(...) dormi sepolto in un campo di grano/ non e' la rosa non e' il tulipano/ che ti fan veglia dall'ombra dei fossi/ ma sono mille papaveri rossi (...)
-Fabrizio De Andre'-

Here are some alternative thoughts on September 11th.
Very interesting read...

http://www.salon.com/mwt/...index.html

Some are really bad, and some are very thought provoking especially when you turn on the TV and see who's talking, what's happening today, how things are being reported...

Some stand out thoughts from the article:

"I watched from my window, not on television, as the twin towers fell. As shocked as I was, I felt that this was not my problem as a black person. The people who worked at the World Trade Center were mostly white men, and so they had nothing to do with me as a black woman.

When there was an outpouring of grief and donations from every corner of the United States, I said to myself, If those planes had flown into a housing project and the victims were poor blacks and Latinos, people in Missouri wouldn't give a damn. When I heard that there had been over $1 billion in private donations, I asked myself where was this money before? Why hadn't it been donated to help the homeless, children who do not have access to an education, people who do not have access to healthcare? Here we have people rushing to write checks to people whose families will be taken care of by insurance or their employers.

To me, 9/11 was just another example of the American paradigm of deservedness and white entitlement. We are not all Americans; the white investment banker, the white fireman, the white police officer, the white EMT, they are Americans."

*

"The deification of firefighters was the result of guilt. Most white-collar people never think of blue-collar workers at all or dismiss them as insignificant. When yuppies realized that firefighters would brave flames to save their sorry, self-centered lives they suddenly became ridiculously reverential. There is no convert like a new convert."

*

"On 9/11/01, I just kept going out to stare up at the sky. It was so quiet and empty -- and yes, actually beautiful -- without jets and vapor trails everywhere. What corner of Antarctica will I have to visit to to see another completely empty sky from horizon to horizon? "

*

"...As the second tower collapsed, I found myself with a terrible sense of satisfaction. It was almost like, somewhere deep in the parts of my soul that don't see the sun, I was rooting for the event to be even bigger -- for it to cut so deeply through the banality of daily life, that things would never be the same. I suspect I am not alone. Whether it's shark attacks, wars, school shootings or child abductions, something in human nature gives people a sick thrill in such horrific voyeurism. That's what drives the infotainment industry we like to call the nightly news. In the Civil War, spectators went out to watch the battle."

*

"I was an EMT at the time as well, and I remember the frustration and rage at how the Emergency Medical Technicians were getting nothing in the way of kudos or hero worship or anything. No, it was firemen-this and firemen-that and think of all those poor lost firemen. Statues and commemorations and speeches, lord the speeches -- EMTs and firemen are two very different beasts!

Stop mentioning just the one of them! I'm sick and tired of the goddamn heroic firemen! In the secret depths of my soul, I think they get all the attention because they have spiffier uniforms."

*

"I started a doomed business last year and at the time of the attacks I was two months behind on my mortgage and facing foreclosure on my house. Somehow, mixed in with fears concerning WWIII, attacks on the West Coast, and the welfare of my New York friends, my mind kept saying, Maybe my mortgage company was in one of the towers. The thought was accompanied by this involuntary, gleeful little zing of hope. Maybe the records were destroyed. Zing. I might not have to pay my mortgage for years until they sort this out. Zing."

*

"Being largely ignorant of which businesses were located in the WTC, I searched the Web with faint hope that any of my various credit card or student loan debt records might have been destroyed."
[This message was edited Wed Sep 11 12:27:33 PDT 2002 by FlyingCloudPassenger]

It's sad that just one year later, we're all so bored, cynical, and desensitized with the most shocking and insane scene any of us are ever likely to witness in our lifetimes - to the point that we'll reach for a new way to view it just to be counter to the mainstream. Somehow, we're still not bored with reality TV, Micheal Jackson, Martha Stewart, Prince(!), pornography, Eminiem, MTV, American Idol...and so on.

[This message was edited Wed Sep 11 13:25:32 PDT 2002 by herbthe4]

FlyingCloudPassenger said:

You know, I realize where you're coming from with this, but I feel it's painfully misplaced - adversarial just for the sake of it. People of all races, nationalities, income levels, religions and ages died that day for no other reason than religous dogma and murderous, hate-inspired fanaticism justified in God's name.

It's sad that just one year later, we're all so bored, cynical, and desensitized with the most shocking and insane scene any of us are ever likely to witness in our lifetimes - to the point that we'll reach for a new way to view it just to be counter to the mainstream. Somehow, we're still not bored with reality TV, Micheal Jackson, Martha Stewart, Prince(!), pornography, Eminiem, MTV, American Idol...and so on.

Read Cuffwerks' post and feel the loss and sincere pain of that day.

Rest in peace, all those who died that day for no good reason at all, and God have mercy on the souls of those who killed them.


[This message was edited Wed Sep 11 13:25:32 PDT 2002 by herbthe4]

You know, you're right. But it's important to see the whole picture. People deal with differently. I personally seek the truth. It is astonishing people would think like this, it's true but it does happen. In the confusion, people deal with tragedies differently. That's just the way it is. I think people are exposed when faced with such a moving tragedy.

It's good to see all these different reactions, good or bad. It's part of the process of healing and maybe self discovery.

I think you can learn more about yourself in your reactions. It makes you dig deeper and ask more questions of yourself. Introspection, that's why I posted it here.

I'm not bored. I'm not going to take this personally. I deal with the great sadness of that day a little different than WHAT THE TV tries to make me feel. Which by the way...does desensitize the masses then emotionally tugs at them, cry - laugh, more footage...more sadness...now a word from Disney's California Adventure!

Now tell me, how is it painfully displaced? What is painfully displaced? How is it adversarial just for the sake of it? Sake of what?

And if it is painfully displaced...why did you repeat the quotes...I recommend just edit them down after you read them. I did. Just becuase it was too much. The link is still there though.

I'm a caring human being. I don't have to post my sadness on this thread to feel that. Oh well. Peace and live 2 the 9's.

...


That Disney thing made me chuckle. You're right, but I look at ti like this: at least we live in a Country where we CAN go to Disney World or take our kids there to have some fun. Personally, I am not desensitized, nor do I think I ever will be, to the image of seeing those planes rip those buildings in half like a giant exploding knife through a huge stick of butter - or of watching both towers collapse while thousands of innocent people from all over world ran for their lives...



No doubt. I've spoken with you before here.

I'd just hate for us to lose our perspective on this particular event, or to make apologies and excuses for those assholes that did it. I remember getting into a discussion with someone here who asked me if I'd ever considered the idea that the terrorists were right, and that's why they did this...admonishing me in closing to "get real".

Obviously, this person's logic was grounded in the same abominable snake pit of logic that gives us abortion clinic bombers, Timothy McVeigh, anthrax letters and The Unibomber...I guess as long as "you're right", it's OK to murder whoever you need to...

Wonder what happened to this person? Can't remember who it was...Oh, well...off topic.




R.I.P. - 9/11/01