Another year over.. And what have you done?
In many ways, this old Christmas song seems to make more sense now than ever. What - indeed - have we done? The events of September 11, 2001 was the most extensive daylog ever on E2. 75 writeups, which needed three nodes to store them all (1, 2, 3). Initially, a horrible accident was feared, as the first flight planted itself into the WTC. A few minutes later, the horrible truth came to our attention - the chance of two planes crashing within minutes of each other by accident is as good as nonexistent. This had to be something else. The first reports from the WTC told us that as many as 20,000 people could have been in the building on September 11th. Later, this number was reduced again and again, until the final number of casualties ended up on a 2,819 people. (according to AP - thanks, korey, for this number!)
In many ways, this old Christmas song seems to make more sense now than ever. What - indeed - have we done? The events of September 11, 2001 was the most extensive daylog ever on E2. 75 writeups, which needed three nodes to store them all (1, 2, 3).
Initially, a horrible accident was feared, as the first flight planted itself into the WTC. A few minutes later, the horrible truth came to our attention - the chance of two planes crashing within minutes of each other by accident is as good as nonexistent. This had to be something else.
The first reports from the WTC told us that as many as 20,000 people could have been in the building on September 11th. Later, this number was reduced again and again, until the final number of casualties ended up on a 2,819 people. (according to AP - thanks, korey, for this number!)
The day that changed the world.
Terrorist attacks happen daily. This is very disturbing, but also true. In Gaza city and the surrounding areas, people from both sides of the conflict have been killed by the hundreds. In Iraq and a bunch of other not-quite-democratic states, people have been know to disappear into nothingness - literally tens of thousands of people die every year by the hand of governments and terrorists alike. But never has one single terrorist attack changed the world so much. Why? Well, this was the first time terrorism has successfully* been aimed at the US. *lots of attacks have been attempted, but never with effects this devastating. So what has changed? Nothing really, except that you will find the phrase "September 11th" in every single newspaper. (A Manchester radio station said "The Commonwealth games is the largest sports competition since September 11"... although I find it morbid to see the sep11 incident as a sporting event), and security analysts, advisers and other knowledgeable persons in the fields of counter-terrorism have had a field day. At the same time, Afghanistan (which was already a ridiculously poor country) has been bombed to smithereens, and nobody knows if all of this has managed to kill the one single person they wanted to kill in the first place.
Terrorist attacks happen daily. This is very disturbing, but also true. In Gaza city and the surrounding areas, people from both sides of the conflict have been killed by the hundreds. In Iraq and a bunch of other not-quite-democratic states, people have been know to disappear into nothingness - literally tens of thousands of people die every year by the hand of governments and terrorists alike.
But never has one single terrorist attack changed the world so much. Why? Well, this was the first time terrorism has successfully* been aimed at the US. *lots of attacks have been attempted, but never with effects this devastating.
So what has changed? Nothing really, except that you will find the phrase "September 11th" in every single newspaper. (A Manchester radio station said "The Commonwealth games is the largest sports competition since September 11"... although I find it morbid to see the sep11 incident as a sporting event), and security analysts, advisers and other knowledgeable persons in the fields of counter-terrorism have had a field day.
At the same time, Afghanistan (which was already a ridiculously poor country) has been bombed to smithereens, and nobody knows if all of this has managed to kill the one single person they wanted to kill in the first place.
The day that changed nothing
I have shocked many people by saying this, but if I had believed that crashing an airplane into a building in the US would change the world for the better, I would have done it myself. Why? Because - as I have thoroughly explained in an earlier writeup - there was a reason for why the terrorist attacks took place. People do not sacrifice their own lives for the hell of it... The crashing of airplanes into the WTC was a statement of sorts - a very strong statement. After having made this statement, silence happened. The people behind the action might not have expected such a degree of "success". Or - other people, other than the Taliban-supported terrorist organization - might have been behind the attack. Hard to tell, really. I would have expected that the US would have been interested to hear why the attacks were made. But that seems to not have happened either. When the US government didn't delve into the reasons behind the terrorist attacks, they might have made things worse. Not only did many innocent people die, but their deaths were wasted But I am repeating myself - Read my node about it, if you are interested.
I have shocked many people by saying this, but if I had believed that crashing an airplane into a building in the US would change the world for the better, I would have done it myself. Why? Because - as I have thoroughly explained in an earlier writeup - there was a reason for why the terrorist attacks took place. People do not sacrifice their own lives for the hell of it... The crashing of airplanes into the WTC was a statement of sorts - a very strong statement.
After having made this statement, silence happened. The people behind the action might not have expected such a degree of "success". Or - other people, other than the Taliban-supported terrorist organization - might have been behind the attack. Hard to tell, really. I would have expected that the US would have been interested to hear why the attacks were made. But that seems to not have happened either. When the US government didn't delve into the reasons behind the terrorist attacks, they might have made things worse. Not only did many innocent people die, but their deaths were wasted But I am repeating myself - Read my node about it, if you are interested.
What has happened since?
