Tenure

[Pæs]

to Cain. To all you spags.

[P3nT4gR4m]

I watched a documentary on telly the other night, part of the anniversary season. First time since it happened that I've actually felt something for the people who got stuck in those towers. At the time there was way too much political signal to noise, too much hooting and hollering and foaming at the mouth for me to take any of it seriously. The American Reich went batshit and, as is their want, declared war on another abstract concept and then a whole bunch of smudgy people got fucked over, even worse than they'd already been fucked over cos a whole bunch of sick, opportunistic cunts used the burning buildings as an excuse to further whatever political or financial agenda they stood to gain from.

Umpteen thousand poor bastards burning, falling and being crushed to death, whose only crime was turning up to work were sidelined as "Terrurizm OMG!" became the latest state jingo bumper sticker. "I want to avenge the time my daddy got his ass handed to him" screamed one and if anyone disagreed they were siding with the terrurists. "I want a blowjob off a bunch of strippers and a huge bag of cocaine" yelled another and if anyone disagreed it was the terrurists. Who needs logic when you've got TEH BOOGEYMAN. And the good thing about boogeymen is it's a bit like being "it" in a game of hide and seek. One dies you just tag the next one. Everybody stays scared, everybody turns up for the two minute hate, nobody asks you what the hell you're playing at, that's the important thing.

All of it, the insane political criminality, the retarded gullible masses being spoonfed what to think and how scared/angry/supportive of operation landgrab to be made me as sick as it always does and somehow I completely ignored the poor office workers who paid the price for a hundred years of fuck ups by the same people who profited from their deaths. You see I don't buy the conspiracy theories. The CIA flew the plane into the buildings and all that bullshit but I do buy the historical theories. That the US governments fucking around in the middle east fostered the kind of climate where suicide pilots would be motivated and able to fly a couple of great big planes into a couple of great big buildings full of innocent people.

Hell yeah, terrurists are assholes, as are the governments that made them. As usual it's the little guy that ends up carrying the can, and being forgotten about by the very people who shout "never forget" the loudest.

[AFK]

That's exactly it.  And probably what boils me over more than anything else.  Dead people being used as political, nationalistic footballs.  Or more like hand-grenades.  And when you do that, they become faceless.  They become little nameless pawns.  They are stand ins for "American Exceptionalism". 

All of that bullshit about the "Ground Zero Mosque".  It was NEVER about any disrespect to any actual Ground Zero victims.  It was always about, "We don't want those Muslims near our America."  Ground Zero became a special place for these idiots, not because of the dead, but because it became their American Mecca.  It is now our Jerusalem.  And by holy fuck, we aren't going to let those people anywhere near it. 

The only 9/11 special I've ever subjected myself to is one they do on the History Channel, or maybe it's Discovery, I don't remember.  But basically it's one where they cobbled together amateur footage from a few people who were recording the events as they unfolded.  There isn't any commentary, it's just showing what happened, how people reacted, etc.  It was about the people.  There was no politics thrown in, it was just focusing on what those poor people were going through.  The people in the buildings, the rescue workers who pretty much signed their death certificates as they marched in to do what they could. 

And goddamn, you don't need any more proof of how little the "9/11!" crowd cares for the actual victims of the attacks then that whole debacle around that bill for supporting 9/11 responders.  If they really gave a fuck it would've been a no-brainer and that thing would've sailed through.  But no, it became a debate about spending.  That there was any question that we spend some chump change to help those guys and gals out was vile and disgusting. 

You know what, I wouldn't do that shit.  I wouldn't do that job.  I wouldn't suit up and run into a building I knew was going to collapse.  I'm more than happy to see a few of my tax dollars go to those guys.  I mean, for my money that takes some goddamned stones. 

[trippinprincezz13]

excellent piece. I sometimes don't get how so many people just don't get it and just default to "America, Fuck Yeah!" without really thinking about it. The amount of money that will be spent on made on 9/11 "merchandise" just sickens me (the coins/statues allegedly made from the wreckage from the towers? :vomit: that just seems so morbid, and I usually like morbid). But people will just eat it right up because buying this crap (made in China, no doubt) will show those terrorists, somehow. Like every other "holiday" it's become a reason to sell more stuff, with the added bonus of stirring up a retarded sense of nationalism and hatred for those "brown people" each year.

Do you happen to have this posted elsewhere that I can link to (w/ attribution). If not, I'll probably fire something off at the FB people already passing around those awful chain messages. But it'll probably amount to something like "STFU. I hate you all."

[AFK]

No.  But please feel free to use it as you wish. 

[Jenne]

Wow, great thread on a very difficult and maddening subject matter.  Kudos to all that have contributed...I don't have much further to say this point, so I'm just going to continue reading and thinking about what's being said.

[Freeky]

Cain, thanks for clearing that up a bit more for me.  I can totally see all of that, The Holocaust being the "exception of history" when it really isn't (and I usually have to remind myself it wasn't just 6 million Jews that died, too, which really shows that we don't even get taught enough about that), and 9/11 being a WTF, Asshole moment from Al Qaida to Murca, or so many people believe.

Sorry for threadjacking, RWHN.  You are a completely awesome writer, and I'm glad you came back, even if you don't make as many puns any more.

And RAH P3NT!

[Kai]

And watch out, because despite our efforts to frame the event, what came before, and what came after, all in the light of simple reality, we are all going to have to deal with idiots tomorrow.

And it's a Sunday. How much worse can you get?

[Cain]

I'm not even putting the news on today.  I'll wait for the 10 Year Memorial of 10 Year Memorial for September 11th, just in case I miss anything interesting this time around.

Still, there are some signs of improvement.  For example:







The media is never representative of true public opinion.  In the current political context, anyway.

Of course, this only exacerbates the disconnect between public opinion, media opinion and government policy, which is one of the major problems right now.  The United States still lurches towards the Counterintelligence State, like a demented beast determined to copy the flaws of its fallen enemies (see also the US military's obsession with German strategies - the same German strategies which aided Germany in losing two world wars and being reduced to an American vassal state).  The FSB, no doubt, appreciate the irony, but I doubt many others do.

[Luna]

If you all will excuse me, I'm going to go vomit, now.

NOTE:  VERY DISTURBING IMAGES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ-WTFA2vXY&feature=player_embedded

Herman Cain has taken it upon himself to string together some of the most horrific images from 9/11, set them to himself singing "God Bless America," and release it as a Presidential campaign video.

If this jackass held every single political view I considered correct, this bullshit would cost him my vote.

[AFK]

The RNC did that same thing during their convention in 2008.  I don't know if any of you remember this, but during the convention they played a 3 or 4 minutes "Tribute to the Victims of 9/11".  Except, when it ran, it wasn't a tribute to the victims.  They barely even mentioned the victims.  It was all of the violent imagery fading into violent saber rattling and fear mongering.  The message to the American people was, "If you elect Hillary or Obama, this will fucking happen again.  If you want to be safe, vote for us."

They completely used it as a piece of poli-prop. 

And yeah, it is almost completely unavoidable today if you put on the TV.  Fuck, C-Span 3 was re-broadcasting all of the chest-thumping speeches all of the "Brave" U.S. Senators made on the floor of the Senate the day after.  Including all of the Democrats who would go on to vote for the pointless war in Iraq. 

At least Sprout and Nick Jr. don't have any 9/11 programming on today. 

[Cain]

Its been mentioned on the BBC.  For about every news broadcast for the past week.

[Kai]

I too am avoiding the television and news papers. I'd love to watch NFL today, but I know it would include the same. So none of that.

[Medford Shmoo]

I agree with everything said here, except for

9/11, like the Holocaut, has been built up into a monument of Absolute Evil.

this made me confused, because genocide, apart from being mind-blowingly, uncomprehendingly huge in most average people's terms, is very evil. 

9/11, while a horrific stunt made by people who are/were stupid monkeys, and yeah it was also bad, I don't really get why it is considered a lesson of Absolute Evil.

And I'm just saying this knowing that I'm aware evils large and small are happening every day by people everywhere, and I most likely won't hear about them until I start digging around in the history mud myself. 

What's being articulated is the difference between the attacks of 9.11 and "9/11"

The holocaust of the Second World War and "The Holocaust"

When an event gets simplified into a ten second soundbite that resembles a Hollywood cliche,  we can no longer learn from our past because it's not just the past; it's a symbol of GOOD vs EVIL.

That's what that's all about.

I agree. Ideas about abstract good and evil can become quite dangerous, I think. If Group A are inherently good and Group B are inherently evil then neither has any moral responsibility or choice. If we demonize nazis are terrorists i.e. make them into something more than 'ordinary people' then we also exaggerate the actual amount of power they have. They're not supermen or monsters. They're human beings. The holocaust and 9/11 are both things that humans are capable of. I notice that people tend to get very touchy if you point this out. It's much nicer to believe that we could never be capable of similar atrocities, that we wouldn't even have to make a choice. Anyway, sorry if this is getting slightly off topic.

I'm new around these parts and this is my first forum so I'm still figuring out how everything works. So if I display an unusual amount of stupidity please bear with me. I'll learn. RWHN I agree completely with your post.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

This is an awesome post. Props, RWHN.

I don't have a TV. I don't read the local newspaper. I keep up with news online but have specifically skipped all the hype.

But I have co-workers who "remember it like it was yesterday".

"That's funny", I said, "I remember it like it was 10 years ago."

They started with this shit last week. None of them lost anyone. None of them know any one who did. They've never met a Muslim. Most of them have never been to New York.

But everyone is super patriotic, and, had they been there, would have done things differently. People wouldn't have died, yadda yadda.

This is September's Holy Day and it sucks just as much as Valentine's Day and St. Pat's. And all the others, really.

Another day dedicated to Missing The Point.