Sitting here, on the eve of 9/11, I have a terrible admission to make - I don't get it. I don't get the self pity, the commercialization, the angst. I have the feeling that once again we're seeing the outward manifestation of the inner workings of the most self centered generation in the world, the baby boomers.
Look, I understand the historical importance of the attack. I understand the loss and tragedy on a personal level for the families of the victims. I realize that the attack changed America forever, mostly for the worst and mostly due to the actions of our own government.
I know the toll in lives since the attack, both for our soldiers and for all those we've killed on foreign soil. If there was some need for vengeance I'd think that we've just about satisfied it, though it's a hollow victory. I know that we've done some damage to Al-Qaeda, but that we haven't completely taken them out. And I know that the world is more dangerous today than it was in 2001, regardless of the number of lives lost and the treasure spent - or wasted.
But I don't understand why the country, at least if one is to believe the New York media, is coming to a stop.
That's the thing, though, isn't it. The country isn't coming to a stop. Most of us know what day it is and we'll say a silent prayer for the victims, the attackers, the country and the world and then we'll get on about our lives. 9/11 isn't a truly defining moment for most of us. It's a pivot point in history, just like Pearl Harbor or the Battle of Hastings.
It is a defining point, however, for the people of New York, including the media. And that's why the rest of us are being subjected to non-stop hyperbole and sensationalism. Did we see this sort of hoopla on the tenth anniversary of the bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City? A minor event in comparison, to be sure, but still a significant terrorist attack on American soil that resulted in a large loss of innocent life. We still hear more about the '93 attack on the Trade Center every year than about Oklahoma City. Again, because that's where the media lives.
Don't get me wrong. I think that it's important that we remember the attack in 2001. But I think that it's equally important that we remember Pearl Harbor and the firing on Fort Sumter. All three of these events caused fundamental changes to America.
That being said, I think that 9/11 has become less about remembering and more about promotion. To me it feels far more like a circus than a memorial. More about the people that are alive than the ones that are dead.
More focused on the self than on others.
But then, that's what my generation has always been about.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
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You described it well: "I have the feeling that once again we're seeing the outward manifestation of the inner workings of the most self centered generation in the world, the baby boomers." Nothing more need be said.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I really am torn about this whole issue because I do feel deeply for the people that lost their lives and even more for their families. But there's just something wrong with all this...folderol that surrounds the day. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. I was in the UK and a lot of my buddies thought nuclear war was going to start. Mindyou I was with a bunch of ex-drunks so you know how things can get carried away in the head. Nevertheless, even very sensible and logical acquaintances (in the al-anon meeting room next door) were terrified of something huge and world wide about to occur.
ReplyDeleteI felt like I became directly related to my 'fellow' Americans that day. Like I grew up in my view of you all, I became your concerned Auntie, rather than your sometimes envious cousin. (You did after all, invent Disney World).
God bless all Americans and draw them close to Himself.
Hey Ros, long time, no hear (a little Indian lingo to keep that American spirit going).
ReplyDeleteI understand what you're saying and I don't mean to in any way belittle the attack or the affect it had on the American people and all our friends around the world.
My problem is just with all the strangeness that seems to be surrounding this anniversary over here. You wouldn't believe how much media time is being devoted to it and how much just pure promotion seems to surround all the events.
It seems to me in some ways to be profaning the sacred.
Let's face it; it's a time for New York's mayor and the president to get some free publicity and look concerned for America on camera during election season. Events commemorating tragedies are generally political events more than anything.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, what's been going through my head all day is that, if we'd had a liberal president in the white house on 9/11 we'd still be apologising to Muslims everywhere for crushing their terrorists' planes with our buildings. George Bush is looking pretty good right now.
>George Bush is looking pretty good right now.
ReplyDeleteUh.. no, not really, all the things he screwed up are still screwed up save the killing of bin Laden, that's one thing that Obama managed to set right.
Sort of.