Fingers have been pointed. Randomly at first, before they eventually all seemed to point at Bin Laden. Whom nobody seems to know whether is alive or not - (Monday the 9th of September 2002, the Al-Jazeera news network showed a new video featuring Bin Laden talking about the Sep11 attacks). Suddenly, a week after the attack, but before any satisfying proof has been shown, the bombs started raining down on Afghanistan. Diplomacy was never an option. According to the Guardian (December 20, 2001), at least 3,767 afghani civilians have been killed. This was in December of last year, and the bombing has been going on fairly steadily (albeit slowly decreasing in intensity and frequence) since then. I have seen a lecture held by the US professor Neil Smelser, on the cultural trauma following September 11th. He points out that the buildings that were attacked were the USs Single most visible symbols of military power, and the single most powerful symbols of capitalism. (We can only speculate in where the fourth airplane was going...). Smelser mentions that the closest similar action was the attack on Pearl Harbor almost sixty years earlier. However, studies have shown that most people refused to compare the events of September 11th 2001 with anything at all. Which is - in many ways - perfectly understandable. At the same time, the US nation has experienced a numbing down culturally, along with a strongly increasing paranoia towards anything out of the ordinary. A powerful wave of protectionism and patriotism has washed like a giant wave over the country, in effect further excluding the US from the rest of the world. I think my personal view of the situation can be best explained in the words of former US general David Sharp, whom I believe was commander of a squad of marines; "I believe that if we had and would keep our dirty, bloody, dollar-soaked fingers out of the business of these nations so full of depressed, exploited people, they will arrive at a solution of their own... And if unfortunately their revolution must be of the violent type because the "haves" refuse to share with the "have-nots" by any peaceful method, at least what they get will be their own, and not the American style, which they don't want and above all don't want crammed down their throats by Americans." The past few months, the US war rhetoric against Iraq has increased in intensity, and the first, almost tentative, attacks have been made. Whether it is a coincidence that this happened before the one-year-anniversary of the Sep11, I am not sure, but it would hardly amaze me if this was not the case.
Fingers have been pointed. Randomly at first, before they eventually all seemed to point at Bin Laden. Whom nobody seems to know whether is alive or not - (Monday the 9th of September 2002, the Al-Jazeera news network showed a new video featuring Bin Laden talking about the Sep11 attacks). Suddenly, a week after the attack, but before any satisfying proof has been shown, the bombs started raining down on Afghanistan. Diplomacy was never an option. According to the Guardian (December 20, 2001), at least 3,767 afghani civilians have been killed. This was in December of last year, and the bombing has been going on fairly steadily (albeit slowly decreasing in intensity and frequence) since then.
I have seen a lecture held by the US professor Neil Smelser, on the cultural trauma following September 11th. He points out that the buildings that were attacked were the USs Single most visible symbols of military power, and the single most powerful symbols of capitalism. (We can only speculate in where the fourth airplane was going...). Smelser mentions that the closest similar action was the attack on Pearl Harbor almost sixty years earlier. However, studies have shown that most people refused to compare the events of September 11th 2001 with anything at all. Which is - in many ways - perfectly understandable. At the same time, the US nation has experienced a numbing down culturally, along with a strongly increasing paranoia towards anything out of the ordinary. A powerful wave of protectionism and patriotism has washed like a giant wave over the country, in effect further excluding the US from the rest of the world.
I think my personal view of the situation can be best explained in the words of former US general David Sharp, whom I believe was commander of a squad of marines; "I believe that if we had and would keep our dirty, bloody, dollar-soaked fingers out of the business of these nations so full of depressed, exploited people, they will arrive at a solution of their own... And if unfortunately their revolution must be of the violent type because the "haves" refuse to share with the "have-nots" by any peaceful method, at least what they get will be their own, and not the American style, which they don't want and above all don't want crammed down their throats by Americans."
The past few months, the US war rhetoric against Iraq has increased in intensity, and the first, almost tentative, attacks have been made. Whether it is a coincidence that this happened before the one-year-anniversary of the Sep11, I am not sure, but it would hardly amaze me if this was not the case.
What is happening next?
This is hard to tell. Several voices have claimed that the reason for why the US were attacked is their strong connection with Israel, a country that in the eyes of many Jewish and Muslim people in effect is an occupying force in the Palestine areas. Tension is also slowly rising - not least in the internet communities - about the aftereffects of september 11. The fears of Echelon and the tradeoff between liberty / security are heavily debated, and far from everybody feels that the balance between security and personal freedom is correct. In a country where freedom seems to be the most important thing, restrictions on this freedom might give the government a nasty surprise, once the population realises what is happening. Another ting worth remembering is the military base on Cuba, which still is filled with people who are arrested without trial, and who - the last time I heard anything about it - might end up not getting their trial. Which obviously is a breach of the UN declaration of human rights. So much for peace, liberty, and justice for all. According to professor Smelser, the September 11 events helped to make the US more strongly bound together. He says that the event bound the citizens together, quoting a person he overheard at "ground zero" in New York; "We are all New Yorkers". Good and well, but I, personally, feel that the US should embrace the rest of the world in its own right, not by making everybody New Yorkers, but by making the citizens of the US a bit more Abu Dhabians, Londoners, Muscovites, New Delhians, Capetonians and Baghdadians... If such a thing could happen, maybe we won't see these types of violent actions anymore. It has been a year. This was a conflict that started because innocent people got killed in the first place. Is it not about time we stopped the killing and started thinking about peace?
