Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee
The States remind me of my good friend, that clearly has many issues but says he's doing fantastic. So he lives in denial, and while I'd be there for him if he ever needed to actually be honest about himself and fix something, he's busy telling everyone how amazing he is. But I can tell that he knows, deep down, that there are some problems. I kind of empathize for him though, and I sure hope things turn around for him.
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I would say this is accurate. And I like Cecil's comparison too. As someone who is a born American but raised Canadian my view is this.
America was the king of high school. He was rich, strong, class president, got all the babes and was the life of all the parties. Despite all this, he was a royal d*** the whole time.
Canada was his friend purely because they grew up next door. America always looked down at Canada, and Canada, although he maintaned being friends with America for social status purposes, was always of the opinion that America is a d***. Canada would tag along to parties and hang out not saying much, but every once in a while America did Canada a favour and got him laid.
Now, a few years out of high school, Canada has used his reputation of being basically the nice version of his more abrasive neighbor has been relatively smart with his money, has used his personal resources to build wealth and prestige and has evened the playing field with America.
America, while still physically strong, has spread himself too thin by pissing off all the gangs without the resources to back all of it up assuming he will recieve help from his "friends" from back in the day to whom he was a d*** to all. He pissed away all his money on stupid crap and nailed every chick trying to prove how much of a big shot he was and now he's in debt to everyone else and has a slew of STDs from the all the skanks he's been tapping.
Now Canada is wealthier, better looking, and relatively disease free. Oh, and also has a lot more space for new friends coming in.
America's time is up IMO. There have been many great empires that have fallen over the years and now I think its America's turn. I hope they find stability, but I dont think they will ever be the dominant force they were from WWI on.
(/rant)
Either way, this whole thing is a terrible tragedy regardless of where it occured. It reminds of the Oslo situation. Its very unnerving when someone just lets loose like that for no reason. For those comparing it to Toronto shootings I would like to quote the Joker:
"If I was to put in the paper that like a gang-banger will get shot, or a truck load of troops will get blown up, no one bats an eye. Because its all part of the plan. But if I say that one little ol' mayor will get shot, the everyone loses their minds!"
Its all about perspective. A gang shooting in TO (or anywhere) is just that, a gang shooting. People expect it. But for a theatre full of innocent people to be shot it by some senseless nut, well its unexpected and therefore, much more terrifying.