another facinating piece by the BBC… looks to be pretty right on, and there’s really nothing you wouldn’t expect, but it’s really a nice layout of it all.
Those stats don’t mean anything at all. Is all of the United States defined by these 5 statistics?
Defense spending,
Air Travel,
Presidential Approval Rating,
Hate Crimes Against Muslims, and
News Articles Mentioning Bin Laden.
These are essentially meaningless to anything that defines the United States.
How about stats on these instead (including the good and bad, in no particular order…)
Number of crimes thwarted by citizens
Number of victims aided by citizens
Number of people reporting pride in their country
Number of people willing to give up freedom for security
Voter turnout
Number of restricted freedoms post 9/11
Contributions to fire and police benevolent funds
Public service recruitment numbers
That stats might show some changes worth tracking.
yeaaaah, but nobody keeps track of the IMPORTANT stuff. 
[quote]yorik wrote:
Those stats don’t mean anything at all. Is all of the United States defined by these 5 statistics?
Defense spending,
Air Travel,
Presidential Approval Rating,
Hate Crimes Against Muslims, and
News Articles Mentioning Bin Laden.
These are essentially meaningless to anything that defines the United States.
How about stats on these instead (including the good and bad, in no particular order…)
Number of crimes thwarted by citizens
Number of victims aided by citizens
Number of people reporting pride in their country
Number of people willing to give up freedom for security
Voter turnout
Number of restricted freedoms post 9/11
Contributions to fire and police benevolent funds
Public service recruitment numbers
That stats might show some changes worth tracking.[/quote]
Hey Yorik… How about the number of innocent civilians and US soldiers killed in US occupied countries since 9/11. I bet you didn’t think of that.
Is the US not defined by that as well? It certainly is by the international community.
[quote]Shoebolt wrote:
Hey Yorik… How about the number of innocent civilians and US soldiers killed in US occupied countries since 9/11. I bet you didn’t think of that.
Is the US not defined by that as well? It certainly is by the international community.
[/quote]
Well, it is by you at least, and you are part of the community, so sure, go ahead and add them to the stats if you wish. I don’t care.
I’m almost tempted to add international perception too, but that is an external factor. What other people/countries think doesn’t really affect the soul of a country any more than the external perceptions of an individual affects that individual’s soul.
So, what defines Canada and it’s citizens? Has Canada changed since 9/11?
If you want to read some good retrospective stuff on 9/11 and where we are now, read this: