A thought that thoroughly enraged me today: After Sept. 11

[MnFats]

...
the world was awash in sympathy for the U.S.
remember seeing front pages from newspapers around the world? (www.poynter.org had a bunch of them.
Paris newspaper, for example, ran on its front page a huge photo of the second aircraft hitting the tower and the text translated as: "Today we are all Americans."

what would the headine-writer say today?

all of that sympathy and support was squandered, utterly squandered. And as if that wasn't enough, Bush has dug us into so deep a hole we may never get out. The world looks as us as a third-world nation...because it now sees the third-world nation that was hidden under the thin veneer of prosperity that tore in NOLA. We have a poverty-stricken nation within a nation. The rest of the world sees it, but Bush refuses to do so.

[bigbrother05]

1. Third world, that's the view in Europe

All the news programs on cable from the UK (BBC, ITV, Sky, Euro News) are full of analysts and people on the street interviews. Everyone expresses sadness and compassion for the victims, but utter disbelief at the ineptitude of the response. Our neighbors and friends ask why/how could this be? They want to know if it's a racial thing, a question asked long before the local news (European) began to show such speculation from the US. What remained of US prestige and its image of power was stripped away when Katrina pulled back the curtain. They can no longer ignore the little man fiddling with the levers of power where they once saw the mighty Oz.

[cornermouse]

2. Dropping to third world nation status in the rest of the world's eyes

potentially could have some rather nasty economic implications for us as a nation.