Daylogs, bah. It's been a year since I had to make a daylog.
Here's the
final word, the
bottom line, the
Objective Truth: A lot of people died at the
World Trade Center, at the
Pentagon, and on
Flight 93 on
9/11/01. None of those people deserved to die.
Yes, it received
publicity and
news coverage that a similar
disaster in most other nations would never receive. Yes, that's not
fair. Yes, there's been a whole lot of folks whining and mourning and acting like
martyrs. It doesn't change the fact: None of those people deserved to die.
Yes, the ensuing attacks in
Afghanistan killed a lot of Afghan civilians and have not succeeded in capturing or killing
Osama Bin Laden. It doesn't change the fact: None of those people deserved to die.
Yes,
Dubya is using the disaster as an
excuse to push for a war in
Iraq that few people want to happen. Yes,
Donald Rumsfeld is using the disaster as an excuse to push for a greater American
military presence worldwide. Yes,
John Ashcroft is using the disaster as an excuse to push his personal
authoritarian,
anti-freedom agenda. Yes,
Israel's leaders have used the disaster as an excuse to push for a war of
extermination against the
Palestinians, and vice versa. Yes, the disaster is not a good excuse for any of those things, and yes, many of us agree that we should work very hard to derail their
plots. It doesn't change the fact: None of those people deserved to die.
Yes, the attacks spurred a wave of American
patriotism and
nationalism. Yes, there's been a rise in
isolationist feelings. Yes, certain
religious types have behaved very stupidly. Yes, all the
mindless flag-waving can get quite
irritating and
frustrating, even for Americans. It doesn't change the fact: None of those people deserved to die.
Yes, there are a lot of people out there who are responding to the
anniversary with "Ahh, who cares? Just a bunch of
bloody stupid Americans died. They were asking for it anyway, with that stupid
foreign policy." Sorry to hear you feel that way. Please feel free to fuck yourself. Because none of those people deserved to die.
Yes, many more people die everyday of
starvation and
disease and
war than died at the WTC. Yes, 9/11 has almost completely dominated
public discourse. Yes, many important issues have been pushed aside. Yes, the American
response to the attacks has been far from perfect. Yes, yes, yes. But it doesn't change the fact: None of those people deserved to die.
That's the only thing that matters, really. None of those people deserved to die.
still believing that yesterday's anniversary was more shattering for most of us