This is hard to tell. Several voices have claimed that the reason for why the US were attacked is their strong connection with Israel, a country that in the eyes of many Jewish and Muslim people in effect is an occupying force in the Palestine areas.
Tension is also slowly rising - not least in the internet communities - about the aftereffects of september 11. The fears of Echelon and the tradeoff between liberty / security are heavily debated, and far from everybody feels that the balance between security and personal freedom is correct. In a country where freedom seems to be the most important thing, restrictions on this freedom might give the government a nasty surprise, once the population realises what is happening.
Another ting worth remembering is the military base on Cuba, which still is filled with people who are arrested without trial, and who - the last time I heard anything about it - might end up not getting their trial. Which obviously is a breach of the UN declaration of human rights. So much for peace, liberty, and justice for all.
According to professor Smelser, the September 11 events helped to make the US more strongly bound together. He says that the event bound the citizens together, quoting a person he overheard at "ground zero" in New York; "We are all New Yorkers". Good and well, but I, personally, feel that the US should embrace the rest of the world in its own right, not by making everybody New Yorkers, but by making the citizens of the US a bit more Abu Dhabians, Londoners, Muscovites, New Delhians, Capetonians and Baghdadians... If such a thing could happen, maybe we won't see these types of violent actions anymore.
It has been a year. This was a conflict that started because innocent people got killed in the first place. Is it not about time we stopped the killing and started thinking about peace?
Sources for factual information: BBC World Service / BBC News Online CNN Online VG Nett The Guardian
oh, I almost forgot:-30-
YOU: Why can't you get any movies made before 1990 at blockbuster? Just because it's old doesn't mean it's not worth watching. That's fucking stupid. ME: Nickelback is very popular.
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The Rule of Repetition: How It's Crippling Your Marketing Efforts if You're Not Using It! By Marty Foley
"Duncan Sheik is On a High Duncan Sheik's "Daylight" is a sure-thing forecast! The all-new album was written entirely by Sheik and produced by Patrick Leonard (Madonna, Jewel, Elton John), including the irresistible first single, "On A High." Experience "On A High" today!"
"Other unfortunate things can happen." The Rule of Repetition: How It's Crippling Your Marketing Efforts if You're Not Using It! By Marty Foley
I was in first grade when JFK was shot. The principal announced it over the PA system. I hardly knew who the president was. I remember the reactions of the adults and surmised it was quite a big deal. Five years later his brother was shot and killed. You wonder about the senselessness of it, and this was within our own country.
I was at work when one of my co-workers came into the room and said that a plane, a jet, had flown into one of the WTC towers. He was downloading a picture of it from the internet. We went to see it in his office and at the same time an announcement came over the radio playing in the background that the second tower had been hit. We both looked at each other with our mouths agap. This was obviously not an accident.
September 11 is not just another day. I read all the nodes from last year, for the first time. It all started coming back, everything that was starting to fade away. As all the information started pouring in, in the days that followed the attack last year, it became overwhelming and desensitization began to settle in. Whether our government and world leaders knew this was going to happen, nevermind when, where and how, won't change what has happened. But there is still the question: "How could God let this happen?"
I read about the passing of Hermetic at this time last year and noticed how well liked this guy was. I'm glad his stuff is still here. My neighbor's wife died a slow and painful death a couple years ago. We helped them out as much as we could but there was nothing anyone could do. I still remember them carrying her out of the house in the bodybag to the waiting hearse. My wife was sobbing. They had become close in the past few years. My neighbor said he didn't know how a kind and loving God could let someone as good and gentle as his wife suffer and die like that. She was only 54. It didn't make sense. He wasn't sure if he even believed in God anymore. He told the preacher who had the funeral service for her how he felt. The preacher told him, "You've got to believe in something."
Is there anything that anyone can say about this day which will instill hope for a better tomorrow?
Is there a word of comfort and peace which can be uttered, from one person to another, which might give one cause for introspection?
We are doomed to repeat history because, sadly, the history books focus on the failures of humanity rather than its successes. Wars, disasters, famines, avarice, murder, coup d'etats... If all we see is bad things happening in the past, then how can we expect to look forward with a positive perspective? Certainly we can look in the history books and see a few things which might be shining examples of Mankind's reach for a brighter future, but there is a significant imbalance of good news and bad news.
If you find yourself thinking about the relevance of this day to the one a year before, try to focus on the heroes and kind souls who, without doubt or fear, sacrificed their time, effort and, yes, even their lives for total strangers. Keep in mind the quiet balm of compassion each person shared with another during our time of loss and disbelief.
