Posted on 09/11/2011 8:59:46 AM PDT by JewishRighter
I don't know about other FReepers, but I am sick and tired of the 9/11 memorials. Maybe you read my headline and thought I am an insensitive jerk, a troll, a liberal or a lunatic who doesn't have the sense to realize the importance of marking this day appropriately. You'd be 180 degrees wrong and that's just my point. I mean I'm sick and tired of the way this day is remembered. I mean the weepy, maudlin preoccupation with the "tragedy" of 9/11. Of course, I don't mean that there should be no solemn observance to pay the proper respect to the victims and to comfort their families. I just mean the obsessive singular focus on the aspects of loss and so-called tragedy to the exclusion of what I believe should be the true American, patriotic form of remembrance.
For reference, I think we should look at the one day in our history that comes closest to the events of 9/11, Pearl Harbor. A study of public reaction from contemporary resources shows a nearly uniform sentiment: dignified rage. Recruiting offices around the country were mobbed with men who shared this dignified rage and knew in their hearts that the correct and proper thing to do is to destroy the vicious and treacherous enemy who dared to commit such wanton acts of murder and destruction on America. Beyond those who were willing and able to bear arms, the entire nation rallied around the flag and their government in full throated support of an unapologetic war to visit annihilation on the perpetrators.
Mind you, the righteous anger of America that blazed on December 7, 1941 and the unity of purpose to destroy our enemies did not wane in 4 weeks or 6 weeks or 6 months as it did after 9/11. Politicians did not tell Americans to just go out and shop or otherwise behave as if nothing had happened. Fierce American resolve from the President down to the private in the foxhole to Rosie the riveter kept burning brightly from the day of the attack until and even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were smoldering piles of ash. Setbacks along the way did not diminish, but renewed, American determination to see vengeance through to victory.
Of course, there were memorials for the soldiers, airmen and sailors killed at Pearl Harbor. Although I haven't had the privilege to visit, I understand that the Arizona memorial is a most solemn and sobering tribute to the men who died that day. But I find no evidence that Americans reacted to and remembered Pearl Harbor with such intense focus on the victims and their families or that they regarded the attack as a "tragedy". It wasn't a tragedy - it was an outrage, it was the worst kind of villainy, it was evil incarnate and Americans back then knew what to do and how to behave. And, I might add that the American culture of the day was more stoic and more dignified in their sorrow. You didn't have every single surviving family member making tear filled speeches and reading poetry. Again, for those who might misunderstand, I am not taking one iota away from their pain and suffering, but I believe the preoccupation with that part of 9/11 diminishes its significance and the national resolve and sense of purpose that are needed to finish the job of eradicating the barbarians who would visit a thousand 9/11's on us every day if they could.
Separate and apart from the tragedy of the loss of life for the victims and their families, the message of 9/11 and its remembrance on the national level is not one of tragedy at all, but should follow the example of the Greatest Generation: 9/11 should be a solemn, dignified remembrance of loss but it should also be a time to reflect on the vicious, evil atrocity that was done to our country and to renew our united determination to obliterate every last vestige of the people and the ideology that brought death to our shores.
G-d Bless America and Bring Death to Her Enemies!
I am frustrated that we see these efforts to turn 9/11 into a day of service.
I am all for volunteerism and helping others in other contexts, but what is the point of stressing volunteerism in remembrance of 9/11?
It’s as if we want to mark the day, but don’t really want to talk about what happened that day, or who attacked us. Encouraging volunteerism is fine, but, doing so in remembrance of 9/11 seems out of place, in my opinion.
“The wallowing in and elevating of victimization is not a fitting tribute to those lost.”
Gee, whiz, I wish I had said that. Nail, meet hammer.
Did the flash mob singing Amazing Grace work as Bloomieberg was going to speak? And all these memorials refuse to show
people dying that day, like gee it didn’t really happen or soemthing.
after 10 years we ought to be celebrating a victory over the taliban and al quaida and have world wide terrorism brought to its knees . instead we have tied our own hands with the left crying foul at every attempt to defeat our enemy, plus the same politicians who are busy being solemn and wiping tears are the same ones who worked against our military and President Bush . our men and women are dying because we arent allowed to do what is necessary to do finish this
VS
But in the case of the 9/11 crap it's worse. All pimped up for political and publicity gains.
See, I disagree. These were people just doing their job. They had been trained to run into burning buildings. They just didn't expect these burning buildings to collapse. You can be quite sure that after the first tower fell, no one climbed up any stairs in the other tower while it still stood.
ML/NJ
I'm watching local TV coverage from NYC. There are no talking heads or reporters. Just folks reading the roll call and remembering their loved ones.
Perhaps this isn't the coverage some of you are seeing around the country.
