9/11
I just glanced at the time, and it read 9:11, by chance. Got me thinking about what to comment on in light of the 4th anniversary of 9/11. Should we still be memorializing 9/11? My answer is “no,” because it has lost its true meaning.
Bush is still using it endlessly as an excuse for every screw-up and bad policy move he keeps making. He’s still milking it for every PR dollar its worth, including a Washington D.C. “Pentagon march” instituted by Donald Rumsfeld purportedly to honor 9/11 victims, but which has highly visible allusions to both 9/11 and Iraq–a clear political attempt to link the two.
And this is one of the reasons I’m not big on commemorating 9/11. Not because I don’t sympathize with the families, not because I’m not patriotic–but because Bush & Co. have turned it into one everlasting campaign commercial for whatever policy they want to boost this week, and that usually means Iraq. If you truly want to memorialize and respect the victims of 9/11, then do so with a moment of silence today with your family at the dinner table; then take out your checkbook and donate to the victims of Katrina in the name of the 9/11 victims. That’s a way to respect the dead–not to join in some political parade.
Another reason, close in importance to the first, is the same reason why in four years no one will be commemorating the survivors of Katrina–because the event will have passed, mourning will have been done, and life goes on. The victims of 9/11 have been grieved for more than just about any other disaster in memory, and it’s good enough. Time to move on.
Katrina has shown that the government has not taken homeland security seriously at all, and it’s time America woke up and realized that terrorism isn’t the great threat that we’ve been led to believe–at least it’s no more of a threat than it has ever been, and will forever be. Time to reclaim reason, stop allowing politicians to use 9/11 to get us to approve anything they want, and get back to where we were in the late 90’s before this nightmare began.
Mourning has passed. All that remains is politics.
Should we still be memorializing 9/11? My answer is “no,” because it has lost its true meaning.
Er… hope you take this as positive criticism but, if we shouldn’t be memorializing, why the “anniversary” blog post?
Simple. I’m not commemorating or memorializing. I’m commenting on why we shouldn’t buy into the sham. 9/11 is a good day to comment on that, when people are in the midst of being taken in. When should I comment? Christmas? The issue is current now.
I agree with you Luis. I’m still a believer in “When you can’t move on, the terrorists have won” philosophy. The occurrances on 9/11 were horrific but the city has moved forward since the events. Thats not to say those who died have been forgotten or ever will be forgotten. But you can not dwell on the past. You should learn from the past to try to be better prepared for the future.
But also using it ofr political purposes is rude :/