Humanity, when viewed with a certain perspective, is adolescent. It is growing and learning about its place in this vast, endless universe which we have barely begun to be aware of- it's a mighty big place, this universe. And just like any teenager, the chances are very good that maturity will eventually dawn, that the kid will get good at seeing through the BS and just grow up. The only way a young adult can move into maturity is to focus on the greater, better tomorrows- the kids, the marriage, the college, the work, the freedom, the patience, all the things that we envy our parents for- and other things not mentioned.
When doubt assails you, think of a tomorrow that will come. Experience comes from a lack of wisdom; wisdom comes with experience.
I can only speak for myself in saying I wanted to know why, and I wanted to know who. I wanted our nation to lash out with such terrible force that they would never dare...I wanted someone to pay.
Slowly my rage died down and I just felt sick, all those lost lives. I listened to the intervies and sound bytes. Phone calls of people saying "I love you", people saying "Goodbye" I cried for them over and over, I cried til my head ached and my throat hurt. I remained glued to the TV for days. I listened to Tom Brokaw
"How many widows? How many widowers? How many orphans?"
"We're told that they were zealots fueled by religious fervor...and if you live to be 1,000 years old will that make any sense to you? Will that make any goddamn sense?"
"The number of casualties will be more than most of us can bear."
I watched the media cover the rescue effort, then the recovery effort, I saw people care for each other and work together as I had never seen. Patriotism surged, I saw flags everywhere. I sighed when the recovery effort came to a close. I watched with most of America when flag draped stretcher was used to symbolize those never found. These images repeat in my head over and over.
Now a year later, I watch the media replay the images endlessly. No matter what I have tried to do so far today I have been bombarded with images from last September. I watched the towers fall again and again today. It is important to remember, and I do, but do I need to hear a tape of a mother calling her son's daycare tell him goodbye? I am not sure this media barrage is helpful. Do you remember it all vividly enough? Do I? Is it ok to quit looking at the images now? Is it ok to stop crying? Is it ok to forget about it, not forver, but for a few hours? Can we talk about something other than terrorism? Well, I for one have turned my TV off, I have seen all I care to see for awhile. Enough is enough.
I remember asking my Mom years ago, "Where were you when you found out Kennedy had been shot?".
"I was home playing with my toys, and giving your Grandmother a hard time."
Someday my daughter is going to ask me, "Where were you when you found out about the attacks on September 11, 2001?"
"At your Grandmother's house. I was sleeping until the phone rang. Your Aunt called from Belgium to tell me the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. After that I was alternately glued to the TV, and on phone trying to call your other aunt who resided in NYC."
She may ask, "Where was Daddy?"
"McDonalds, He saw it on a TV there. He didn't even realize at first that it was real. He thought it was some kind of movie until he got home, and saw it on TV there."
As to what else I will tell her, I don't know yet. What will I remember most vividly? Will it be the horror, the surge of patriotism, the heroes of flight 93? I just don't know yet.
What will you tell your children?
Since September 11, I have only been in the New York area once. I was there for a funeral, which took place outside the city itself. I had no desire to go into New York for several reasons. New York has always been a favorite place of mine. Shortly after Christmas my friend Michael came for a visit. He brought with him a book for me, Matthew Pericoli's Manhattan Unfurled. It is a lovely book it is a drawing of Manhattan, the book itself folds out accordian-style into a very long drawing of the city, one side being the east side and the other the west. The twin towers are there on both sides, beginning and ending the drawing. I thanked him and cherish the book still, although it makes me a bit sad and nostalgic to look at it.
Since then the opportunity to visit New York presented itself once more. My fiance was here on vacation and we talked of going to the city for a day or two. I ended up getting sick, then our daughter got an ear infection. The trip to New York went quickly to the back burner. I was relieved. I know I will go back to New York, but when I do it won't be the with the same sense of security and excitement as before. Something has been lost. F Scott Fitzgerald expressed the emotion well in saying:
"It no longer whispers of fantastic success and eternal youth...For the moment, I can only cry out that I have lost my splendid mirage."
One year on, and we have failed.
The world is not a safer place, as our politicians promised at the time. It's, if anything, a worse place for most people.
Before I go on, let me say something to those who will be offended and stop reading halfway. Just because someone is critical of, say, your nation, does not mean they're wrong, or biased. It could mean your nation is on the wrong track. Getting in a huff won't solve the problem.
Back to the facts.
Palestine, the goad that drives the Islamic world to terrorism, is in a worse state than ever. Israel, driven by the same fears that drive the US, has not taken the terrifying, courageous and necessary leap toward co-operation, and after some brief gestures in that direction, their strongest backers have not pressured them to do so. America ,by the way, should take a good look at how dreadful everyday life is for Israeli civilians. This is where the US's current foreign policy is taking their nation.
The impetus toward war continues in Iraq. Americans seem to want it, and George Bush wants it (to finish what Daddy started, maybe?). Tony Blair, perhaps trying to be more "presidential", is trying to persuade a skeptical British public that such a war is a good idea. I don't think he'll succeed. Will he commit the UK anyway?
Climate change continues, unabated, because the worst polluter has yet another reason not to care. Yesterday it was floods in France, and the drought in Africa continues unreported, while the richest nation in the world drives its SUVs with the flag at half-mast.
