The never ending lead up to the 9/11 tenth anniversary

[chrisinhouston]

First off I hope my opinion does not offend anyone here. There surely are some Cellar dwellers who were directly effected by the horrible events of that date 10 years ago. I for one felt devastated on that day and openly wept. Every year at this time I think of those who perished.

However, as one who mostly listens to news and spends a good deal of time reading news and opinion each day, I am getting weary of the build up as it seems not an hour passes where I don't hear or read some touching or sad story or remembrance or repeated descriptions of the events that shaped our history on Sept. 11, 2001. Today I found myself just switching off the radio news and putting on some music. Some thoughts on why this is upsetting me:

1. We live in a base 10 world which is why this year will be more of a milestone than last year or next year. Yet for those who lost loved ones each year carries the memories and sadness. I guess if we lived in a base 12 world, the 12th and 24th, etc. year anniversaries would count more.

2. It's all about headlines and viewership ratings. Every TV network on cable, national or local will have a special in depth show on remembering the day 10 years ago. And every advertiser will hope their money spent on commercials will be well spent with extra viewers watching. "Honey, this show is making me so bad but Ford is having a truck sale, so let's go buy a truck and feel better! We will do it for America!"

3. Every politician will try to outdo the next to show their patriotism in remembering the day and participating in events. It will not be enough to wear the US flag pin on their lapels. They will start to wear many pins just like those folks at Home Depot who wear 10 lbs of pins on their orange vests ! Real patriots will be judged by how many flags the can wear.

4. Despite all of these news stories, shows and tributes on the 10th anniversary, life as normal or seemingly abnormal will go on for the thousands of our armed forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. They will eat in the mess hall or MREs out in the field. They will go out on missions and no doubt some will die on Sunday. But where is the special tribute to them?

5. Will we do this all over again at the 20 year mark or will it jump to 25 years as many milestones are marked. Or at 50 or 60 or 100 years? Will there be other dates to remember where perhaps other large numbers of civilians are killed, shades of things to come.

6. My dad (who is dead now) was British born and raised but a naturalized US citizen. I remember after the attack he said that while it was truly horrible he felt that other then the attack at Pearl Harbor, the USA had never really been invaded like England had and seen daily death and destruction. He told me how he worked in Churchill's underground bunker at Whitehall in 1940 and 41 and he would come off his shift and try to get back to the apartment he shared with his parents in Bayswater and how entire blocks of buildings were in flames and people dead everywhere. In the 80 or so days that the Blitz lasted over 1 million British lost their homes and around 40,000 died and close to 140,000 were injured. He said my grandfather used to sit at the window of their flat on an upper floor and watch the "doodlebug" drones fly towards their targets and he would alert the neighbors if one looked to be coming in close so they could go to the basement.

7. Finally, so little has changed in our relationship to the Middle East and the countries that spawned and trained the terrorists. Other then this years "Arab Spring" we seem to have the same autocratic folks in power. We still buy our oil there and help them drill for more and we look the other way in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to name a few as the few protesters are rounded up.

So, tomorrow I plan to get up early as I do most days. Maybe go for a bike ride if it's nice. Take my wife to the airport as she has to fly to Philadelphia. I'm thinking of baking a new bread recipe, a Swiss country rye. Eat dinner and drink some wine and go to bed. And I will take a moment to remember those folks who innocently died. That's my plan. What's yours?

[DanaC]

Some truly excellent points.

My only disagreement is that i think it can serve a useful function to hang reflection onto an anniversary like this. Not all of what's being reported in the leadup is more of the same. There are also some really interesting programmes on tv and radio, analysing those events meant, and what followed. And where does that put us?

There are lessons to be learned. Now that some of the political voices have quitened down, we can breathe a little and take a closer look at some of those lessons.

[glatt]

I don't have plans to watch any of that stuff, but if it's still on all the channels by the time I'm ready to wind down at he end of the day in front of tv, I might catch some.

My wife and daughter are singing in a chorus tomorrow afternoon. They are singing a bunch of peace songs from around the world. I'll drop my son off at his 1st cub scout meeting of the year before I head over to hear their concert.

I'll probably make a trip to the grocery store in the morning.

I'm sure I'll reflect again on 9/11 tomorrow, but I have no desire to dwell on it. It's too depressing. The terrorists without question got exactly what they wanted. They provoked us into destroying our freedoms and our economy.

[Rhianne]

I understand you Chris. I could even add a few more. Maybe it's just me, sometimes it seems as if they're almost trying to make the poor people (and their families) more 'special' than other murder victims. My biggest fear - someone please promise me that this will never happen - is that it's only a matter of time before folk start wishing each other "happy 9/11".

[Sundae]

I'll admit - I'm weary of hearing about it.
Keep the anniversary by all means, but it's been given a longer lead-in than Christmas - which at least has the excuse of Advent.

[Lamplighter]

I still feel the way I did last year...

[sexobon]

The White House seems to be handling the occasion with constructive dignity.

Originally Emailed by President Barack Obama
" ... I also hope you'll remember how the worst terrorist attack in American history brought out the best in the American people. From giving blood, volunteering time, and donating clothing, food and money, in the weeks and months after the attacks, we were united as a nation, everyone doing their part to lend a hand and help the country move forward together.

