Five years

[pecunium]

This week has annoyed me.

Yes, a terrible thing happened five years ago, but you know what... I don't need to be reminded of it. At some level I'm never going to forget it. The people suffering from grief irreducible don't need t be told the rest of us feel their pain, by now they know, or they don't.

I'm not trying to disparage those who are still grieving. I have friends in NYC, and the service, who lost something of themselves when the WTC came down, and a chunk of the Pentagon was blown in, and up. But we, as a nation, as a people, don't need to wallow in it. We are, sadly, living with the aftermath, daily, still. We have bent our public policy because of it.

Worse, we have taken a nation which had nothing to fear, but fear itself, and become a mewling bunch of babies, begging for anything which will keep away the Northmen, the beasties under the bed and things which go bump in the night. There are days I'm scared. Times I ponder just how much of a target my city is, times when plots to blow up buildings I inhabit come to light (there was a group of people who wanted to blow up armories with recruiting stations. If they'd not been fool enough to fund it with bank robberies, they might have pulled it off. My armory was on that list), when I get on airplanes.

And I ignore those fears. I go on with my life, because the odds of a terrorist (be they Islamic, fundie-Christian, right-wing separatists, ALf, ELF, or leprecauns who've had enough of being mocked by Lucky Charms commericials) is practically nil. I am far more likely to be killed by an asshole with road rage at my honking when he fails to see me and damned near knocks my car into a pylon than I am to be victim of terrorists.

On That Tuesday, Maia and I went to the LA County Fair (at which we were working) even though it wasn't a day we were supposed to. We figured the place was likely to be empty; and the cows would need milking. It was, they did and the people who were supposed to show up didn't (to be fair, they lived further away).

The cows don't care what the people do.

Well it's time we, as a nation, remembered that the cows need milking, and our tragedies are transient.

Remember, sure, but there's a difference between recalling that it was a horrible thing, and wallowing in it; again.

I'll stop now, before I start to repeat myself.

Comments

[desert-vixen.livejournal.com]

Do you mind if I link to this?

DV

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

No. If it's not locked, it's wide open.

I have to confess to having some trepidations about having published it, but I decided to hit post, and so I'll stand behind it.

TK

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

Remember, sure, but there's a difference between recalling that it was a horrible thing, and wallowing in it; again.


It'd help me if you distinuished between "wallowing" and what you consider to be acceptable introspection. It's hard to tell, and with people not at their best today, someone is probably going to read this as you telling them that they're overreacting.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I don't think I have any way to do that; apart from my pointing out that I've been hearing about it, in detail, for the past week.

Honestly, if I try to define it, I think I move to a more likely offense, because at that point the thing I do is beome the arbiter of what is reasonable for others to do/feel.

What offends me is the vast coverage of it, much of it telling me how I am supposed to feel. Stories which are aimed at playing on my emotions, which seem to be meant to make me feel as I did on that morning.

That's not introspective (not even, "public introspection," if such a thing exists), that's wallowing.

TK

[annathepiper]

What offends me is the vast coverage of it, much of it telling me how I am supposed to feel. Stories which are aimed at playing on my emotions, which seem to be meant to make me feel as I did on that morning.

Preach it, brother. I mean, I appreciate the propriety of marking the date; I did so on my own journal. However, there's a bound of "within reason" here. I boggled when I saw that cnn.com is rerunning all the coverage they broadcast on the day. I was all, "For fuck's sake, WHY DO WE WANT TO WATCH THAT AGAIN?!"

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

What offends me is the vast coverage of it, much of it telling me how I am supposed to feel.

That I understand. I also don't much like people playing on the emotions of others.

There are also a lot of folks out there for whom today is imporatnt to commemorate, and to talk about, even in public. I just think it's important to distinguish the two by being careful of the feelings those who fall into the later group. I know you're a considerate person, I jsut worry about so amny of my friends for whom having a public voice on today is important.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

Basically, as far as I am concerned, people who were more or less involved (broadly construed to mean all New Yorkers, people in the D.C. area, and certainly all those who lost a loved one or friend) have a right to talk about their personal experiences. The rest of us should simply listen. Hell, if GW were to talk about his emotions on that day honestly, rather than trying to spin it into something for political gain, I'd be willing to listen.