And (lower on the list, since it kills no-one directly) my native land, blinded by fury, has lost hold of its guiding principles. Where is the liberty and justice for all? I await the trials of the people in Camp X-Ray, currently in a most unpleasant legal limbo. I await the restoration of genuine freedom of speech, where the right to say what you like even if it is unpopular is protected. I await the return of the mindset that made America a true beacon of liberty to the world, before she became obsessed, before she discovered that she could do so many things and forgot to ask if she should.
I am filled with sadness for the thousands who died a year ago. But I am also filled with sadness for the thousands who died offscreen, getting up not in comfortable, secure homes but in refugee camps and sun-scorched farms. These people mattered too, and were beloved of their families too. They were innocent, and they were heartbreakingly brave in the face of terrible adversity, but where are their parades and their memorials?
It Is Just Another Day Or Is It?
I orginally was not going to add my proverbial two cents, for this date, but, I do have feelings about it all.
First of all: it is extremely tragic that anyone should die, especially murdered. There are heroes and villains everyday throughout the world, some sung, some unsung. And to repeat a soldier's words: WAR IS HELL!
Would not a day of silence been more appropriate on 9/11, when so much has been said, seen, and heard already? I was sickened when I turned my head to an bit on the telly that sounded like one of those Protestant, Catholic, Jehovah's Witness, or Mormon ads, all high gloss production with words spewing across the screen with mellow, sincere voice-over, of hope, love, etc.; but it was Verizon!
Well, at least Fox said it would not advertise during their special. I went to bed early.
A lot of ridciculous stuff has been said because of this event, but as it is written, the hardest thing to control is the tongue.
Remember, in your prayers for peace, they begin with Me and You
I Will Try Not To Let The Media Rule My Day
Hopefully, I haven't pissed you off enough yet to make you downvote and stop reading.
Stop. Stop reading the fucking newspapers, turn CNN the fuck off, fucking avoid talk radio, and ask yourself if September 11, 2001 mattered at all. I still feel the same way that I did back then. I don't know if I'm just different from most people, or if this is all just a creation of the media, it's hard to tell nowadays.
I live in the midwest. I don't know anyone who died. I don't know anyone who knows anyone who died. Someone I sorta knew in high school went to New York for college . . . maybe he knows someone who died. I doubt it. I haven't seen him in the last year anyway.
Not many people died. Two thousand and change. It's not really any different to me than all the people who die from inadequate sanitation, or from the deliberate efforts of drug companies to make a profit by allowing the poor to die. Since September 11, 2001, people have died in unrelated conflicts. Americans have killed Americans. We do it against a background with a few more dots of red and white and blue.
Not that anything should have changed in the first place. I wonder if I'm normal - am I just detached and emotionless? Should I fear for my life? Should I mourn for the fallen? I didn't know the fallen. I don't mourn for people who die far away from me because it happens too often for me to invest myself in it. Floods, earthquakes, famines, wars, the world is a pretty barbaric place and when you count the Iraqis who've died from our oil embargo, we've probably killed more Arabs than Al Qaeda killed Americans. That pisses me off. I'm mad that my tax dollars go to killing people who didn't hurt me.
But 9/11? I dunno. I read the newspapers for a couple days, remarked on the wholly novel type of terrorism, and then I stopped. There was nothing more to be learned, no new revelations to be had. We didn't change and I didn't change.
It's drama. Drama and media hype and stupid people fearing an unlikely death. I'm still more likely to get beaten to death for being gay, or to get run over by a bus while jaywalking in an attempt to get to class on time. What do I care about terrorism? No one wants to terrorize me.
The only reason I node this is because no one else seems to have noticed that this is, despite the sadness of any mass-murder, pretty much a nonevent in any real terms. We didn't fall apart as a country, and that's not the remarkable achievement the media likes to claim it is.
It did show us our ugly side. It showed us victimizing Arabs, it showed people who weren't affected lining up for handouts, it showed that we can't even be bothered to donate blood except when we fear for our own lives. It showed how easily we buy into media hype, purchasing our emotions for 50 cents out of newspaper vending machines.
Maybe I'm the only one, though. Maybe I should be weeping for the fallen, or some shit like that. It's not very likely, though.
I don't Daylog but I'm Daylogging . . .
Yeah, I was strident. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to deny others the right to memorialize or mourn as they see fit. You should do as your emotions direct, and my heart goes out to those whose lives were personally touched. But I also oppose sappy, marketed tears because they cheapen the sorrow of those who were really hurt by the disaster.
I don't try to deny that it's a horrible event, but I hope that people are willing to add some perspective, and realize that this isn't the only injustice in the world. I hope people's tears are genuine, and out of feeling for others, rather than simply because they see others crying, or because their own delusions of vulnerability were shaken. That's self-indulgent, and once again it cheapens the grief of those who have more claim to it.
