Have Americans Learned Anything from 9/11?

Following the tragedy of 9/11 there was much debate as to the cause.
One strain of thought was the attitude of Americans to foreign
cultures. Their belief that democracy was the only political framework
that worked and that capitalism is the only economical system, that is
successful and that big and white are the only beautiful things in the
world.

with the election of President Obama there was an expectation of
change. However, if New York Times reporter Sarah Lyall (Daily Mail
26th August 2009) and Rupert Murdoch's son James (The Independent 29th
August 2009) are representative of current American opinion - they
have learned nothing from 9/11.

Because she was so "emotionally shattered" due to the "raw anguish"
and "untrammelled grief " of the parents and relatives of the
Lockerbie Pam Am disaster, the British are short-sighted Scottish
compassion is misplaced.

"Multiply all this grief and all this emotion by 270 and you begin to
have some idea of the horror with which many Americans greeted the
news that Megrahi had been freed by the Scottish government".
No mention of the 270 or so people killed by the American Warship
shooting down a passenger aircraft some months before Lockerbie and no
justice delivered . No mention of the thousands killed due to the
American government's decision to invade Iraq. Perhaps it is only
Americans that suffer "raw anguish" and "untrammelled grief"!

Meanwhile, James Murdoch lectures us that "We seem to have decided as
a society to let independence and plurality wither" he goes on to say
"the BBC feels empowered and obliged to try to offer something for
everyone , even in areas well served by the market".

What Mr Murdoch does not seem to appreciate is that the BBC is
empowered by the people. Given the choice of BBC Radio and Television
or SKY the latter would loose out. The BBC provides first class
programmes and only has its market share because the market does not
offer better alternatives. Unlike Americans we do feel that some
things should be made available to all irrespective of their ability
to pay be it news, good entertainment or health services.
Furthermore, we would sooner give our money to the BBC than to the WMC
(Murdoch Wealth Club) and we already have enough American Tv trash
programmes, we want less not more!

How do these disparate stories link? The BBC and the NHS are examples
of how British society prefer compassion to compensation, how we are
not besotted by the rule of the market, particularly since the credit
crunch, and that our priorities may not be the same as Americans
despite the links.

Finally, the days of the American Empire are limited ans as we have
learned from the decline of the British Empire, now you should learn.

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Best Wishes

Joe