Krugman is really the human equivalent of a rabid dog.
Reconsider.
I’m waiting for a baseball game. The Tigers are quietly sneaking up on another world series attempt. The last time they had an 8 game streak in September was 1984.
We actually had a memorial yesterday. We read in the bible:
“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your back, those who were lagging behind you, and they did not fear G-d. Therefore when the Lord your G-d has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your G-d is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.”
In a sense, I understand where you are coming from. People did mourn those lost at Pearl Harbor but the main difference was they knew we were entering a world war and they had a job to do. They didn’t really have the time to mourn as people are doing today. The difference today is that our politicians have turned 9/11 into a political war. During WWII, politics never entered into the minds of the people. We ended that war, between Germany and Japan, in about four years. Today, we are looking at ten years, with Rules of Engagement that are so stupid it’s difficult to imagine.
Can you imagine having those same rules during WWII, where you couldn’t shoot the enemy unless he shot at you first? You wouldn’t be able to fire at a plane unless he fired at you, or a sub unless he fired at you, or an SS officer, carrying a weapon, unless he fired at you. The world ended WWII by totally destroying those two countries. Today, we baby the people that attacked us and this problem will not go away in my life time or in my kids life time unless and only, until our politicians destroy those that attacked us. Yes, many innocent died during WWII but we had to end the war before more of our own people died.
God bless those that lost loved ones, but we do them a dis-service by allowing our attackers to walk this earth and wait until they attack us again. The people of Germany and Japan backed their governments when it came to attacking us. People of the Middle East are doing the same thing today and we are told to respect and pray for them. A soldier once said that when he went to war, he left his religion at home and will pick it up again when he comes home. That was during WWII. We should remember that.
It is disgusting to look at Obama and his repulsive wife stand there at Ground Zero with their smug, disinterested looks. Bush and his wife were truly humble and sincere. Bloomberg is an evil bastard who banned clergy including the Archbishop of New York from speaking. I don’t want to see Paul Simon sing his crappy music. I don’t want the liberal media pouring on and on about the ‘tragedy’ of that day. It was an act of war. It was evil. It was murder. Through my tears today, I am raging with anger even more intense than ten years ago because of the liberal infection that has permeated this. The actions of Bloomberg, Obama, Pelosi, Murtha, Reid, Cynthia McKinney, Michael Moore, and the rest of the leftist bastards makes me sick. We have lost thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan partly because of the rules of engagement that our elected morons have put upon them. This war should have ended years ago, but it was not fought the way it should have been.
This was an attack on America and its ideals. I’m from New York, and it is selfish to think that only New York was affected.
God bless those lost that day. I shall never forget.
I agree with you entirely.
However, I suppose those who want to engage in overblown weepy sentimentalism will always be with us, and in their own way, they really do have a right to react in the best way they see fit for themselves.
I’m with you though. The best response to this whole thing is action, not the endless maudlin memorials.
But alas unfortunately, endless maudlin memorials are *also* politically correct. I would prefer advertising the fact that we will take action against these bastards and some of us will enjoy it. A bit of irony that the same political correctness that lead up to 9/11 and made it possible now adorns its own memorial, and I think your line of reasoning would not reject that assertion. That’s something for the politically correct media establishment to think about. But they won’t, until they are run out of business by their own incompetence.
Agree with every word.
10 years later, I remain enraged and my American flag flies resolute in the sun today.
I so agree with you. Thanks for putting my own scattered feelings about the tone of these memorials to words. Good essay.
Obama’s “Day of Service” as means to remember and honor the dead of 9/11 bothers me as well. The implied humility smacks of penance somehow. More chickens coming home to roost.
Whether it is maudlin or not is not an issue for me. I think we NEED to remember.
That having been said...
It’s 10 years down the road. We know who did it and have (at least according to most people) done justice upon him. Unfortunately, the ideology that gave root to this heinous act still exists. My question today is...why?
Why does the Ka’aba still exist?
Why is there not a still-radioactive fused-glass crater where Mecca used to be?
What happened to the iron-willed might of the United States of America, and the determination to visit utter destruction upon her enemies?
I hates me a muslim. I will never, EVER forgive them as a group or individually. I refuse to allow any forgiveness upon any of them unless they utterly repudiate and turn from that ideology of death. No one, under any circumstances, will change me from this.
That was an awesome 3 laps.
I’m not just reacting to the talking heads and politicians. Even the reading of the names is borderline for me in its total preoccupation with victimization. Once upon a time in America, grown men and women kept their most passionate grief private and observed their loss with solemnity in public. Again, so no one misunderstands, I am totally sympathetic to the families; I just think, as others have said, it’s come the point where we are wallowing in it.
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