I know, another DeadJournal re-posting. But I felt it significant to add my own thoughts on the anniversary of that terrible day.
One Year Later
Everyone, do yourselves a favour and read this (the link was to SharQ's September 11, 2002 writeup).
So it's been exactly one year today since nearly 3,000 Americans died in the attacks on the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon, and the hijacking of a fourth airliner whose final purpose will remain unknown. And what does America have to show for it? Well, the PATRIOT Act was introduced, making it frighteningly easy to tap your communications without your knowledge or a warrant. The long cherised ideas of "freedom, liberty and justice for all" and the Constitution are being fucked around because people want to feel safe ("Those who would give up freedom for temporary safety deserve neither" - Benjamin Franklin). Questioning American policy, foreign or domestic, has become a new taboo under the one-size-fits-all guise of being "unpatriotic". Suspected "terrorists" are being detained without a lawyer or any hope of a trial in a military base near Cuba because they may have "links" to the obviously evil Al-Qaeda terrorist network. And the Americans "righteously" bombed the fuck out of Afghanistan because they believed that Osama bin Laden was behind the attacks. Well done.
Does that mean I believe that America is evil and deserves what it gets? Hell, no. Nobody deserves to have that happen to them. Nobody should. But it worries me that nobody in mainstream media (which is usually the only thing most people expose themselves to) has spent much time questioning the reasons behind the attacks. I only say that the response to this tragedy has not been a productive one.
Still, one has to admit that through all the bullshit, half-truths and skewed media reporting the attacks did have a visible effect on people. When they first happened, it was hard for me to comprehend that people would do this. Of course, people die in the Middle East daily through suicide bomb attacks and military operations but the idea of such an complex and audacious plan to be planned and carried out successfully literally freaked me the fuck out.
I don't purport to know everything. I know I don't. One thing I have learned is to question things. And I believe we should be spending less time asking "how" and more time asking "why".