I have nothing to say. I certainly understand the need for memorial services (especially for the families) and, on a day like today, it’s impossible for any of us not to reflect back on the events of 9/11/01.
It’s just that nothing can be said that hasn’t already been said. Let’s not turn it in to an annual pageant.
Also, I might add, remembering 9/11 ain’t what it used to be:
9/11 has been robbed of its significance. It no longer lights up the neurons recalling an American tragedy, but instead activates that understand political strategy. I hate them for that. So this isn’t a 9/11 remembrance. We’ve never been allowed to forget 9/11. Not for an instant. What we have been allowed to forget is 2,974 individuals who perished in that attack, who didn’t die because they wanted to invade Iraq or because they thought Republicans were insufficiently competitive in elections, but because they were murdered. Remember them.
I guess my biggest problem is people — particularly those on the right — using 9/11 as their cultish emotional lodestone to further policies which are are, quite frankly, offensive and Anti-american. Everything from tapping phones, to instituting torture, to the Iraq War. To them, 9/11 is terrorist porn — a chance to put up horrifying graphics and, well, terrorize you. I sincerely believe many of them are using this day to urge Americans not to remember the victims, but to remember the fear. In doing so, they become the extension of the terrorist’s arm — fearmongererss’ unwitting assistants.
It has all been done in the name of 9/11, which is not what the day should be for:
9/11 Is Tired of Your Tears:
9/11 is weary. 9/11 woke up tired this morning, staring at the clouds and rain, wishing she could just go back to bed. But 9/11 knows she doesn’t get a break. Sure, sure, the other dates told her that after a while she would fade into memory, half-forgotten except for ceremonies that would drag her out of the house, but the reassurances of 12/7, 11/22, and 4/19 have proven to be wrong. It would be one thing to just have to get up on her namesake anniversary. But, no, 9/11 has to be out all the time, the favorite whore of politicians and pundits.
9/11 doesn’t know who’s gonna call on her. Every day, it seems, yes, that someone else rings her up and tells her to meet them at a speech or after an appearance. She knows the routine. She knows her job. 9/11 dresses in her mourning duds, the ones that look like she’s paying respects to the dead, but with enough of a slit up the leg to let whoever her suitor is that night know that she is always available for them.
***
The worst is the campaign season. How she has to show up at the Republican debates to fellate each candidate. How she has to be under the desks at Fox hand-jobbing the O’Reillies and Hannities, fingering the Coulters and Malkins. How Joe Lieberman has done things to her so disgusting she wants to burn them out of her mind. She wanted to be a high-price escort, but she knows that, even though everyone thinks she’s so good at what she does and say how much they respect her, she’s no different than a Lower East Side Suicide Girl-wannabe trick.
9/11 wants just to be loved. She wants someone to take care of her and tell her she doesn’t have to do this anymore. She doesn’t wanna be the American alpha and omega. She just wants flowers, a nice ritual or two, and then a simple thoughtful note every now and then.
UPDATE: Oh, boy! Kaye Grogan proves my point.
Like it or not . . . 9/11 is forever a part of history
Oh, yay. Another bunch of . . . Kaye Grogan ellipses.
Unfortunately, many people are insensitive and wrapped up selfishly in their own little socialite cocoons, assuming they deserve immunity from the hardships of life.
Yeah, people! What’s wrong with you? Get out of your houses and suffer more!
After listening to people calling into C-Span when the question was asked: "has there been too much emphasis and time dedicated to the victims of the 9/11 attack?" — I was appalled at how many of the callers said "enough already!" Others stressed it was time to move on.
I somehow suspect that people were saying much as I was: commemorate 9/11, but let’s not make it an annual media frenzy. [UPDATE: Hmmm. The bereaved 9/11 families seem to agree. When asked (by the WTC Family Center) if they agreed with this statement: "9/11 bereaved adults continue to view the media as a source of the triggers for their grief and frustration at high rates of response", 71% agreed (Source)"]
Well, it’s obvious these people bypassed losing a loved one on that fateful day as the Twin Towers in New York City toppled to the ground, the Pentagon suffered substantial damage involving another intentional plane crash, and the innocent people on a flight believed headed to the White House crashed along with the terrorist tormentors, in a Pennsylvania field.
Diagram that sentence, and win a pony!
All of these people who were only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time — will forever be an unwilling part of history.
As opposed to being a willing part of history, I suppose.
Only the participating terrorists and their cohorts knew of the approaching disaster, the others were just pawns in the hands of madmen who were on a mission to destroy America or at the very least to terrorize her citizens.
I tend to think that even the madmen realized they couldn’t actually destroy American with just four planes. America is a big place. I think it was more of an act to terrorize "her" citizens. Maybe that’s why it’s called "terrorism" . . . just a thought.
