Being shrewd politicians, both Obama and McCain are capitalizing on this sense of Unity. Seeing as the only statesmanlike thing to do today, is to not campaign, to throw aside the politics that are so divisive to our country, they've instead politicized the date and the remembrance of the tragedy, just as McCain did with Hurricane Gustav. No one can blame them, it's expected of them.
Great. That's fine. The problem? The media is pulling for a squabble. Playing on the controversy and mudslinging that has ramped up in the past week, Time is betting on trouble.
But on Thursday, Sept. 11, John McCain and Barack Obama will take a break. A brief moment of silence will descend on the presidential campaign. Call it a pause. Or maybe a cease-fire.Unity and controversy aside, today is a good day to look back at the last seven years and think hard about what happened.
Above all, call it temporary — and there's still a chance that it won't happen at all. (In fact, if you're in a betting mood, you might want to throw some money at the won't-happen-at-all option.)
On September eleventh, 2001, I went to school. I don't really remember anything until walking into my A set civics class (we had rotating periods, but first period was always A set) and watching everyone huddled around the tv. My teacher was going to show a video, so we were lucky enough to have a T.V. that morning, tuned to the news. (Of course, every channel was the same). People were in shock, some were crying, all were afraid.
Irrational fear, borne out of tragedy, yes but completely irrational. The worse part is, it never subsided.
I'm going to quote Ze Frank again (the goofy fellow with the blonde hair who spoke to you earlier). You may think it strange that I should quote someone who doesn't blink, he's not an "expert on terrorism" and that's what makes him credible.
Apparently, the Brits caught some douchebags who were going to blow up some planes. Now, the way I see it, you can't have terrorism without terror. The strategy of terrorism is to use isolated acts of violence to instill fear and confusion into the population at large. A small number of people can incapacitate a society by leveraging our inability to understand risk.
Airline industry stocks plummetted today, while the industry braced for a rash of cancellations. This, despite the fact that even with the risk of airplane bombings it's still more dangerous to drive your car. Or smoke cigarettes.
As long as a small group of people can inflict mass panic across a large population, the tactic itself will remain viable. One way to deal a blow to the effectiveness of terrorism is to deal with the terror itself.
London's police deputy commissioner Paul Stevenson said that the plot was "intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale." No, it is imaginable: between three and ten flights out of thousands would have resulted in the terrible loss of human life.
Bush today said this country is safer today than it was prior to 9/11. Personally, I don't think he knows. Whether we like it or not, terrorist attacks on Americans are now part of the global reality. They will continue to happen. Many places around the globe have had to deal with a similar reality for years. India, Ireland, England, Spain, Russia, to name a few. In many cases, these societies have pulled together and not allowed isolated acts of violence to tear at their fiber. Like disease and the forces of nature, it's a risk that we have to rationally come to terms with. The government's responsibility is to make sure that fear and terror are not disproportionate to the reality of the situation. [Emphasis mine]
Today the President said, "This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom to hurt our nation." Generalized statements like this which instill nebulous fear without specific information are exactly in line with the goals of terrorism. [8.10.06].Bush declared war on Terror (complete with a blank check from the senate), but we had already lost.
The term 'Pre-9/11 mindset' has been slung around as an insult, but think about it. Today we live in a culture of fear. Remember the threat levels?
"What color of fear to we get to deal with today? Orange? That means terrorists could attack anywhere at any moment! I shouldn't fly/drive/go to work/feed my fish/mow my lawn today."
On September Eleventh, 2001, America suffered what can be argued as the greatest tragedy it has ever faced. This is true, but not only because it was the greatest single loss of civilian life. The greater tragedy is that America, our ideals, what our nation stands for and how we're perceived have been forever altered.
3 comments:
"On September Eleventh, 2001, America suffered what can be argued as the greatest tragedy it has ever faced. This is true, but not only because it was the greatest single loss of civilian life. The greater tragedy is that America, our ideals, what our nation stands for and how we're perceived have been forever altered. "
By your own definition (in terms of how it changed our way of life, I don't see how you can say 9/11 was the biggest tragedy (i.e. had the most profound, negative effect on our way of life). See Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the bombings thereof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki). I would argue that as bad as the Patriot Act is, as bad as the 'War on Terror' is, it pales in comparison to the doctrine of 'Mutually Assured Destruction".
As a followup, you can make a direct link from the events ending WWII (i.e. the beginning of the cold war -- nuclear stockpiling, etc.) to this countries resistance to things like nationalized healthcare, large education expenditures, subsidized higher education, welfare, etc. Most of our politicians came into adulthood during the cold war, when the USSR was this giant, looming monster with nuclear warhead teeth. As a result (i would argue), any policy even the slightest bit socialistic is percieved as giving in to the 'Red Menace'.
If an attack on the scale of 9/11 happened every month in the United States, it would still kill less people than half as many people as cigarettes. Not to push blame to the tobacco companies, but it puts things in perspective.
Post a Comment