I deny the supremacy of this event over the other evils of the world, especially the evils our own nation has perpetrated upon others, or has financed or supported. The towers were not the only tragedy in the last year, nor were they the most tragic; in the end, the number of people killed and the injustice of it is barely visible amongst the tragedies and atrocities of the world, and if you don't agree with that, then I suggest something besides altruism and genuine concern for others may be affecting your feelings. Grief makes us self-centered, but we must realize that others grieve too, for other concerns. This event, though popular with the press, is not of greater significance than the many other horrors of the world.
Nor do I or any other person who is not grieving owe something to the victims and those who grieve for them: I don't deny your sadness, and as I said before I sympathise, but my life won't and shouldn't stop for you or anyone else. The world doesn't owe you repayment for a wrong that a few people commited.
I wish some of the people who had referenced what I said, either directly or obliquely, had stopped to respond to my intentions and not just their shock that someone disagreed, or felt differently. I don't mind that this is tied for my most-hated writeup because it has obviously reflected many peoples' thoughts on the subject. However, if you respond to me, through msgs or otherwise, please don't assume that my intentions are bad, and please don't attach your own interpretations of how I 'must' feel, or what I 'meant', if you don't see those thoughts directly stated in my writing.
Today is a normal day for me. Its Wednesday and tomorrow is Thursday. Everyone is forgeting that today is a work day, not a national holiday. Work goes on, everything moves and continues to function. The world did not stop spining because of today's date.
I know that this day has affected a ton of people directly. It hasn't for me, so I go about my normal daily routine, doing the same things I always do. I will observe a moment of silence today, but thats about it.
When did today stop being a memorial and turn into a media circus? I struggle to see how coverage of the day by CNN and everyone honors the dead? If I was directly affected by this, through the loss of a loved one, then I think I would want a quite day, a day when painful memories are not brought up and ghosts are revisited.
I'm very angry at the moment, so I apologise that you have to read yet another daylog about the same thing. I heartily agree with SharQ and evilrooster up there, by the way - and if people refuse to take any criticism, whatever country they're from, then they have no place here. This daylog may contain traces of ranting, sexual swearwords, and opinion - if this is a problem for you, you should skip to one of the other, more heartwarming writeups where everyone's a victim except the dirty, smelly ay-rabs or moozl'ms. People shouldn't fucking kill other people. It's a pretty basic concept, but some people still seem to be having trouble with it. The world is worse off since last year's attack, but not because of the terrorists. It's because we just won't fucking learn.
Listen to me now: At yesterday's TUC speech, Blair said something along the lines of "suppose I'd told you last year, before the terrorist attacks, that Al Qaeda existed, and were planning this attack?" to justify why we should go along with bombing the shit out of Iraq despite no actual evidence so far. How fucking dare you, you cocklicker? How fucking DARE you? Fine, you want to be Bush's fucktoy? Super. You want to go and bomb Iraq, finish off the fucking job, kill more innocent people, slaughter anyone left alive despite the staggeringly inhumane sanctions preventing medical care getting into the country? That's great, we can't stop you, you're going to fucking do it with your little buddy Bush anyway, what does our fucking opinion matter? We voted you in, I guess we're paying the price for that. But don't you fucking expect us to ease your conscience by saying it's okay, cause it really fucking isn't. Nobody, but nobody, either in the UK or the US, wants this "war". But it's going to happen anyway, and there's absolutely nothing we can do about it. How fucked up is that, boys and girls?
Yes, Saddam is a Bad Man, yes, it might be better if he were removed, but I could say exactly the same about that dumb motherfucker Bush, who cheated his way into the presidency, or Blair, who keeps happily selling British arms to oppressive regimes so that they can murder people. But bombing the shit out of the poor bastards who are trying to keep their mud huts in one piece isn't going to help anyone, except Saddam, possibly, who can legitimately claim that we're being unfair.
Completely unrelated to the anniversary: non-UK noders may not be familiar with the case in Soham of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman - two young girls who were kidnapped and found dead 13 days later. Two people have been arrested and charged, but according to the British public, they're already guilty. Both suspects have been taken to court for preliminary hearings, and greeted with lynch mobs hurling abuse, bottles and eggs, screaming "kill him, kill him", holding banners reading "rot in hell" and "bring back hanging". The people in the mob bring their kids along to this near-riot, kids who are frightened, crying, wanting to go home. If the crowd had had access to either suspect, they would have killed them, no question. These suspects are supposedly innocent until proven guilty. We have no idea if they did it or not. But the crowd doesn't give a fuck, they just want blood. Supposedly intelligent people, turned into a baying mob. Media saturation, supposedly objective journalists using the sort of purple prose that belongs in a Mills and Boon novel. Sky News is proving to be unintentionally hilarious lately, it's almost a parody of itself, Chris Morris couldn't do any better. And yet many people in the UK probably haven't heard of the 13 month old girl who was tortured until she died - tortured by her parents. Cigarette burns all over her, scalded feet from being made to stand in boiling water, broken skin under the arms from being pinched incredibly hard - but she barely gets quarter of a page deep inside the paper, while the more photogenic Holly and Jessica are plastered all over the front pages.
More UK stuff: two boys admit vandalising over 150 children's graves in Bristol, but cannot be charged as they are under 10 years old. Little fucking shitrags. Kids are evil, man. I expect there'll be some shit about how they're misunderstood or something, that they didn't understand - bollocks. They're just fucking evil.