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly uncomfortable with telling people they don't have a "right" to talk about whatever they want. I'm not obliged to listen with respect, but people have the "right" to talk about whatever they want. That includes someone who wasn't in NYC, didn't loose any friends, and just wants to talk about how they felt. I'd listen to them too if what they said was honest. But that's my choice. There's a differnce between a right to talk and a right to an audience.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

I phrased myself badly. Everyone has a right to talk; however, the farther removed one is from the situation, the closer it comes to wallowing. A certain amount of "Where were you when..." is inevitable.

I still feel like I am not saying what I really want to say, here... but your "no one has the right to an audience" is part of it.

[zhaneel69.livejournal.com]

Thank you. First 9/11 post I read today (admittedly I'm skipping most of them) because I'm waiting to MOVE ON already and get past the fear & hate.

Zhaneel

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

thank you.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Worse, we have taken a nation which had nothing to fear, but fear itself, and become a mewling bunch of babies, begging for anything which will keep away the Northmen, the beasties under the bed and things which go bump in the night away.

Oh, yes. Just...yes.

[tsennyipa.livejournal.com]

Word.

[sethg]

Worse, we have taken a nation which had nothing to fear, but fear itself, and become a mewling bunch of babies

Amen.

It astounds/appalls me how the propogandists for The War Party will, on the one hand, impugn the manliness and courage of anyone who questions Our Dear Leader's policies, and on the other hand, justify any curtailment of our civil rights by pointing to the big mean Islamofascist under the bed. (Whatever happened to "give me liberty or give me death"? If these guys had been our leaders in 1776, we'd all be speaking Canadian. :-)

Or a good time for the Coward-in-chief

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

To remind us how afraid we need to be of the Bad People and why we need his majesty and minions to stay in power so we can be 'protected.'

And so Halliburton, et al keeps rolling in the dough.

Not saying more, and if you have to delete it feel free. I understand.

Re: Or a good time for the Coward-in-chief

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Nope, this is liberty hall, where you can spit on the mat and call the cat a bastard.

So long as you ain't rude, you can say what you please.

Rude is negotiable, i.e. some rudeness will be tolerated; more to me than to my guests and visitors.

TK

[niamh-sage.livejournal.com]

I came here from a recent post inmatociquala's LJ. I like how you write and what you have to say. Would you mind if I friend you?

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

No, of course not.

If you care, then you ought to read the info page, and follow the link to "The Rules" (there aren't many, and they aren't hard to follow (at least I don't think so).

TK

[niamh-sage.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Rules and info page duly read and comprehended. The cat and the mat are both safe from me.

Anyway...hello from The Netherlands! :)

[doutdes.livejournal.com]

Remember, sure, but there's a difference between recalling that it was a horrible thing, and wallowing in it; again.

I really think "wallow" is the best word for it. So many people say that America changed on 9/11, but I don't think it did. Before 9/11, we never thought much of terrorism, because it happened in foreign countries. It didn’t happen in the US, and if it did, it was an aberration.

Now, 9/11 is our day of national pain. We draw our citizens close together to remember our day of terrorism. Previously, we dismissed the terrorism in other countries, because it didn’t happen to us. Now, we dismiss the terrorism in other countries, because 9/11 hasn’t happened to them. I couldn’t believe the comments I heard and read about the British subway bombings. People said how now the British would understand how we felt on 9/11, as if they had never experienced terrorism before.

We’ve traded ignorance for preoccupation on our own loss. When 9/11 is remembered beside the numerous terrorist attacks across the globe preceding and following 9/11, then I think we will have begun to make progress, because there is something terribly universal about terrorism.

[antiquated-tory.livejournal.com]

Well, I was going to make a comment on the post but you've pretty much summed it all up.
I'd add that people who say 'the world changed on 9/11' are even more off base that people who say the US did. The world did not change; the US was just served with a reminder that it, too, is on the same planet.
9/11 was dreadful. However, the inhabitants of most other countries on Earth have had something as bad or worse, or much much worse, happen on their soil within living memory. (OK not the Swedes or the Icelanders, but...) News flash: People sometimes do incredibly screwed up shit to each other. Sometimes en masse. Deal with it; by which I mean, address it head-on. Donate to organizations that help victims of fucked up behavior. Support conflict resolution. Be informed, and make your political choices accordingly. Do not run around screaming OMG THE TERRORISTS ATTACKED US! WHY DO THEY HATE US? NO ONE UNDERSTANDS OUR PAIN! PROTECT US FROM THE WORLDWIDE ISLAMOFACIST [sic] CONSPIRACY, MR PRESIDENT. OMG CALL THE STATE TROOPERS, THAT MAN AT THE DENNY'S WAS SPEAKING ARABIC ON HIS CELL PHONE!!!