Posted by caraher on October 23, 2007, at 20:26:23
In reply to Doris Lessing says 9/11 not that bad, posted by zazenducke on October 23, 2007, at 12:22:01
> Lessing says 9/11 'not that bad'
> Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing has said that the 11 September attacks were "not that terrible" compared to the IRA's terror campaign.
> "Some Americans will think I'm crazy... but it was neither as terrible or as extraordinary as they think," the writer told Spanish newspaper El Pais.
>
> The 88-year-old added that "people forget" the IRA bomb attack on Margaret Thatcher's government in 1984.It's certainly true that Americans ought to remember that people in many, many other nations have been victims of "terrorism." But Lessing chose a rather poor example in citing the IRA as worse, at least in terms of number of victims. In 35 years the IRA apparently failed to match the single-day 9/11 death toll (see, for instance, http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/sections/nation_world/nation_world/article_614859.php)
I think she's just not thinking very clearly. She was really annoyed about receiving the Nobel Prize, lecturing reporters seeking her reaction about how the prize money will just bring people to her door begging for handouts. She complained that the prize means nothing artistically, though she did brighten when a reporter pointed out that it might result in more people reading her work - something she apparently hadn't even considered before!
poster:caraher
thread:790832
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20070708/msgs/790962.html