So, if you’re one of the people who begrudge the 9/11 memorial, and commemorating the memory of those unfortunate enough to be listed among the 3,000 victims, take your dog for a walk or something else "unimportant" while the families of the victims rightfully console each other.
Kaye, in the meantime, will stayed glued to the television while her dog urinates all over the carpet. "Mom!" her kids will cry. "We’re hungry!" But Kaye will have none of that.
"Shuddup!" she’ll holler back from her vodka-stained couch. "I’m watching callers on C-Span talk about 9/11 commemorations. This is important!"
I am sure that every family member mourning the loss of a father, mother, spouse, sibling, child or friend during the worst attack on American soil in history, would love to change places with someone who escaped being involved on a personal level.
Well, yes, I suspect that is right. But again, I don’t think anyone has suggested that they shouldn’t mourn. The point (again) is that maybe we don’t need to make it an annual national holiday.
With possible preplanned future attacks on US soil on the terrorist hit list — no one is exempt from becoming a victim themselves or losing a loved one.
Other things that people are not "exempt" from: lightning strikes, car accidents…
In fact, the likelihood of those opposed or resentful toward 9/11 sufferers — the same type of tragedy happening to them multiplies, as the attacks become progressively worse.
Got verb? No? Okay…
I’m not sure what Kaye is saying here, but I think she’s saying that if you are resentful of 9/11 sufferers, you are more likely to be attacked by terrorists than people who wallow in 9/11. Interesting theory.
Today marks the sixth anniversary of the September 11 horrendous attack, and many misguided propagandists along with drama kings and queens are still convinced that President Bush ordered the attack.
Kaye’s not a drama queen. Nooooooooo…..
Not only is this pure speculation (without any substantial evidence to back up the claim) but pure lunacy.
Pure lunacy. Unlike, say, the claim that Bush is planning to merge Canada, the United States and Mexico (what Kaye has called the "undercover plot of a North American Union"?
This proves if a lie is told long enough — believers will spread the lie as factual.
Um…. where to go with this? Iraq? The Bible? The undercover plot of a North American Union?
I guess the president is writing Osama bin Laden’s scripts too, since he is supposed to be in cahoots with him — making sure threats of future attacks on the United States are more intimidating and believable.
Actually, Kaye — weren’t you just trying to be intimidating about future attacks on the United States?
While I don’t support President Bush’s policy on illegal immigration and his willingness to allow Mexican trucks access to our highways, the idea that he orchestrated 9/11 is preposterous and completely insane.
Hey! I understood that sentence! And I agree with it (at least, the latter part)!
As long as enough people are in the "Twilight Zone" I guess their rambling about 9/11 being an insider job — will keep their vicious boats afloat.
Ah, there it is. Two metaphors in one sentence. Twilight Zone, and "keep their boats afloat". Not quite sure what a "vicious boat" is — I tried Google images and came up short — nor do I understsand and why Rod Serling fans possess them. But it’s Kaye — best not to ask why.
Many people also speculate that the oil wells in Iraq are the real driving force of why the Bush Administration was so gung-ho on invading Iraq. Not only is this ludicrous, but a lie. Otherwise the United States military would have seized the oil wells by now, and branded the United States logo on them.
The United States has a "logo"? I guess that would be the American Flag or the American Seal. And the National Anthem is our "jingle".
Other misinformed people deny that former Iraqi leaders had anything to do with the 9/11 attack. Well, how do they explain that the biggest majority of killed and captured terrorists has occurred in Iraq?
Oh dear.
Oh dear dear dear.
Kaye, honey. Even if you use a very broad interpretation of "terrorists", the reason why the majority of killed and captured terrorists have occurred in Iraq is because that’s where we are. If we had poured our military resources into invading, say, the Phillipines, then that’s where we would find the majority of terrorists.
Let me ‘splain, using animals. I have a theory that the majority of frogs in my state are located in my backyard. So if I expend all my time and resources in my backyard, I’m sure as hell going to find several frogs. Can I sit back and claim, "Ah, I was right. The majority of frogs are in my backyard, because that’s where I caught the majority of them?"
Also, Kaye is ignoring the simple fact that these "terrorists" — those of the pure al Qaeda stripe — have come into Iraq from outside …after the power vacuum we left following the toppling of Saddam.
Hmm . . . a dog returning to its own vomit, immediately comes to mind.
That’s because you haven’t fed him, Kaye. Or walked him. You’re too busy watching 9/11 ceremonies on TV.
Can you imagine the chaos if the same Iraqi war theorists were in a position to actually be making crucial decisions affecting all American citizens?
What’s the role model that we can use for comparison? The way the Bush Administration made "crucial decisions" involving Katrina?
This may be a lot closer than you think!
And that’s the bottom line!
I can tell. It’s at the end of your essay, Kaye.
Below, a screenshot of Google on 9/11 at 9:54 a.m., 9/11/01. The "I’m Feeling Lucky" seems a bit out of place:
