why not just hate extremist islamic fundamentalists who condone terrorism instead of the muslim people as a whole?
it is about pain and sorrow though there is an underlying element of racism in your reaction even though you're as far as i know not racist. i guess when atrocities are carried out by offenders of one racial background or nation against another it is almost instinct to react in such a way as to stereotype thanks to xenophobia, something constantly reinforced by the mainstream press.
i'd feel hate if my friend died at the hands of these terrorists. going off what i presently know, in a similar scenario i hope such hate wouldn't be directed at a nationality or race, but rather a regime. after all it's not the people but the regime that is truly responsible for foreign and national political and/or ideological policies.
whether democracy or dictatorship, such policy is enforced on (and often embraced by) the majority of the people through either brute force, abuse of power, or deception, sometimes all three. the howard govt mislead the public into thinking children were thrown overboard, this resulted in a great deal of australians supporting our draconian immigration policies. plenty of australians didn't support the iraq war either yet howard committed regardless of public opinion.
like you mentioned, the japanese did do terrible things to the chinese in the war. i can understand to an extent that generation of chinese hating the japanese, but the facts are those young japanese soliders were only carrying out orders which were enforced by violence basically. they didn't necessarily want to do what they did but it was encouraged from above.
at the end of the day i really don't think those women living in extreme fundamentalist regions of pakistan, being killed or maimed by their own families to save face (a lot of the time just for the woman being seen in public with a man, even her brother) give two fucks about taking away our freedom, do you?
slm: my previous post came across cold, all loss of life is senseless and tragic, but then again maybe so is life itself. i have a friend who was in the area and stood a reasonable chance of being injured or killed had he not gone to work earlier. i'm not that bitter, i just don't like what these attacks are going to achieve, support for more wars and a reduction in our freedom, but not by the terrorists, we will give it up ourselves, in order to keep it. hmmm. odd. very nazi germany