And Israel and Palestine seem determined to keep at it until they're all fucking dead and buried. On my less patient days, I secretly wish they'd hurry up and get it over with, once they've all killed each other, at least that's one less problem in the world to worry about. But it won't end, it'll just keep going, Bush, for some bizarre reason, not seeming to care. Or maybe he just hasn't had someone give him the gist of that particular report yet. The stupid fucking redneck cunt.
The world is going down the fucking toilet. Terrorists: put away your bombs, your box cutters, save your money, time and effort. There is nothing you can do to us that we aren't already doing to ourselves. Bush and Blair: if you persist in this "war", against your own countries' wishes, if you are determined to go and kill people, insisting on it with the demented fervour of Chris Morris in The Day Today ("It's war!"), then fuck you. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. Get your dicks out of each others mouths for a minute, and think very carefully about what you do next. If the governments of two major world powers (well, okay, one major world power and the UK), supposedly democratic countries, are going to start a war without the consent of the people, or even the majority of the fucking government, then it really is all over. There's going to be a big problem come re-election time, or even sooner depending how angry the people are. Remember the poll tax riots? That was over a fucking tax, man, this is going to be so much worse.
And if you get angry because you think I'm being anti-American (I'm not) or because you think I don't care about the people who died in last year's attacks (I do care, very much), then fuck you too. I don't want anyone to die, I sat there horrified in front of the fucking television along with everybody else, watching people jumping from the burning building to their deaths, it was a fucking tragedy, nobody deserves that to happen to them. Yes, those people were innocent and blameless, and so are all the other people who are murdered all the time, but it's all for nothing if we can't even talk about who else might be at fault. Sure, the terrorists should be found and punished, of course - but I don't want the other fuckers in the background to get off without any blame, the governments who fund groups that later bite them on the arse, and then lie and pretend they had nothing to do with it. I especially don't want snivelling, shiny-arsed politicians using the innocent dead to justify their wallet-lining warmongering. I'm fucking sick of this shit, sick of being lied to, manipulated, told what to believe. We had Virgin radio on here in the office today, but I've just turned it off in disgust - they're playing maudlin songs all day, and while the songs are playing, there are snippets from 911 calls, or soundbytes from the day. So, for example, I'd have to listen to Angels by Robbie Williams (bad enough) which is suddenly interrupted by "oh my God, people are jumping out of the windows", and then back to the song. Hardly a fitting tribute to those who burned to death or were buried alive while trying to save others, this was a human fucking tragedy, it's not just fodder for your fucking infotainment shows. Announcers competing with each other as to who can sound the most sincere and compassionate - I really fucking object to that emotional manipulation, it totally cheapens the deaths of all those people, turning it into a cheesy slice of shit, it's totally fucking inappropriate.
So the day will pass, everyone will feel sad, we'll focus on this one event and ignore thousands of other worse ones, where even more people were killed, and nothing will be done to prevent this sort of thing happening again. We're just going to keep bombing and killing people, and will keep getting bombed and killed in return. If your first reaction to any problem is to bomb it, then don't act all surprised when crazy people try to kill you.
That's why there will never, ever be world peace, it's just a constant stream of revenge, attacks, people grabbing power or oil or whatever, it just won't ever stop. The glorious circle of death keeps on turning. We're all guilty, all of us, either by action or inaction. Our countries are built on stacks of poor, dead bastards who got in the way, and our politicians earn their money selling guns to people so they can kill other people and then we bomb them for having guns, the guns we fucking sold them in the first place, but there's nothing we can do, so fuck it. Fuck everyone. Fuck the terrorists, fuck the US government, fuck the UK government, fuck Bush, fuck Blair, fuck Saddam, fuck the media, fuck anyone who thinks it's anti-American to criticise a fucking muppet like Bush, fuck Robbie Williams, fuck me, and fuck you.
The terrorists have got nothing on us, baby. They're a bunch of amateurs.
Some might say that in sixteen days, there is no way that I could understand this place, and its people. But I believe that somewhere deep down, all people are the same; somewhere, they have the same wants and needs and desires and love and hate and passion and confusion, regardless of where they are from. Since I moved here, I've taken several walks through the city: on the crowded streets of Times Square, a deserted street in Chinatown, Herald Square, SoHo, the East Village. I've seen the people, lived their lives, and guessed at the stories hidden behind their eyes. In the sense of universal connection, I know as much about the city as anyone. People here walk about in a certain manner that lets you know you're in New York.
But not today. Today, I got up early to go to my school's rememberance ceremony. There were at least 2000 people present. Not a word was spoken. For the first time since I've been here, I didn't hear a word. I've heard more voices at 3:00 AM than I did then, at about 8:40. Church bells tolled throughout the city, ringing off of the skyscrapers and down the quiet side streets. The only sounds that made it even recognizable as New York were the sounds of buses and cars driving by, and for the first time since I've been here, there was no honking. A stiff breeze blew by, and I saw the first leaves of autumn blow off the trees and flutter to the ground. No one spoke, no one looked at each other. People would walk by, looking at the eyes of others, to see what they felt. Eye contact has a powerful way of revealing emotions and fears and passions and insecurities. But, no actual eye contact was made by the people walking by. Should two people's eyes accidentally meet, both quickly averted them towards the ground.
