It appears that my childhood wish that people would stop laughing at me finally came true.

Offensive… Tasteless… Here we go again.

[sigh] I just can't win.

I don't know what to say. I stand by what I wrote this week because I don't know any better. Humor, timely or not, is just how I deal with tragedy. Yes, I know it's a terrible defense mechanism and don't think I get off on being an asshole. A boy bereft of emotion, anything I write is unfortunately gonna come off as insincere.

OF COURSE mass deaths aren't funny!

What we fail to realize though is that people die every day. It may not be in a horrific plane crash or as a result of its aftermath, but tragedy doesn't sleep. Where was the popular sympathy for the mounting casualties of the Palestinian-Israeli war, the dead children we saw and heard day in and day out on the news for the past coupla years? Why didn't Americans unite in outrage over the murder of James Byrd Jr., the black man dragged to death behind a pick-up truck by a white racist? Why don't we, as a nation, decry the existence of AIDS, instead of naively dismissing those who succumb to the virus as merely "faggots" and "drug addicts"?

Because Americans are selfish. I'm actually quite surprised at the sudden national "go America" sentiment. It was just a few days ago that being American meant sitting on your fat ass eating genetically-modified food watching athletes wearing sweatshop-produced uniforms play football.

I've gone on record many times saying that I love living in America and I will respect however Bush chooses to handle the situation. People died. Families grieved. Rescue workers put their lives on the line. We have every right to be selfish right now, and revenge is best served cold.

You know what we're gonna do? Bomb the culprits with missiles. Bombing – the cause of, and solution to, all of America's problems. I wish we'd just step back for a second, away from the flags, and take a look around.

Something like this was bound to happen sooner or later. It's basic existentialism. As long as America continues to be the world's mommy, nurturing and punishing in the name of selfish pursuits, foreigners are gonna hate us. If we really want this kind of shit to stop, then we gotta stop forcefeeding our shit to the world. You can't have it both ways. It's funny how "we are all human beings" only when America is attacked.

Do not underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups. "Terminate with extreme prejudice." TERMINATE WHO? Ummm…Osama Bin Laden? Afghanistan? Who are these politicians? 16-year-old girls? It's not like if we blow up Bin Laden, everything will be flowers and puppy dogs and happy happy joy joy. Others will step up to take his place. The cycle continues. Blame is the cure-cure anything. Throw the rudder down. Throw the rudder down.

We call it a "cowardly act," yet there was nothing cowardly about what happened on Tuesday. Let's face it. They got us good. Now we know what it's like in Israel every…single…day. You know, I'm proud to be an American and all, but I just don't understand why we think we're superhuman, why we think that the name "America" is somehow indicative of sheer faultlessness. Last time I checked the history books, America has done some pretty awful things. I say go ahead and believe what you want to believe. However, next time you kiss the ass of the red, white, and blue, remember everything that you're proud of: Native American genocide, slavery, Hiroshima, Birmingham, Vietnam, and Ronald Reagan. Whoo!

I agree that the people behind the terrorism should be held accountable, but irrational vengeance on our part at this point will simply perpetuate America's military-industrial complex. Dwight was right, and he still is. That's all I have to say about that.

In other news, summer school is over. I have a week off and then it's time for more school. Hooray for me. I must say that planning my trip home this time was a nightmare. With air traffic up in the air (har har), I thought about playing Russian roulette with Southwest Airlines, but decided on hitching a ride back to my hometown. I feel like the mom in Home Alone.

I refer to Mountain View as "my hometown" like I haven't been there in ages. Silly me.

More from the current-top-terms-visitors-use-to-find-my-page-in-a-Google-search file: "first time i fuck a teen boy asshole" and "pennywise car accident september 9."

You know, if Nader was President, all the passengers on those ill-fated flights would be wearing seatbelts and the planes would be built with that mysterious black box material.

Did you know that black boxes are actually orange?

God bless Vince McMahon.