With just a small act of service, or a simple act of kindness towards others, you can both honor those we lost and those who serve us still, and help us recapture the spirit of generosity and compassion that followed 9/11." ...

[Bullitt]

As you might expect from my background, I see 9/11 remembrance as a time to reflect on one's own humanity , take a step back and invite a sense of peace into one's life, and to appreciate and give thanks to those who give their lives to protect ours. Specifically I'm talking about the hundreds of lost firefighters, police, EMS, and other first responders who ran up those stairs as others ran down. Courage. I believe that should be the focus of this day.

[Sundae]

Oh, BTW Chris - number 6 resonates with me.
I feel sometimes I over-egg it, but most of the older generation of my family lived through the Blitz. I had stories from Nan, Grandad, Alice and Mary, and even though they tailored them for my ears, I understood what had happened. What you said was what they experienced. Going to work past rubble, people digging out corpses, burning buildings, the scattered detritus of everyday lives. Not just for one day - for years.

And my Grandparents lived through various IRA bombings in London.
And I was schooled by Irish nuns. Who would have us pray every time there was a particular atrocity. And no, it wasn't biased - we prayed for all the dead and it was never justified, let alone glorified. My headmistress (from ten upwards) used to teach in a school smack bang in the middle of Belfast, and talk about how the children walked into school past bombsites, police checkpoints, army enclosures. But they still came to school.
Again, I feel I make too much of it, but it was a serious worry in my childhood - in the same way some children felt they grew up in the shadow of the atomic bomb.

So I completely get what you're saying.
I really don't mind having a day of solemn reflection tomorrow.
I just got tired of hearing about it for a week and a half prior.
But that's what happens when you have 24 hour news - you have to fill it somehow.

My thoughts and condolences to all those affected 10 years and approx 8 hours ago.
It was an appalling attack that made everyone involved an innocent victim. As is the aim of any terrorist.

[SamIam]

You CAN avoid the 9/11 stuff if you're determined enough. For example, Animal Planet didn't have anything that I noticed. History Channel had a pretty good documentary on 9/11 today. I had kind of forgotten how very, very horrible it was and got tears in my eyes at some parts.

But the rest of today I'm going to try to clean up my house some and then late in the afternoon, I'm driving out to a place in the National Forest called "The Glade." Its a good place to go to watch the night hawks soar and dive - amazing birds. And I'll think about fall and how quickly summer always ends and how we better seize the day while we still have the chance.

[Sundae]

I think the only real reason I got the grumps was because I listen to the same radio station every day.
BBC Radio Five Live has talk/ discussion/ phone-in shows during the day, then switches to sports in the evening. Sports discussion, phone-ins, live commentary etc.
Saturday mornings are my favourite, with Danny Baker and then Fighting Talk, hosted by Colin Murray, which is hit or miss depending on the guests, but with at least a few belly laughs.
Weekday mornings I listen to Breakfast with Nicky Campbell and Anna Foster. My radio is tuned to it, as is the one in the kitchen, the bathroom and even the little portable in the downstairs toilet.
Which is a roundabout way of saying that Radio Five is part of my aural wallpaper. And every day last week they had "remembering 9/11" slots, scattered through the programmes, or as longer features. People reporting in from New York, people interviewed, stories from those who lost loved ones and those who escaped, British Muslims and how the aftermath affected them etc etc.

It's over now, and I am over being narked by it.
I get the same way about any anniversary that dominates the airwaves. It's harder to retune a radio than switch over a remote. Okay, my DAB radio has preset channels. But the rest are manual.

Normal service is now resumed and I can just shout at the appalling opinions of the stupid people who call in

[tw]

Originally Posted by DanaC

My only disagreement is that i think it can serve a useful function to hang reflection onto an anniversary like this. ...
There are lessons to be learned. Now that some of the political voices have quitened down, we can breathe a little and take a closer look at some of those lessons.

Unfortunately, many will use the example to hype misguided reasons. Did Pearl Harbor prove we must pre-emptively attack our enemies? Of course not. But so many "learned" that lesson.

While morning the loss of so many lives, also learn what was created because so many used "11 September" emotion to surrender Afghanistan to the Taliban and to waste 4,500 American lives in Mission Accomplished. That is the lesson to be learned.

Also spend more time examining where we are rather than dwelling on emotions. From the Economist of 3 September 2011:

Fawaz Gerges, a professor at the London School of Economics ... argues that the West has won, but doesn't realize it. Al Qaeda, he suggests, was never the monster many imagined it to be, and is now a virtually spend force. The only thing that keeps it alive is fear stoked by self-serving politicians and ignorant media. ... "over-reaction is still the hallmark of the US War on Terror."

Did we all learn that lesson on 11 September? Probably not. Extremists who gain power by promoting fear actually 'fear' we might learn that reality. Did they celebrate the resulting victory? Or just wallow in emotions?

Why did we not celebrate victory? For the same reason George Jr all but protected bin Laden. Emotion is how to manipulate a majority. Emotion means many refuse to learn we have won. Move on. Stop bathing in those emotions. Instead, celebrate the victory.