Lessons Learned
From Grant Schreiber
Chicago
geocities.com
All that "Post-September 11th"means is a hole in the New York skyline.
A year has gone by, like all years do with long weeks and short weeks and a sudden briefness that makes you wonder if its been a year at all. The shock hits not with a year passing, but with the inevitable passing of several years. Mount Saint Helen blowing up over twenty years ago became a shock -- because it had been twenty years ago. My daughter turning ten this last June brought a flood of bittersweet emotions to me as I realized in ten years or less she'll be out and about and creating her own life.
Marking the September 11th snuffing of the World Trade Center was harder to grasp, perhaps because we're still too close to it. With a month long celebration of what it meant to be an American it became increasingly clear that if any lessons were to be learned from the crimes, they were lost on the nation. There wasn't an epiphany. People still wonder why on earth anybody could be so mad at us to do such a thing.. The Hand of God did not anoint George W Bush the Chosen One to rid the world of Evil. People have forgotten the sole objective of the attack upon Afghanistan was to capture or kill Usama bin Laden. The objective was quickly enlarged to topple the Taliban government and to set up a puppet who would be friendly to US oil interest. With bin Laden alive and well (or dead and buried) our objective flipped over to invading Iraq. There was zero logic in this, but it clearly shows that Bush and Company haven't become wiser in the wake of September 11th. If bin Laden pops up in Pakistan it could be well argued the destruction of Afghanistan was a complete waste of time. The case to murder Saddam remains murky at best, and full of traps. But we've grown reckless with the Afghan "success."
From the mind of John Ashcroft, his bloated addict's face glistening sickly in the light of the camera flashes, a series of crackdowns upon basic freedoms have been issued. Practicing Muslims with an interest in aviation are of special interest to Ashcroft, and he wants to know what videos they've rented and what books they've checked out of libraries. He has apparently ruled out the checking of hardware stores for box cutter sales as something too idiotic, but one fears there was a long and costly (secret) debate on the subject. Meanwhile, Bush was chomping the bit for a Homeland Security Office without any union protections. He's unwilling to say how job security for file clerks and secretaries interferes with national security, but has sworn to veto any bill that "limits his powers."
National Public Radio and PBS stations appeared to be going overtime in explaining every last detail of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks and after a year, there was certainly no end to commentary as various angles of the planes flying in can be shown over and over and over again. Bad taste, public grief, and bloody shirts. This is news?
Various tributes to the "Heroes of Ground Zero" once again affirmed that anyone could be a hero, but all true heroes are dead. We toss the label of "hero" upon people so quickly that the word lost all meaning. Anyone who faced any challenge qualifies for hero, from luckless miners trapped underground to paraplegic spelling bee champs. It's hard to understand what kind of hero was screwing about with the coffee machine when the first plane hit, but we've been assured that everybody killed in the September 11th attacks was instantly sent to Heaven with full hero status, given a recliner, a remote control and a 120 inch tv with all the channels. And the hijackers, under this umbrella of celebrity death and the all-forgiving and just God, get to eat a bunch of figs and grapes hand fed to them by virgins. The heroic death nonsense dates all the way back to pre-history. The human race still isn't ready for the concepts of a heroic life or a noble peace. Maybe the next thousand years and a general dumping of God will bring that about. While the networks had their own September 11th specials, galas, and appeals, the real concern was with the Bears and if they'll make it to the playoffs. The horrible shock of the sneak attack from last year was quickly compared to the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor over sixty years but other than the surprise of it all, there is no comparison. The War on Terrorism lacks the power of a world war with clearly defined enemies, so enemies are pulled out of Rumsfeld's hat. It would appear that Americans, or at least, American networks haven't grown up any in the wake of last September, but telling us that we have is part of the war sales pitch. As a compliant audience we forgive them. The baseball strike was averted, the football season is on. Play ball! Oh, and if something really major happens, wait for the commercial before you interrupt the show.
Congress, in an aggressive rubber stamp mode since Bush bought the White House, remained steadfast in its silence as Bush and Company demanded this that and the other thing. Congress, so saturated with greedheads and swine, was unable to pass up a chance to give itself a raise. Here in the year which brought terrorism, Enron, WorldCom and war, Congress voted secretly to give each member a $5,000 a year raise. Since 1989, Congress has given itself $60,500 in raises and now offers a salary of $155,000, which ain't bad for a corporate bagman.
The midterm elections are unlikely to bring forth any surprises and Bush should be able to have another group of nodding heads, idiot sons, and doormats to push his agenda upon. No change here. If anything, we've regressed instead of gone forward.
We fall back on the smug assurance that as Afghanistan fell, so shall Iraq fall. Irony may be dead, but by golly, the fighting spirit of people I'll never meet lives on! Scanning the letters to the editor, there's a lopsided view that the sooner we get to Baghdad the better. Haven't these fools been paying attention? Do they honestly believe we're hated because we're good guys and they're bad guys? I have to wonder how many letter writers would be gung-ho if they were marching into the front lines. Last September should have reminded us that war is a crime. War is murder. There is no honor, glory or pride in murder.
One radio special I didn't want to hear was a collection of phone messages from people in the second tower, people "bravely" staying put, not knowing the second plane was coming. In many ways all of last year has been the repeated viewing of that first plane. We've placed our faith in low-brow office managers who are only skilled in back stabbing and petty revenge. We're told comforting lies, and when necessary, alarming lies. We are rewarded for ratting on our neighbors and relieved that it's not our turn to die. Again and again and again, we watch dumbstruck as that first plane hits. We wave the flags that are handed to us. We bow our heads for a moment of silence. Real sorrow is canned, repackaged and sold back to us. It is our duty to buy. We can't grasp our history because we've been denied it. We listen to plastic thinkers tell us what we should believe. And we sit, nervously, but afraid to speak, afraid to say anything that would be used against us. We trust bullies because we don't trust ourselves. In looking for leaders we've handed ourselves over to wolves. We watch as they pick us off, one by one. We are blind sheep wondering if anything has been learned from the September 11th attack. But we've learned nothing. We are in the second tower and we're not leaving. Our country has been hijacked by thugs and madmen. And we sit in the second tower not knowing our fate.
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