Maybe On September 12th… September 11, 2011
Posted by littlebangtheory in Politics and Society.Tags: 9/11, American Sheeple, NPR, pity-party, why they hate us
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I’m choking on emotions here.
Like most of you, I remember where I was when the airliners plowed into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon and that anonymous field in Pennsylvania.
And like most of you, I’ve spent at least part of the day listening to heart-rending stories of the victims and the heroes and the survivors and the fatherless/motherless children left behind, and I cried.
And waited.
Waited for one thoughtful comment or serious discussion about the lessons learned over the past ten years.
Waited for somebody, anybody, to ask why “they” hate us enough to blow themselves up to kill us.
Waited for even ONE of the Committed Lefties over at NPR to grow enough of a spine to speak a syllable of Truth to the face of the Power which really runs this place.
And I’m still waiting.
Perhaps the general consensus is that “today isn’t the appropriate time,” that it would be disrespectful to the nearly three thousand Innocent Americans who died on 9/11/2001.
But Jesus Christ, people, we’ve had TEN YEARS to discuss this, and we haven’t.
I’ve gone and waited to say this ’till it’s too late to do the subject justice, if I even have it in me to do so. But tomorrow is indeed another day, and it won’t pass without a screed from me the likes of which I haven’t written in two years.
The subject: “Silence Is Complicity.”
Now go to bed. Tomorrow’s gonna be a rough one.
Little Bang Theory 
My guess about the silence is that we all know that it is useless to fight “la machine.” We can’t stop it, or turn it off.
The only thing to do is to be grateful that the sun shines on us for another day.
There is, sadly, nothing in our culture to encourage introspection or dealing with complexity (or complicity). We have guilt beaten into us and then are given no way to deal with it except sappy idealism, reducing Jesus to a Lone Ranger, or pure denial.
Ten years ago today (9/12) I was in St Petersburg, Russia. The Russian people were wonderful. Every flag in Russia was at half mast and I wept seing the flag over the Winter Palace (Hermitage). We laid flowers in front of the US Consulate. And at noon there was not one but five minutes of total silence. Even the schoolchildren in the museum were silent.
May we somehow grow up.
((( Ralph )))
Hey CR,
It worked, everyone of us has been forced to live in fear as we watched our lives be destroyed by our own government. Civil liberties? Pah. None now. Almost everybody I know feels the same, eileen has it though, the machine has unloosed itself and is being operated by despots.
Have you ever read this site? http://www.stonekettle.com. I think you’d like what he has to say. Hang in there.
Eileen, I don’t accept that it’s useless to fight back, and though I may spend the rest of my life proving myself wrong, I’m committed to the idea that trying is more important than winning.
And I’m grateful every day for the sun and the rain and the chance to keep on trying to make this world a better place to leave to my kids when I go.
Paul, thanks for your wise words (I’ve come to expect no less.) But really, aren’t there paths toward introspection and a comprehension of the complexity of the world available to those with the awareness to seek them out? Perhaps I live in a blessed place, but I see Seekers all around me. And while I understand that many Americans are living without this level of illumination (not of my own doing, but much appreciated by me) it’s our job to light the candles of curiosity and moral commitment, isn’t it?
Your account of being in Russia on 9/11 is moving, and speaks to the basic goodness of people everywhere. It’s a balm in these divisive times.
LB, welcome, and yeah, it’s a mess. We’ve pissed away much of what our fathers fought for, and so many of us have barely noticed.
I followed your link, and Jim has his eye on the ball, although I wish he would affix some ownership to this mess before he shrugs it off as Old News!
I know. And I’m glad you said it, because I have trouble getting past the four letter words on this subject and America’s exceptional blinders.
Yes, CR, there are Seekers and questioners and light bearers all around. But the culture at large tries to thwart them, not merely through unawareness but by design as those who control media and purse strings try to keep people ignorant, divided, and distracted while they loot and destroy. Our task is to keep lighting candles, and naming demons is the first step in casting them out. So we keep at it. Nothing we do in light is ever wasted and the darkness cannot overcome it.