# "Life is back to normal" or "America is so brainwashed we can't respond rationally&qu **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 17, 2001, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-back-to-normal-or-america-is-so-brainwashed-we-cant-respond-rationally-qu/93958 "2001-11-17T17:38:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-back-to-normal-or-america-is-so-brainwashed-we-cant-respond-rationally-qu/93958/21 "2001-11-17T19:47:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Your definition of “normality” must be pretty screwed up if this is normal. The constant pollution of the planet, the starvation of nations of people, Indonesian sweatshops, the constant threat of nuclear war, the destruction of the ozone layer, acid rain, the melting of the ice caps, child labor in Costa Rica, the draining of the world’s oil supply, etc. etc. etc. is not “normal” in any fucked up definition of the world. There are still problems out there, and new ones are just surfacing. From [http://www.dictionary.com](http://www.dictionary.com): nor·mal (nôrml) adj. Conforming with, adhering to, or constituting a norm, standard, pattern, level, or type; typical: normal room temperature; one’s normal weight; normal diplomatic relations. Yeah, that’s pretty much the way I interpreted normal. So, all those bad things you discussed in the quote above _weren’t_ happening before 9/11? Really, I thought they’d been going on for a number of years now. Perhaps I’ve been spending too much time at the movies and not enough time in the real world. :rolleyes: And I guess that if people _were_ doing something about those kinds of things, they stopped after 9/11? :rolleyes: Look, I never said that all was right and good with the world, and its true we’ve always had problems and we always will, but just because it isn’t front page news or the top story on the evening news _doesn’t_ mean that no one’s doing anything about it! ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-back-to-normal-or-america-is-so-brainwashed-we-cant-respond-rationally-qu/93958/22 "2001-11-17T19:56:41Z")
I’m gonna go see Harry Potter tonight because I’m a fucking American. That’s what we do. We see movies, and we do whatever we want because it’s a free country. And after the movie I’m gonna go to McDonalds and ask to have my Big Mac in the old fashioned styrofoam container and when I’m done with it I’m gonna throw it out the window. Why? Because I can. Stay glued to no new news updates for as long as you want, and make sure you watch all those human intrest stories, but I’m going to be out living. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-back-to-normal-or-america-is-so-brainwashed-we-cant-respond-rationally-qu/93958/23 "2001-11-17T19:56:53Z")
> [@](#): > > just because it isn’t front page news or the top story on the evening news doesn’t mean that no one’s doing anything about it! I kinda wonder what **Palve** is doing about it, besides whining on a message board. I also kinda wonder what any of his complaint has to do with 9/11 or a “return to normality.” ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-back-to-normal-or-america-is-so-brainwashed-we-cant-respond-rationally-qu/93958/24 "2001-11-17T20:06:11Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by clayton\_e \* > \*\* …I only want to state my opinion on our society…_\* Your opinion is wrong and based on a very stupid dataset. You see, the Yahoo Buzz Index tracks what people search Yahoo for. Does it not occur to you that maybe people have done all the searching they need on the events of the day and now know where to go for more information? That’s only one reason that your conclusion is faulty. Finding the other dozen or so that come to mind I leave as an exercise for the reader. The depressing part to me is that there are _many_ people as ignorant as you are on how to gather data and what conclusions might be drawn from the gathering. Take a stats course son, and maybe one on critical thinking, before you start stating your “opinion on our society.” Or at least look in a damn mirror. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-back-to-normal-or-america-is-so-brainwashed-we-cant-respond-rationally-qu/93958/25 "2001-11-17T20:14:12Z")
Thank you, **manhattan**. That very thought occured to me, but I was unable to express it properly, and so I left it for a more discerning and coherent respondent. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jester/32/8223_2.png) [@Jester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jester)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-back-to-normal-or-america-is-so-brainwashed-we-cant-respond-rationally-qu/93958/26 "2001-11-17T21:02:34Z")
