http://www.theonion.com/onion3734/talking_to_your_child_tips.html The events of Sept. 11 are extremely difficult for a child to understand. What should you tell your child when he or she asks why this happened? Obviously, there's no easy answer, but the following is a start: 1.Sit your child down, and gently explain to him or her that the destruction of the Twin Towers was part of a Holy War, or jihad, against the U.S. perpetrated by a small faction of Islamic fundamentalists bent on the annihilation of Western society. 2. As your child may or may not know, much of modern Islamic fundamentalism has its roots in the writings of Sayyid Qutb, whose two-year sojourn to the U.S. in the late 1940s convinced him that Western society and non-Islamic ideologies were flawed and corrupt. Over the course of the next several decades, his writings became increasingly popular throughout the Arab world, including Afghanistan. 3.Patiently explain to your child that in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, outraging the U.S. Determined to stem the tide of communism, the U.S. provided Afghanistan with military support in the form of weapons and training. Among the beneficiaries of this support were many of Qutb's radical-fundamentalist adherents. These fundamentalists eventually took over Afghanistan in the form of a group called the Taliban. Militarized and radicalized by years of war, Taliban leaders turned against the U.S., which long supported them in their fight against the occupying Soviets but eventually came to be seen as the embodiment of Western immorality. 4. You should also let your child know that among those supported by the Taliban is Osama bin Laden, a Saudi multi-millionaire and terrorist who for years has taken refuge in encampments in the rugged hills of Afghanistan. Like his Taliban brethren, bin Laden believes that the U.S. is guilty of apostasy and should be punished accordingly. 5.Your child will likely ask why bin Laden is so angry at the U.S. Explain to him or her that much of his anger is rooted in the fact that, during the Gulf War, the U.S. stationed troops in Saudi Arabia, the nation that is home to the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Bin Laden was further angered by America's post-Gulf War efforts to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein by imposing an embargo against his nation. No doubt, your child will have more questions. He or she will likely want to know what role other terrorist groups played in the attack, as well as what destabilizing effects a U.S. invasion of Afghanistan could have on the increasingly volatile political climate in Pakistan. Hopefully, though, the above will serve as a start, helping your child better understand why the bad men did this terrible thing.
Froman are you kidding? You don't expect rational responses to this article do you? To save some of the others the effort. To quote from another and very sarcastic post of mine which does not reflect my own opinions : Are you a commie? America love it or leave it. Are you even an American? I bet you couldn't say that where you're from. You're probably a secular humanist or an ACLUer a feminist or some such. You must be a dope smoking 60's dropout. You must be only 15 years old since older people are conservative. Why don't you take the next plane to Kabul. You should be banned from this board. Just shut the **ck up.
The above post will hopefully be the last hypersarcastic post from glynch. It was a summary of actual comments and accurately reflected the spirit of the comments directed at me and to some other liberals by other posters. Jeff, Rimbaud, Cohen, F.D. Khan, Achebe and many others deserve better. My original intention was to present a strong left liberal response to the extreme right wing views of certain posters. I don't feel that calm reasoned moderately liberal responses are always the best way to respond to extremists. I also felt it would provide space for those liberals who might be afraid to express what they feared might be the most liberal responses on the board. The content of my responses do reflect my views, and of course I do like to be sarcastic as my wife reminds me at times. However, I feel it has gone to far and I will try to be less sarcastic and less baiting of conservtives in my posts from now on.
Glynch You do realize that the Onion is a satirical web site, don't you? Sort of like Mad Magazine for the Internet. The article in question is a parody.
Glynch, The Onion is a satire. And I don't know why you're hammering Froman, he is only posting what was writting. He had no comments.
You guys, the onion is saying that your average American person that thinks we should be at war is actually akin to an ignorant child. That's actually serious commentary with a candy shell. They're right. Glynch. Don't worry, let it flow. Things get more interesting that way.
