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America 911, American Liberty, anti-Semitism, BBC, Christianity, Christopher Caldwell, Civilisation, Coffee, Counter-Jihad, Cultural Marxism, Defend the modern world, Demographics of Europe, EDL, English Defence League, Multiculturalism, Race and ethnicity in the United States Census
Between late 2000 and 2002 I studied music at a local college, a course I later abandoned. Most of that time has faded to a blur now. The only day I still remember vividly is a very cold and damp Tuesday.
On this day, we were studying audio production and the way to manipulate the sound of instruments after they are recorded.
When I arrived home after class, I was just walking up the stairs when my father stuck his head round the corner of the lounge doorway “Have you seen the news?”
I went into the lounge and saw the television screen. “Who did it?” I asked – “The Arabs.” – “Why?” – “Who knows” – “Will it start a war?” – “Could well do.”
I went upstairs. As soon as the bedroom door closed behind me, my thoughts were about music again. It was only in the evening that I began to have paranoid ideas.- “What if Britain has to go and fight alongside the Americans? What if there’s conscription? What if we all have to go to Afghanistan?”
I soon got over such nerves. Still a left-wing guy in spirit, the next day at college I joined with those who suggested America partly deserved the assault. I pointed to the ‘occupation’ of the Chechens and Palestinians, and compared the violence suffered the prior afternoon to the bombardment of the Iraqis during the first Gulf war. Juvenile and baseless stuff as it was, I really believed it. It wasn’t until beginning University many years later that I was forced to do a screeching U-turn.
My feelings regarding the attack now are ambiguous. The bombings were certainly spectacular in their scale and ingenuity, but I think we are wrong to view them as especially unique. 9/11 wasn’t the start of a new assault on the West, but the logical continuation of an ancient project. Only the numbers killed make the tragedy exceptional.
When someone mentions 9/11 as an argument against Islam, people often roll their eyes and say “Can’t you just let it go. It was twelve years ago.”
This is why 9/11 shouldn’t be presented in isolation. Since that day, the same force has inflicted violence on London, Madrid, Mumbai, Boston, Paris, Jerusalem, Kabul, Baghdad, Moscow, Beslan, Bali, Stockholm and Glasgow. And before 9/11, there were the attacks in Tel Aviv, Lebanon, Somalia and Kenya. And before the modern age of terror, there was the cold-blooded butchering of the Armenians, Syriacs and Maronites. We can go back through history and point to the same force inflicting the same outcome again and again and again.
Though the attack on New York was a great education, some of our ancestors knew as well in their day as we know now. The true value of 9/11 is that we can never forget it.
D, LDN.
Defend the Modern World 
I was in Canada for the day. I live in Norway. Everyone supported America. everyone hated the terrorists. But in Norway, people hate the US more.
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There were reactions of both kinds in Britain. People were largely sympathetic.
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In light of all the crime and violence committed by Muslim immigrants and children of immigrants in Norway, Sweden and other European countries, do the people of Norway still feel the U.S. deserved it?
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Quote:
When someone mentions 9/11 as an argument against Islam, people often roll their eyes and say ”Can’t you just let it go. It was twelve years ago.”
end
No it was not 12 years ago. The attack on the West has been going on every since 632 AD, Almost 1400 years even. The only people who advocate this argument are ones who have no knowledge of medieval and modern history– and such people don’t know enough to contribute to any discussion of terror, Islam and the West.
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sorry for the weird words. But the sound’s right. I think.
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Indeed. Europeans especially should not have been surprised by the attack. “Europe” as an idea was originally formed to differentiate the region from the Islamic world. Even in Spain – a former Islamic colony – people were shocked that Muslims wished to violently expand their dominion in this way.
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Great comment. Thank you for reminding us.
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It wasn’t 9/11 that got me thinking about Islam. I didn’t know who did it at that time. One could assume it was Muslims, but honestly – I didn’t know. Years earlier, I assumed (wrongly) that the Oklahoma bombing was Muslims, but was proved wrong.
Rather, it was the parties in the streets that the news showed the next Wednesday that got my attention. Ramallah, Ryadh, Cairo, Karachi, the celebrations told me that even if this was the act of a few deranged individuals, those people REALLY hate us. In the days following, I decided that even if 9/11 wasn’t perpetrated by Muslims (though it would later be proven that it was in fact the case), there were millions of them who partied and handed out sweets at the notion of mass death.
But, I was distracted over time. We went to Afghanistan and so we “did something” about it. I assumed (wrongly) that we would cut terrorism off by getting those bad guys, and that we could keep cordial ties with the Muslim world once we got the terrorists responsible.
I let it sit on the backburner again. I didn’t pay much attention for another few years… But then the 2004 Madrid train bombing, the London Bus bombings and other outrages began to sink into my thick skull.
I still think that terrorism is a minor threat though. Kill a few of us, it’s an outrage and a tragedy – but our society goes on. I’m more concerned about Islamic Cultural Imperialism. I first noticed it with the Muslim world’s widespread reaction to the Danish Cartoons; that’s what got me thinking. I realized the extent of the threat when I saw the left’s obsequiousness and abetment of de-facto blasphemy laws (here in Canada at least – see Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn’s persecution before our “human rights” Tribunals). That’s what turned me into a passionate anti-jihadist and libertarian.
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I completely agree that terrorism is a minor threat and way overblown for political reasons. The Islamic threat is mostly cultural. It’s a pet peeve of mine when people say “Why are you so concerned about Islam? You have more chance of being killed by a spider than being blown up….” or something along those lines.
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I’m also a Libertarian by instinct, but I prefer to say ‘Liberal’. It’s a very abused word and has been hoarded by the Left for too long.
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Excellent and well written piece. Thank you for writing it.
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Thank you Elena. Very nice of you to say.
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And it’s not just ‘the West’ that the Ummah or Mohammedan Mob, the Empire of Islam, has been attacking, pillaging, enslaving and generally laying waste for 1400 years. Even as the Muslims were attacking Byzantium and conquering and occupying and oppressing in Spain, they were *also* grinding their way down into Africa, slaving and ruining (Christian Abyssinia in their natural fortress somehow managed to survive and fend off the onslaught, but are today in grave danger; Christian Nubia only fell in the 17th century); and they were attacking India and *western China*. We forget that Afghanistan used to be a fizzing-rich mix of Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Jewish, animist, Hindu, and even had Nestorian Christians). Once, *all* of Java was like Bali; then Islam arrived and slowly but steadily has worn away at the rich indigenous pre-Islamic culture. K S Lal has written about what the Muslims did to India. They destroyed Buddhism there; they killed Hindus by the scores of millions; they destroyed temples and associated artworks by the thousands or perhaps tens of thousands; they laid the place waste. V S Naipaul’s ‘Among the Believers’ and ‘Beyond Belief’ discuss what Islam – the Arab Imperial Cult – has done to the Persians, the Indians, the Malaysians and Indonesians. It’s heartbreaking and it’s infuriating.
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I’m not sure how those 19 Arab/Muslims went from failing to fly a Cessna to amazingly acrobatics while flying 4 extremely large, very sophisticated airlines into 3 remote targets??? Also WTC Building #7 was undoubtedly demolished via controlled demolition, when was this rigging done? Were WTC #1 & 2 also rigged w/ explosives?
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I liked the way you didn’t pretend you had always held your current views. I tend to pretend that I was born believing what I now believe, even though that is clearly ridiculous. I find the stories of how and why people change their minds fascinating and generally far more interesting than their actual views. Maybe you should write a post on why you changed your mind. Or perhaps you already have? If so, maybe you can link to it?
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This post explains my change of heart. I many write more about it in future.
https://defendthemodernworld.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/how-i-became-islamophobic/
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