No, it's 9/11 hangover and I have got it bad. In fact, it was so bad it started on 9/11, not the morning after.
That's all you got from most media sources yesterday. An OD of anniversary hype. Solemn faced and voiced announcers feigning gravity and sorrow as they intoned tripe about how the world has changed. All interspersed with commercials on how to clean that toilet, or get that cell phone free. Well I have to admit, ABC didn't have the commercials on their epic, "The Path to 9/11"But it wasn't for lack of trying folks. It simply got too hot to handle when it was discovered what a disgusting attempt to manipulate public opinion it really was.
You saw politicians feigning gravity and sorrow as they made their way from one memorial to the next. There they were, kissing children of people that they never gave a damn about and never would have, and frankly still don't now except that it looks good on TV. Hugging other relatives of those that died, standing and singing on the Capitol steps in a pathetic attempt to recreate a far more honest moment from that time.
And all of the rest of us, we are not free from blame.
We give the appearance of seeming to think that somehow we are involved in some sort of huge grieving process. That somehow all of this was some immense traumatic event for us that we need to get clooooooooooooossssssurrrrrrrrrre for. Unless we had someone that died in those events, we don't need closure. We need to take action.
The people that brought down those towers, like Osama Bin Laden, are still out there. Unpunished, releasing videos, and taunting us. And we do nothing to call for the accountability of those people whose responsibility it was to bring those people to justice. The breeding ground of that act, Afghanistan, is slipping back into the hands of the people that planned the attack. It is falling back into the control of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. What do we do about that? Are we protesting in the streets? Nope. We barely say a word.
Basic security measures recommended by the 9/11 commission have still not been implemented. We haven't secured our borders. We don't check all the cargo in planes. We still haven't fully put into place equipment that would find radioactive material in cargo in ships. Our emergency responders still can't even fully talk to each other. Our emergency health care system is broken like a cheap toy. Again, near silence.
But hey, we're too busy with the spectacular distraction of anniversary coverage. Letting the President of this country politicize the day in a so called memorial speech that had very little to do with memorial and everything to do with politics, and trying to equate those that disagree with him as being unpatriotic or weak.
We continue to allow the media and politicians to rip raw the wounds of those who really did experience grief and loss on that terrible day. How can they ever heal when they are expected to cry on cue for us each year like dogs doing tricks? How can they even escape that sickening debacle of nationwide self indulgence? Do we really think we share in their tragedy? Do we think that if we feel like we've sacrificed something, then we can feel better about those who get no memorial; the tens of thousands that have died, and continue to die, on our altar of revenge in Iraq? Do we think about them at all?
I know that a lot of people feel the same queasiness that I do. And it's encouraging to see polling that says the majority of people aren't buying a lot of the BS anymore. But you better buy stock in Pepto Bismal. Because ultimately and sadly I really can't say that I think things are going to change radically anytime soon. Can you?