Obama has been a disappointment on many fronts but at least he hasn't lied about WMD and dropped America into a quagmire without precedent and end.
For me, 9/11 is about remembering who did it. Like remembering the Alamo.
ReplyDeleteAside, thanks for the great comment you left on my blog. I sent a blog link to the Rabbi this morning and I hope he reads it and all the wonderful comments. It might be a good education on conservative values before he gives all of his sermons for the high holidays.
You're welcome, Opus. We get plenty of the Progressive views in our pulpits, too, regardless of what the Church teaches. It seems that many priests would rather follow the crowd than follow the Church.
ReplyDeleteIf you have the time, go to the website that article came from, The Distributist Review. You just might find yourself shaking your head yes over and over again. It seems that we are always given a choice between extremes, either Progressive or Capitalist, both of which lead to lose of individual freedom when taken to their logical conclusions. But there's a third way - Distributism - that's more balanced and focused on keeping power at the lowest possible level, thus distributing it and the freedoms that come with it on a more equitable basis.
"Obama has been a disappointment on many fronts but at least he hasn't lied about WMD"
ReplyDeleteSo let's review exactly what we found in Iraq according to the CIA's website:
1 - 13 illegal long range missiles
2 - 6 illegal UAVs
3 - 53 chemical weapons
4 - 500 empty or degraded chemical rounds (Degraded means less lethal, not non-lethal.)
5 - a stockpile of bioweapons reference strains
6 - bacteria drying ovens and Cesium at a weapons plant (Why have a bacteria drying oven at a weapons facility unless it's to be used in weaponry?)
7 - a network of clandestine laboratories and precursors hidden from UN inspectors
8 - blueprints for a uranium enrichment centrifuge
9 - a team of scientists admittedly working on a firing mechanism for a nuclear weapon. (Why do you develop one of those unless you intend to acquire the rest of the weapon?)
Iraq's top scientists testified that Saddam had an ongoing search for nuclear weapons.
Saddam bragged in public repeatedly about sponsoring a half dozen terrorists groups comprising over 9,000 terrorists.
Saddam admitted he had over 8,000 scientists working on WDM's during the first Gulf War. That's a huge number of scientists all working toward the same goal for such a small country. Sounds like a guy who's extremely determined to have WMD's....
And as usual the useless UN did nothing.
Today we're all safer without Saddam Hussein.
And nearly sixty percent of all Iraqis say their lives are better now than before the war.
Yet democrats tell us that the war was a mistake.
Kind of makes you wonder what war they're talking about, doesn't it? Lies indeed.
So let's review exactly what we found in Iraq according to the CIA's website:
ReplyDelete1 - 13 illegal long range missiles
2 - 6 illegal UAVs
3 - 53 chemical weapons
4 - 500 empty or degraded chemical rounds (Degraded means less lethal, not non-lethal.)
5 - a stockpile of bioweapons reference strains
6 - bacteria drying ovens and Cesium at a weapons plant (Why have a bacteria drying oven at a weapons facility unless it's to be used in weaponry?)
7 - a network of clandestine laboratories and precursors hidden from UN inspectors
8 - blueprints for a uranium enrichment centrifuge
9 - a team of scientists admittedly working on a firing mechanism for a nuclear weapon. (Why do you develop one of those unless you intend to acquire the rest of the weapon?)
Iraq's top scientists testified that Saddam had an ongoing search for nuclear weapons.
Saddam bragged in public repeatedly about sponsoring a half dozen terrorists groups comprising over 9,000 terrorists.
Saddam admitted he had over 8,000 scientists working on WDM's during the first Gulf War. That's a huge number of scientists all working toward the same goal for such a small country. Sounds like a guy who's extremely determined to have WMD's....
And as usual the useless UN did nothing.
Today we're all safer without Saddam Hussein.
And nearly sixty percent of all Iraqis say their lives are better now than before the war.
Yet democrats tell us that the war was a mistake.
Kind of makes you wonder what war they're talking about, doesn't it? Lies indeed.