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Sep. 11th, 2007 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jawnbcI don't really remember 11/09/01 until the day arrives. Despite it almost entirely sucking, I'm not fixated on the day, or its events. But from time to time I cannot help but watch some of the video from NYC that morning; it's a morose, unpleasant compulsion, but it helps me remember to remember.
Contrary to what a lot of people seem to believe, NYers have been as opposed to Iraq and Bush II as much--sometimes more--than other Americans. There are certainly many whose reaction after the events was--as my brother Tommy put it--"nuke all the fuckin' bastards." When the invasion was imminent, hundreds of thousands marched in NYC--including survivors of the attacks and those left behind. Hundreds of thousands. But even most of those who perhaps on a visceral level supported the invasion now realize it was a huge mistake for the American people perpetrated by dishonest, greedy, callous shitheads.
I am glad that those events feature much less prominently in the public sphere today. Which is, to my mind, indicative of a desire to maintain a healthy balance of remembrance, grieving, and getting on with life. The people who really suffer today are the ones who have been unable to move forward. And that's not because they're stoopid, or selfish, or ideologues. It's because they're broken. A bit of quiet empathy wouldn't cause most of us any discomfort.
Even so, I am left sad today, though not bereft. Sad because my brother was inextricably enmeshed in all of this, and kept from his wife and kids for weeks, save a few hours. Sad because NYC, the city full of piss and fuckin' vinegar, was kneecapped and hobbled for months--in terms of spirit much more than infrastructure. Sad because my childlike sense of my hometown was ripped open and pulled apart.
And sad because the obvious answer to preventing this sort of shite happening again and again--in Darfur, Doha, Delhi or Denver--never seems to get the attention (or support) it needs: education. Education brings prosperity, social cohesion, and a stronger sense of self. And innoculates individuals against fallacious, exploitative ideological claptrap that positions young people in the US, Britain, Canada, Palestine, Sudan, Ingushetia and Indonesia as pawns. Reading the word means reading the world, which breeds compassion and empathy.
And if the annual references to 11 09 01 get up your nose, fair enough. But your discomfort is pretty much a wank unless you're doing something to effect change in policy in your own communities. Try shutting your fucking browsers and do something about what you find wrong with the world. There's no shortage of work if you're serious.
Or just open another bag of chips. You'll have a tasy snack and we won't have to listen to you...
Contrary to what a lot of people seem to believe, NYers have been as opposed to Iraq and Bush II as much--sometimes more--than other Americans. There are certainly many whose reaction after the events was--as my brother Tommy put it--"nuke all the fuckin' bastards." When the invasion was imminent, hundreds of thousands marched in NYC--including survivors of the attacks and those left behind. Hundreds of thousands. But even most of those who perhaps on a visceral level supported the invasion now realize it was a huge mistake for the American people perpetrated by dishonest, greedy, callous shitheads.
I am glad that those events feature much less prominently in the public sphere today. Which is, to my mind, indicative of a desire to maintain a healthy balance of remembrance, grieving, and getting on with life. The people who really suffer today are the ones who have been unable to move forward. And that's not because they're stoopid, or selfish, or ideologues. It's because they're broken. A bit of quiet empathy wouldn't cause most of us any discomfort.
Even so, I am left sad today, though not bereft. Sad because my brother was inextricably enmeshed in all of this, and kept from his wife and kids for weeks, save a few hours. Sad because NYC, the city full of piss and fuckin' vinegar, was kneecapped and hobbled for months--in terms of spirit much more than infrastructure. Sad because my childlike sense of my hometown was ripped open and pulled apart.
And sad because the obvious answer to preventing this sort of shite happening again and again--in Darfur, Doha, Delhi or Denver--never seems to get the attention (or support) it needs: education. Education brings prosperity, social cohesion, and a stronger sense of self. And innoculates individuals against fallacious, exploitative ideological claptrap that positions young people in the US, Britain, Canada, Palestine, Sudan, Ingushetia and Indonesia as pawns. Reading the word means reading the world, which breeds compassion and empathy.
And if the annual references to 11 09 01 get up your nose, fair enough. But your discomfort is pretty much a wank unless you're doing something to effect change in policy in your own communities. Try shutting your fucking browsers and do something about what you find wrong with the world. There's no shortage of work if you're serious.
Or just open another bag of chips. You'll have a tasy snack and we won't have to listen to you...
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no subject
Date: 2007-09-11 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-11 10:42 pm (UTC)as well it should!!! Cuz it's my birfday!!!!!!!! Terrible, terrible things happen everyday, and certainly 9/11/2001 was especially terrible. BUT - it is still a day worthy of celebration!
no subject
Date: 2007-09-11 11:32 pm (UTC)