Well, this thread was probably headed there anyway, but what can I say, I like to take the initiative. **clayton\_e** , your presence is requested in the [Pit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=99626). ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-back-to-normal-or-america-is-so-brainwashed-we-cant-respond-rationally-qu/93958/27 "2001-11-17T22:18:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by manhattan \* > \*\*\*Your opinion is wrong \*\*\* Huh, is that very moderator like of you? I never knew the SDMB moderators were well known for insulting the people that look at the ads that allow them to continue working. (Note : Quoting disaster fixed. - E.) [Edited by Eutychus55 on 11-17-2001 at 04:37 PM] ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-back-to-normal-or-america-is-so-brainwashed-we-cant-respond-rationally-qu/93958/28 "2001-11-17T22:30:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by clayton\_e \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by manhattan \* > > \*Your opinion is wrong \* > > Huh, is that very moderator like of you? I never knew the SDMB moderators were well known for insulting the people that look at the ads that allow them to continue working. > > \*\* He wasn’t posting as a moderator, Eeyore. If he were, he’d have said so. You see, the moderators here at the SDMB are also fellow Dopers. They’re not employees. They don’t get paid. They are moderating only when they, in the phraseology of **Gaudere** , are “wearing the moderator hat”. And that only happens when they either perform moderator duties (such as locking a thread or giving a warning) or when they say so. **Manhattan** has as much of a right to an opinion in his private persona as you do. His opinion apparently is that you’re wrong. Mine is, too, for the record. To elaborate on _why_ you are wrong, I can only offer myself as an example. You appear to believe that the only proper thing for anyone to do in the wake of the tragedy is to focus on the horror and pain that it caused. I believe that it’s better to go on with one’s life, while always remembering what happened and the victims that it happened to. I have too much to do in my life to dwell constantly on things that are over and done with, which I can’t (and couldn’t, even at the time of the event) affect. It was a tragedy, a crime, and an atrocity. Tens of thousands of people were hurt by it, both the thousands who were affected via the ending of their lives and the friends and families of those thousands. And, in a much more expansive penumbra to those tens of thousands, there are tens to hundreds of millions of people in the world who saw the scenes of death and destruction and are also affected by it, separated physically and socially as they are from those in the center of the pain. But even the friends and families of the victims will need, in time, to come to terms with what happened and recover from the shock and pain. Why those of us who weren’t directly affected are expected to share the same length of recovery I don’t understand. I feel for the people who will have to deal with this in their lives, and I’m saddened by the deaths of thousands of innocents. I’m somewhat more vigilant about my safety and about suspicious things that could affect me. I’ve been known to glance sidelong at unfamiliar vehicles in my work parking lot with boxes in the back seat since 9/11. I worry occasionally about the gasoline storage depot across the street from my workplace, which would most likely take out most of South Altoona if something did happen there. But I refuse to hunker down in a makeshift bomb shelter with the radio tuned to NPR and wait for the end of the world. I didn’t do that when the end of the world was supposed to come down to a disagreement between Reagan and Gorbachev and I’m not doing it now. jayjay (Note : Quoting avalanche fixed. - E.) [Edited by Eutychus55 on 11-17-2001 at 04:38 PM] ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-back-to-normal-or-america-is-so-brainwashed-we-cant-respond-rationally-qu/93958/29 "2001-11-17T22:32:40Z")
I am not, however, vigilant about checking my code. _sigh_ jayjay ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-back-to-normal-or-america-is-so-brainwashed-we-cant-respond-rationally-qu/93958/30 "2001-11-17T23:45:57Z")
Jayjay, would you happen to be in altona NY? just wondering. and p.s., i don’t like npr… i’d probably be listening to something with a little bit of flavor. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-back-to-normal-or-america-is-so-brainwashed-we-cant-respond-rationally-qu/93958/31 "2001-11-17T23:47:10Z")
thanks for fixing that up Eutychus55. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-back-to-normal-or-america-is-so-brainwashed-we-cant-respond-rationally-qu/93958/32 "2001-11-17T23:56:13Z")
Thank you, Euty. 🙂 jayjay [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-is-back-to-normal-or-america-is-so-brainwashed-we-cant-respond-rationally-qu/93958.md?page=1)