Craig notices that there may have been some hypocrisy and fear stoking in our recent political past. Perhaps presently as well.
I’m just pissed off that 9/11 has been used so cynically as a symbol and is so inextricably linked in my mind with the obviously stupid road to Iraq that I no longer know how to feel about the event. I want to be filled with righteous indignation against terrorists and sorrow for our people who were murdered. But, I know those were the very sentiments that were exploited for political gain and to take us into Iraq. I suppose a more personal and severe dynamic happens in the personal lives of those who end up emotionally stunted, choosing to feel nothing at all.
Don’t forget that we righteously went to Afghanistan first, are still there, and the fighting is getting more intense right now.
I was in Paris for 9/ll and got a call from a French neighbor to turn on TV that something awful was happening in NYC.It was just around 4pm.I tuned in and saw the second tower hit by a plane and the tower eventually crumbled following the the first one all with a background of excited, fast commentary in French. It was irreal..Needless to say all international fligts were immediately canceled and I got back to USA in early October.During the insuing days French people, some I didnt know at all or others only by sight, came up to me and other Americans and told us how very sorry they were about what had happened.Some were weeping.The French have long understood terrorism and sabotage ( a French word) on their own shores. What sticks in my throat still is how The Bush Adminstration demonized France for political advantage ( my interpretation anyway)I still remember ‘freedom fries’ being served in the Congressional cafeteria instead of what they really were: french fries.
So I turned off the commemoration,not out of disrespect for USA just after I caught a a Fox news introduction of President Obama joining a 9-11 commemoration in Washington with a comment like: ‘Many people think Obama should be in New York instead of Washington; he went to New York for the Walter Cronkite memorial.’ Then we saw the president in front of White House after this introdution.
Im angry and sad on 9-11,and leave it to Fox news to bring it all back in the wrong way.
note: for those who are unaware,’sabotage’ is a French word and ‘sabot’ is the French word for ‘wooden shoe’.During 19th century French workers ,who wore wooden shoes on the factory floor,stuck their shoes in the machinery gears to stop work during labor strife.
Vive les USA and Vive La France!