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The Real Tragedy of 9-11
This morning, while watching US Open tennis on television, my blood headed toward the boil as an announcer commemorated tomorrow’s anniversary of the “9-11 tragedy.” For variety, he later employed the synonym “disaster.” At no point was the word “attack” used or, for that matter, any other accurate description of the mass-murder perpetrated by jihadists 10 years ago. Apparently, Americans have 9-11 as our biggest natural disaster while the Japanese have the recent earthquake and tsunami. Same thing.
As always, Mark Steyn summarizes it best:
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I prefer Dennis Prager’s retort to the question of “why do they hate us?” Better to ask, he says, is “why do they hate?”
A damaging hurricane or an earthquake is a tragedy. The World Trade Center attack was an act of war, an atrocity, mass murder. Shame, shame on us for not naming it properly for what it is. It discounts those who suffered through it, and exonerates those who perpetrated and supported it. “Tragedy” is dishonest let-bygones-be-bygones crap.
Still have a serious issue with relabelling terrorist acts as Man Made Disasters. Would we put this in scale with a poorly contructed coffer dam in a coal mining town of yore ? That list goes on and on.
With this thinking, how would the concentration camps and gulags be redefined ?
To acknowledge the intent behind 9/11 is to acknowledge that Evil exists. And if nineteen evil men purposely tried to kill you, then you’ve been directly challenged, your way of life has been directly challenged, and you’re obligated to push back, to fight back. For some, fighting back is unthinkable. For those Americans who say that God doesn’t really exist and all people are “basically good,” any talk of a dark demonic evil is heresy–heresy against their nothingness. They prefer to see terrorist mass murders as just more natural disasters–side effects of an unfortunate mental disease maybe. “Let’s all donate money to find a medical cure.”
Americans were enjoined to ask, “Why do they hate us?” A better question is: “Why do they despise us?”
We know why they hold us in contempt. Vietnam was a first reason; then the Beirut barracks, Mogadishu, the first World Trade Center bombing, Khobar Towers, the African Embassies and the USS Stark. When attack after attack draws only perfunctory responses, the attacker develops the perception that his victim is weak and pusillanimous.
This is precisely what drives the Truther movement. They can’t adapt to a world in which some appreciable fraction of 1.3 billion Muslims want to kill them for not being Muslim, so they construct an alternative reality in which the attacks were really plots that had “rational” motivations and whose perpetrators were people who — in theory — are subject to American justice rather than part of an enemy army.
Why do we hate us?
btw – betting on college football is a “tragedy”. A 3 team parlay which includes any team from the Big Ten is a Man Made Disaster.
Except for our immigrants that have had personal experience with failing societies, too many of today’s Americans have never faced adversity.
Let’s pretend Kennedy’s WWII career was actually heroic. LBJ was Kerry’s real political inspiration, when it came to faking medals and LBJ never saw real duty in WWII, even though he wrote his own citation for the Silver Star.
With the exception of a very few people, our policy makers have never faced existential adversity. I honestly am not interested in tomorrow’s marking of the attack, because of the people organizing the events. I’ll try to get the Boyz to watch the attacks with me online tomorrow, where I can show them the real footage, and then maybe see if they’ll join me for a trip over to the local fire station where maybe we can shake some hands and thank people.
CJ, that strikes me as an excellent idea.
This is precisely what drives the Truther movement. They can’t adapt to a world in which some appreciable fraction of 1.3 billion Muslims want to kill them for not being Muslim, so they construct an alternative reality in which the attacks were really plots that had “rational” motivations and whose perpetrators were people who — in theory — are subject to American justice rather than part of an enemy army. ·Sep 10 at 2:36pm
This is an ingenious theory. Even if true, do you think it sufficient?
Do you find it a prior plausible, or do you think there is evidence for it? Or could you think of a way to test it?
I recall years ago in my school days reading about pacifist movements prior to World War II and the same refrain kept running through my head over and over, “How could they be so blind to the danger and evil of the Axis powers?”. I could not grasp it.
Greater understanding has given me no comfort but instead a deep sadness.
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.
I have never been the unequivocal fan of President Reagan that many are but this he understood so well. It is so easy to forget the lessons of the past, particularly when many wish to forget.
I agree with Steyn that the real monument is hole at Ground Zero after a full decade and our endless capitulations to politicians’ senseless “security” measures devoted to covering their keisters.
The families and friends of the murdered, the rescue workers, the clergy and everyone else should loathe the very idea of participating in this sham ceremony at Ground Zero. They should remember the fallen and call out our enemies in their own way at their own place, away from despicable politicians like Bloomberg.
Our politicians have failed us. They are not leaders. They don’t get to tell us how to remember.
Indeed – after Mr Steyn there is not much else to say.
It comports to my understanding of human nature and how people react to constant terror. And I am not the only person to assert it:
“In a strange way, conspiracy movements are also an affirmation of innocence. The Truther says, ‘I never did any harm to the Muslim people, so why would Al-Qaeda target me?’ The Truther concludes that they probably didn’t, that the only explanation for such a random act of violence against an innocent party is that it was a crime perpetrated by someone else with a deeper, more devilish grudge. Accepting that Al-Qaeda was guilty and that its plot was part of a complex geopolitical drama of which America is an intractable part requires courage and a commitment to fight the good fight. Not all of us have these.”
It’s related to the Dr. Carrington effect. With the inevitable outcome that implies.