Author: David Barkin (dynip-216-139-133-148.nyct.net)
Date: 09-18-2001 03:17
Now here's an interesting thing. War is the product of civilization. Primitive people would line up an insult each other and perhaps one or two would actually get hurt.
A lion doesn't need to work itself up to a rage before it will fight. We have all sorts of rituals to get us into the right attitude to risk our lives.
Still, events here have taught me a lot. The Hollywood myths of how a panicked crowd will trample their own children to escape turns out to be wrong. People with debris falling out of the sky, stopped to help each other. All you could see were people helping each other at the risk of their own lives.
The firefighters who ran INTO the building when other people were leaving. The supers who stayed to direct people to safety. There are thousands of impressive stories of everydasy persons, just like those on this board, who risked their lives.
In Hollywood everyone panics except for the star. Here everyone helped their neighbor.
One interesting thing I've noticed is that the people of New York are the least filled with hate. The further away, the greater the call for indescriminate violence. Here people want justice, they don't want the innocent to be hurt. I guess we've seen enough innocent people hurt.
