I feel like people have forgotten 9/11. Since the war and everything it seems that we regard it as something that just triggered this whole mess and thats it. And now its just politics. That drives me crazy
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I'd rather pretend like it's a regular day on the outside because I don't want to spend the day like my mother, sitting and watching people explode over and over again. Or go to the site, a big hole in the ground that probably still has human remains there because some people were never found, and take pictures of the family in front of it like it's a tourist attraction (I know someone who did that). I didn't forget, but I didn't say anything. I didn't want to hear people tell me I'm unpatriotic because I disagree with Bush and so on, and that I'm just faking it because if I didn't I'd look like an ass.
I'm angry about the 9/11 commission. All the things that came out about the advance warning and the finding that it could have been prevented, but wasn't because we thought, "hell, we're America, we're bigger and stronger and nothing's going to happen to us". We turned into an ugly guy with a huge ego (to use the analogy).
But, being someone who knew people on one of those planes, I don't think people have forgotten. I think it's better that there was less fanfare with the hype about it with all the replays of the scenes and the pictures of the site as it is now and as it was. Because back then, when it happened and it was on the news stations and radio all the time, there was probably, I'm sure, a perverse fascination with it, even though it was a terrible thing and no one would ever admit it. That's the way human beings are - why is there always a traffic jam on the opposite side of the highway when someone gets pulled over, or gets into an accident? People want to see what happened, because it's not an ordinary sight to see death and gore from some manner of violence. I remember sitting in front of the TV in shock, watching the second plane over and over and wondering if they knew what was coming, and if they were alive or dead before it. It was something I never said out loud because someone would have mauled me for it, because it was sickening to imagine, but I'm sure I wasn't the only one. I don't want to think that sort of thing again, I don't want to know. So I didn't do anything seemingly different in my daily routine yesterday. I thought about it a lot, but I'm less angry now. There's still injustice at not having any closure on the death of one of those people I knew, because nothing was found of him, but it's lessened because there's still a chance that he might be "found" (I say in quotations because it's not exactly finding someone to find traces of DNA or a personal belonging). They're still finding "people", if you want to call them that. No one's really forgotten. I think that three years after it, most people have figured out how to deal with it without making it into a big event.
And as for patriotism, the problem is that the current war is likened to Vietnam because of its unpopularity. And it is. People don't seem to be patriotic because Bush has directly linked patriotism to this war, which has done nothing for this country but bankrupt it and kill 1000+ people. He's linked it to religion, and jingoism. I am not religious, but I don't care what anyone believes as long as it's not being forced down my throat and being used to do things which I consider a danger to my rights. Bush is currently trying to push through a bill to bring back the draft - not many people know this but it is there. This bill is being pushed through under a religious pretense that I'd rather not go into because this comment is long enough without it. I don't want to fight a war I don't believe in because someone else thinks he is god's messenger. And crazy people who think that anyone who doesn't wholeheartedly support the president is a traitor, cover everything (cars, house, computers, themselves) with American symbols (the flag, those ribbons that have a special name that I forget, etc.). Eventually the connection in people's minds becomes patriotism = jingoism. Which isn't necessarily true, but people (and when I say people I'm not generalizing, it's just the easiest way to put it) tend to think that's case.
But I'm going to stop ranting because it's bad for my blood pressure and I've written way more than you ever needed to read. So just ignore me because I'm weird.
I'm angry about the 9/11 commission. All the things that came out about the advance warning and the finding that it could have been prevented, but wasn't because we thought, "hell, we're America, we're bigger and stronger and nothing's going to happen to us". We turned into an ugly guy with a huge ego (to use the analogy).
But, being someone who knew people on one of those planes, I don't think people have forgotten. I think it's better that there was less fanfare with the hype about it with all the replays of the scenes and the pictures of the site as it is now and as it was. Because back then, when it happened and it was on the news stations and radio all the time, there was probably, I'm sure, a perverse fascination with it, even though it was a terrible thing and no one would ever admit it. That's the way human beings are - why is there always a traffic jam on the opposite side of the highway when someone gets pulled over, or gets into an accident? People want to see what happened, because it's not an ordinary sight to see death and gore from some manner of violence. I remember sitting in front of the TV in shock, watching the second plane over and over and wondering if they knew what was coming, and if they were alive or dead before it. It was something I never said out loud because someone would have mauled me for it, because it was sickening to imagine, but I'm sure I wasn't the only one. I don't want to think that sort of thing again, I don't want to know. So I didn't do anything seemingly different in my daily routine yesterday. I thought about it a lot, but I'm less angry now. There's still injustice at not having any closure on the death of one of those people I knew, because nothing was found of him, but it's lessened because there's still a chance that he might be "found" (I say in quotations because it's not exactly finding someone to find traces of DNA or a personal belonging). They're still finding "people", if you want to call them that. No one's really forgotten. I think that three years after it, most people have figured out how to deal with it without making it into a big event.
And as for patriotism, the problem is that the current war is likened to Vietnam because of its unpopularity. And it is. People don't seem to be patriotic because Bush has directly linked patriotism to this war, which has done nothing for this country but bankrupt it and kill 1000+ people. He's linked it to religion, and jingoism. I am not religious, but I don't care what anyone believes as long as it's not being forced down my throat and being used to do things which I consider a danger to my rights. Bush is currently trying to push through a bill to bring back the draft - not many people know this but it is there. This bill is being pushed through under a religious pretense that I'd rather not go into because this comment is long enough without it. I don't want to fight a war I don't believe in because someone else thinks he is god's messenger. And crazy people who think that anyone who doesn't wholeheartedly support the president is a traitor, cover everything (cars, house, computers, themselves) with American symbols (the flag, those ribbons that have a special name that I forget, etc.). Eventually the connection in people's minds becomes patriotism = jingoism. Which isn't necessarily true, but people (and when I say people I'm not generalizing, it's just the easiest way to put it) tend to think that's case.
But I'm going to stop ranting because it's bad for my blood pressure and I've written way more than you ever needed to read. So just ignore me because I'm weird.
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