The city has been beset by a somber fog of rememberance. As the names of people who had been killed were read, there was dead silence. The church bells tolled once more, and then 2,000 people got up and walked away in perfect silence. The only thing that I have experienced that even comes close to this was the mood at the rememberance ceremony for Columbine High School, which took place at the movie theatre down the street from my house, with the school just across the park. But even that was not this silent. It is as if the city itself is weeping. The sounds of silence really do echo.
Today never knows what will happen tomorrow. Tomorrow never knows what will come. It is a thoroughly depressing day in the city.
I have reached the point where, I think, I can't get much more numb.
No amount of evil on the part of any human or nation would, at this point, particularly surprise me. We're all just as capable, to be quite honest, and everybody has their reasons.
I feel helpless. That our nation can change its laws as it does, that it can attack nations as it does, that our leaders can declare wars as they do...There's no accountability to any of it.
The world hates this nation, and for many excellent reasons. My friend Dave from Canada was just talking about how America is actively screwing over Europe, South American, etc. with it's foreign policy, because American foreign policy says that we must hurt other nations economically to keep American on top, at all costs.
Not, mind you, that anybody inside the nation will ever pay much attention to that sort of thing.
We can talk all we want about wake up calls, but with all of the insidious, covert changes going on in the nation...there's just no point.
it's already over. We've already lost the war. The poison is in our veins.
All we can do, as individuals, is try to be the best humans possible. With or without God. And continue to burn with the world.
Like many of you out there, I promised myself I wasn't gonna do it. Nope, not me. But after reading Excalibre's thoughts on the subject, I feel obliged to add my two cents worth.
I must however, respectfully disagree with the rest of your thoughts. I too live in the Midwest, although transplanted from Brooklyn NY. I'm sorry you don't know anyone who died or that you don't know anyone who knows anyone who died. You almost sound disappointed, like you've not been invited to a party or somethin'. You make it sound as if the people who were unfortunate enough to lose a loved one should carry that around like some kinda badge of honor.
You think that "two thousand and change" is not that many people. I respectfully disagree (actually one person is one too many). When you factor in family and friends, the number of people impacted goes up exponentially. Couple that with the impact the events of that day had on the economy and the subsequent loss of jobs the number becomes huge.
Sure, I'm angry at many of the same things you are, inadequate sanitation and corrupt drug companies and a host of other social injustices that inundate us on a daily basis are just the tip of the iceberg of my anger. But the simple fact is that the people who died in the Towers, at the Pentagon, and on the planes also did not deserve to die.
You ask if you should mourn for the fallen. Well, the floods, earthquakes and maybe to some extent famines that you mention in your w/u are natural occurrences. Hijacking planes and crashing them into buildings is not. Yes, as you state, the world is a pretty barbaric place but I think by not letting tragic events have some type of effect on you, you just contribute to the callousness that pervades both our society and the world in general. And yes, in my humble opinion, you should mourn for the fallen.
You almost sound sad that you weren't affected (at least directly) by the events of that day. I wish I wasn't affected either. As a matter a fact, I wish we all weren't affected. I recently got a note from my former high school advising me that an eternal flame was going to be lit in honor of twenty three of my former class mates who didn't get to make it home that day. Even though I had lost contact with all of them, it still affected me. Sorry.
From http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usiraq11sep11.story
"I'm deeply concerned about a leader who has ignored the United Nations for all these years, refused to conform to resolution after resolution after resolution, who has weapons of mass destruction," Bush said of Hussein. "And the battlefield has now shifted to America, so there's a different dynamic than we've ever faced before." A senior administration official said Bush in his speech will seek U.N. action--but not recommend a specific course. "He is going to go to the U.N. and he will say that this is not just our problem, this is the world's problem," said the aide, who requested anonymity. At the same time, the official said Bush will reserve the right to act without U.N. support or approval. "The president is also going to make very clear that the United States is not prepared to stand by and let this situation continue," the aide said.
"I'm deeply concerned about a leader who has ignored the United Nations for all these years, refused to conform to resolution after resolution after resolution, who has weapons of mass destruction," Bush said of Hussein. "And the battlefield has now shifted to America, so there's a different dynamic than we've ever faced before."
A senior administration official said Bush in his speech will seek U.N. action--but not recommend a specific course.
"He is going to go to the U.N. and he will say that this is not just our problem, this is the world's problem," said the aide, who requested anonymity.
At the same time, the official said Bush will reserve the right to act without U.N. support or approval. "The president is also going to make very clear that the United States is not prepared to stand by and let this situation continue," the aide said.
Well, at least they're admiting their hypocrisy these days.
Today, I mourn not only those lost one year ago, but also the very, very real potential that those counted among the gone shall soon grow dramatically in number.
If you ask me, ol' Shrub could use some glasses.
