I Think This Is Wayyyy Overdue
Even though I am a day late, I think it is time for me to speak up about my thoughts of September 11th. I have stayed quiet about this, trying to pretend that it doesn't affect me, but in fact I have listened to stories and hear people cry, and then I look back and realize that this kind of this affects me in a completely different way. Some of the stuff I may say will probably either offend or make some of you feel uncomfortable, but I don't wanna hold my thoughts back.
I had a conversation yesterday with my college friend Amy who is an intern at a TV station. Amy is one of the most cynical, sarcastic people I have ever met, and she always has a way of slightly offending people with her cynical comments. This was the first time that I ever saw this side of her. After the attacks, it was her job to view the millions of hours of footage from ground zero, and choose what was suitable for TV. As you can imagine, she saw some pretty horrific images during her job. She told me that her and the other people on the job were very affected by this. To deal with this, they did something they called simply "The Video Game." What they did was they found out from watching the plane hit the second building that there were a couple of frames when the plane hit the tower, was swallowed up by the building but did not explode yet. They replayed the image 1000s of times, trying to pause it right before it exploded and then press 'play' and it exploded. My first reaction to this was "oh my god, that's awful." I then realized that everyone has there own way of coping with the disaster. And I realized that that is not only okay, but it would be a lot worse if everyone felt that way.
I am angry at the media. I feel with all these TV shows commemorating the event, news anchors preaching their beliefs at you, the media is telling people what to feel. I feel completely differently than most people about these attacks, and everytime I watch the news, I feel like that my own feelings matters less and less. And this is exactly what plagues me about these terrorist attacks.
We see pictures of Saddam Hussein as evil. We picture Iraq as a part of the "Axis of Evil." We see people waving Iraqi flags and photos and drawings of Saddam Hussein. We are disturbed by these images, however many Americans fail to remeber the way the terrorist percieve us. Many American's wave their flags proudly, spewing out hail mary's about America, and so forth. These images repreasent evil in the minds of many other countries. And there is one thing that American's always seem to forget.
Even with the horribly violent and unfortunate means, the acts of September 11th were acts of retaliation. For many many years, every day, America has been bombing other countries, as John Stewart puts it "Who we bombing now?" George Bush was very immediate to order a retaliation to these attacks. He called the operation "Enduring Freedom." I have repeatedly asked myself, Who's fucking freedom." Does America have a god given right to destroy all those who question their authority. Even democrats supported the attacks on Afghanistan. Something I have learned about terrorists through studying their activities. Even though their actions are swift, dispicable, and disgusting, their attacks are most certainly not random. Unlike in Israel, where terrorists are attacking israeli civilian's in hopes to have their lands returned, terrorists attacked the United States because they fear the destruction of their culture (not terrorist culture, but islamic culture) and also to let the United States find out that they are not invincible.
It's unfortunate that terrorists had to make it clear that the United States is not the center of the world. However, these attacks combined with American jingoism has made the situation worse. A headline that came out September 12th from an Albanian paper read "IS THIS THE END OF THE WORLD." What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck. The United States is bombed once, and everyone goes psycho. Why is everyone so obsessed with the power of this nation. Other nations laugh at us, saying America is so caught up in their power. It is so true. The United States IS an aggressor. The United States has unrightfully bombed basically everywhere in the world.
I don't know what else to say about this. I really hope that sometime, I will figure out some of the problems I know and have.
arielle, i love you
I had a conversation yesterday with my college friend Amy who is an intern at a TV station. Amy is one of the most cynical, sarcastic people I have ever met, and she always has a way of slightly offending people with her cynical comments. This was the first time that I ever saw this side of her. After the attacks, it was her job to view the millions of hours of footage from ground zero, and choose what was suitable for TV. As you can imagine, she saw some pretty horrific images during her job. She told me that her and the other people on the job were very affected by this. To deal with this, they did something they called simply "The Video Game." What they did was they found out from watching the plane hit the second building that there were a couple of frames when the plane hit the tower, was swallowed up by the building but did not explode yet. They replayed the image 1000s of times, trying to pause it right before it exploded and then press 'play' and it exploded. My first reaction to this was "oh my god, that's awful." I then realized that everyone has there own way of coping with the disaster. And I realized that that is not only okay, but it would be a lot worse if everyone felt that way.
I am angry at the media. I feel with all these TV shows commemorating the event, news anchors preaching their beliefs at you, the media is telling people what to feel. I feel completely differently than most people about these attacks, and everytime I watch the news, I feel like that my own feelings matters less and less. And this is exactly what plagues me about these terrorist attacks.
We see pictures of Saddam Hussein as evil. We picture Iraq as a part of the "Axis of Evil." We see people waving Iraqi flags and photos and drawings of Saddam Hussein. We are disturbed by these images, however many Americans fail to remeber the way the terrorist percieve us. Many American's wave their flags proudly, spewing out hail mary's about America, and so forth. These images repreasent evil in the minds of many other countries. And there is one thing that American's always seem to forget.
Even with the horribly violent and unfortunate means, the acts of September 11th were acts of retaliation. For many many years, every day, America has been bombing other countries, as John Stewart puts it "Who we bombing now?" George Bush was very immediate to order a retaliation to these attacks. He called the operation "Enduring Freedom." I have repeatedly asked myself, Who's fucking freedom." Does America have a god given right to destroy all those who question their authority. Even democrats supported the attacks on Afghanistan. Something I have learned about terrorists through studying their activities. Even though their actions are swift, dispicable, and disgusting, their attacks are most certainly not random. Unlike in Israel, where terrorists are attacking israeli civilian's in hopes to have their lands returned, terrorists attacked the United States because they fear the destruction of their culture (not terrorist culture, but islamic culture) and also to let the United States find out that they are not invincible.
It's unfortunate that terrorists had to make it clear that the United States is not the center of the world. However, these attacks combined with American jingoism has made the situation worse. A headline that came out September 12th from an Albanian paper read "IS THIS THE END OF THE WORLD." What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck. The United States is bombed once, and everyone goes psycho. Why is everyone so obsessed with the power of this nation. Other nations laugh at us, saying America is so caught up in their power. It is so true. The United States IS an aggressor. The United States has unrightfully bombed basically everywhere in the world.
I don't know what else to say about this. I really hope that sometime, I will figure out some of the problems I know and have.
arielle, i love you