September 11, 2∞

The morbidity of this nation's memory once again presents us with images and empty reflections of a day when 3000 people died for no reason. Ours is a culture that worships violence and destruction; it's no wonder you can go to a righty's blog and see video repetition of the planes crashing into the towers.

Never forget - that's what they say. But we've already forgotten. We've already forgotten the unity we had after that moment. We've forgotten the books that we bought to try to understand, even those of the infamous orientalist Bernard Lewis. (Hey, at least people who bought his books after the event were trying to understand.) What's left is only hatred, vengeance, and a morbid desire to keep watching the towers fall, to keep thinking about it, dwelling on it, and refusing to believe that there is more than pure hatred to fundie Islam. Nobody knows history, nobody knows colonialism, nihilism, corporatism, materialism, existentialism, communism, fascism...every single one of these isms contributes to what we are seeing now. Contrary to popular ignorance, fundie Islam isn't some mindless random violence. There is a philosophy behind it. It's a pretty shitty philosophy, but it exists, and until we as a nation attempt to understand it, perpetual war is what we get.

Why don't we watch Pearl Harbor get blown up every December 7th?

You can put up all the ribbons you want, sing as many meaningless patriotic songs as you can, and say September 11th as often as your mouth will let you, but what does that do? Nothing. Empty slogans like "Never forget" and "United We Stand" are garbage if you aren't paying attention to the news and you don't know what's going on. Why is it so difficult for people to read the news? Why do they resort to empty slogans and garbage propaganda? Sieg Heil, America, sieg heil.

I'd prefer to keep September 11th as a remembrance of my grandfather's birthday or the day when Pete Rose hit 4192, not to recall with anger, disgust, and horror at watching people jump to their deaths from the edge of Heaven.