anotheranon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
anotheranon) wrote2011-09-11 10:31 am
anotheranon) wrote2011-09-11 10:31 am
Entry tags:
10 years on, and what have we learned?
Given the proliferation of media coverage and FB/LJ "where were you?" posts, I suppose it's inevitable that I'd write about the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
I don't have to share where I was because it's already on the record. Not that it matters because I imagine 9/11 is like our generation's JFK assassination - you CAN'T forget where you were. It's a national trauma the effects of which will always linger, and given the horrible surprise and swift loss of life that's understandable.
What concerns me is the response and what I perceive as the lack of healing in the past decade. Our government used 9/11 as an excuse to invade an uninvolved country on false pretenses and build a massive top secret infrastructure that invades privacy but isn't really effective at stopping attacks (watch the whole thing. The shoe bomber was stopped by a fellow passenger; street vendors noticed the Times Square bomber and notified authorities). For a long time I thought this was a cynical move on the part of the neo-cons in the Bush administration, but Obama hasn't rolled back many of Bush & Co.'s programs.
As far as the public goes I fear 9/11 has become a collective scab that is picked to justify all manner of fear, revenge fantasies, jingoism, and bigotry. I have no love for bin Laden but my skin kind of crawled (friends locked) at the "USA USA!" cheering it inspired. Not only did it seem to trivialize a human death (a bad human, but homo sapiens nonetheless) to the level of a sports victory, it just seemed to feed a need for getting even that ideally shouldn't be a motive. And I get the need for revenge, and yet...
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it is good and right to remember, and mourn, but what hasn't happened is healing or learning. The government is quick to use a national tragedy to manipulate us, with the press falling in line, and the public can't or won't move on - maybe they don't want to. It's easier to give in out of fear and lash out in anger. The latter in particular feels good and justified, but in the long run doesn't really fix anything. If anything, the terrorists win every time we give in to these reactions.
I'm not a politician or analyst and have no answers. I am pausing and reflecting, but I plan to keep on living like I've got a right to.
I'm posting this publicly and leaving comments unscreened. Discussion and vigorous debate is encouraged, but flames will be vigorously put out.
I don't have to share where I was because it's already on the record. Not that it matters because I imagine 9/11 is like our generation's JFK assassination - you CAN'T forget where you were. It's a national trauma the effects of which will always linger, and given the horrible surprise and swift loss of life that's understandable.
What concerns me is the response and what I perceive as the lack of healing in the past decade. Our government used 9/11 as an excuse to invade an uninvolved country on false pretenses and build a massive top secret infrastructure that invades privacy but isn't really effective at stopping attacks (watch the whole thing. The shoe bomber was stopped by a fellow passenger; street vendors noticed the Times Square bomber and notified authorities). For a long time I thought this was a cynical move on the part of the neo-cons in the Bush administration, but Obama hasn't rolled back many of Bush & Co.'s programs.
As far as the public goes I fear 9/11 has become a collective scab that is picked to justify all manner of fear, revenge fantasies, jingoism, and bigotry. I have no love for bin Laden but my skin kind of crawled (friends locked) at the "USA USA!" cheering it inspired. Not only did it seem to trivialize a human death (a bad human, but homo sapiens nonetheless) to the level of a sports victory, it just seemed to feed a need for getting even that ideally shouldn't be a motive. And I get the need for revenge, and yet...
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it is good and right to remember, and mourn, but what hasn't happened is healing or learning. The government is quick to use a national tragedy to manipulate us, with the press falling in line, and the public can't or won't move on - maybe they don't want to. It's easier to give in out of fear and lash out in anger. The latter in particular feels good and justified, but in the long run doesn't really fix anything. If anything, the terrorists win every time we give in to these reactions.
I'm not a politician or analyst and have no answers. I am pausing and reflecting, but I plan to keep on living like I've got a right to.
I'm posting this publicly and leaving comments unscreened. Discussion and vigorous debate is encouraged, but flames will be vigorously put out.