If a terrorist incident similar in scope to Sept. 11 happened in Montreal rather than the United States, how do you think you would react? Would the attack seem close to home even though, for US dopers, Montreal is in another country? How would our English speaking Canadian dopers react?
For me, I don’t think I’d feel more threatened. I’d react to an attack on Montreal the same way I reacted to the Spanish attacks a few years ago. I’d see it as something that happened very far away even though Montreal is close geographically to the United States.
After a moment of confusion as to why someone’s attacking Canada, I suppose I’d feel about as threatened as I did after 9/11. Montreal is closer to me than NYC, anyway.
I know Canada is Western and therefore on the target list, but it seems that America is the big, evil target. I was exaggerating, but the root of it holds- I don’t seriously expect Canada to be attacked on a large scale by terrorists from out of the country.
Yeah, but you guys do it nicely. No bombast, no media frenzy. Just quiet efficiency. Makes you not really a valuable PR target. Heck, I think most Islamic radicals would look at an attack on Canada and start seriously questioning their stance on things.
I’d be horrified and want the surviving perpetrators/planners brought to justice.
I think/thought the same for the attacks in Spain, London, and all over the world, really. I want terrorism to become such an ineffective and unattractive solution that it gets abandoned.
I’d feel horrified, sad for the victims and their families, be glued to the news and internet for days, and go donate blood and/or money.
Pretty much the same reaction as 9-11 for me, I don’t have folks in Montreal but I didn’t have folks in NYC or the Pentagon or on any of the airplanes either.
Montreal is one of the more exotic U.S. cities. Oh, wait, it is part of Canada. I don’t really differentiate between American cities and Canadian ones and I doubt any U.S. president would either. I would expect the entire U.S. military resources. to be unleashed on what ever country the attack originated from. That worked for Afghanistan that the 9/11 plans that they were closely associated with. Iraq is a different animal. Canada doesn’t have the resources to destroy a whole country but I would hope that the U.S. would initiate a “shock and awe” campaign campaign against the country that started it within 1 week after the strike.
I would react the same as I did to the New York attacks (I think). My wife and I were almost an hour outside the city on 9/11 so we were watching live coverage on a local channel when the second plane hit. I think, because of that, it affected us more than it did people back home. I think your proximity to the attacks is bound to make a difference in how you perceive the event; I wouldn’t expect people in the southern US to regard an attack on Montreal much differently than they did the Spanish attacks or the London bombings.
There is a possible apocryphal story about Khrushchev make some kind of remark to the effect of “We don’t have any missiles pointed at Toronto”. Possibly mistaking toronto for A) Canada’s capital or B) The Italian city and major naval base Taranto.
I don’t really have a serious point there, that’s just the first thought that occurred to me.
Obviously, I’d be horrified, and would be spending a lot of time on the phone calling friends and family and coworkers and everyone I’ve ever met to check up on them (assuming I survived the attack myself… I don’t know what city target we’re talking about here, but I work near the airport, I go to school downtown, and I live in a relatively trendy neighbourhood…!) It would no doubt affect me more than 9/11, because it would actually affect me in a day-to-day way.
But, regarding levdrakon’s comment: I’m pretty sure that, while I’d appreciate any aid the US chose to send our way (and other countries, I presume), I think I’d be very angry if the US chose to react on our behalf without clearing it with the Canadian government. Just like 9/11 was America’s loss (even though there were other victims from other countries), an attack on Montreal would be Canada’s, and any and all response should be Canada’s to decide first. I think, if Canada, England, Germany, etc had responded in Afghanistan before the US did after 9/11, many Americans would have felt insulted, even though that does seem somewhat irrational!
It guess it would partly depend on the size and scale of the attack.
I want to say that I would be enraged and feel a heightened camaraderie towards Canadians, but I’m going to be brutally honest here . . . the Madrid attacks and 7/7 didn’t have much of an effect on me, and I think I’m more empathetic and globally aware than most.
So . . . if it was 3,000 dead, major landmarks destroyed, military and civilian targets attacked like 9/11 . . . I’d feel close to how I felt about 9/11 (slightly less due to the precedent, and slightly less terrified since I’m a little older now . . . 9/11 freaked me the fuck out.)
I’d be horrified, feel helpless to do anything physical that could help, watch the news and pray, because I sincerely believe that does help. Because Montreal is part of North America and I’ve been there, I expect I’d see it as more important (to me) than something that happened in Europe (the world, after all, does revolve around me, right?). Except that if it happened in Mexico (that’s still North America, right? and I’ve been there, too), it would impact me less than Canada. Could be the language thing, could be that I perceive Mexicon as less modern.
Other than that, I suspect I’d go about my simple little life, and probably end up being as afraid to visit Montreal as I am to visit New York. Upon doing a brain scan, I realize I’m not afraid to visit Oklahoma City. All evidence indicates I’ll continue to be irrational.
What does this refer to? I’ve always heard that the 9/11 terrorists were legally in the US, and for many months before the attacks.
I don’t know what my reaction would be if there were similar attacks in Montreal. I was shocked by 9/11, but it didn’t really change my life all that much. An attack on Montreal would probably hit much closer to me. I guess it depends on what the consequences would be.
