Posted on 08/30/2002 8:35:04 AM PDT by Pokey78
Once more, Steyn speaks forth the truth out of background confusion.
This was not an "accident", like Diana or John-John. It was not a self-inflicted death, like Marilyn.
It was an act of WAR! That War continues to this day, much to the chagrin and opposition of the syrupy Left.
Much of what is going on today is to prevent our further, successful prosecution of that War, which should be dedicated to bringing an ignominious end to those who foisted it upon us by murdering thousands of our innocent countrymen.
A pox on this NEA crowd, the professional celebrity mourners and unfocusing disemblers! What is needed is determined military action until all those who are responsible follow the same fate as their hapless and helpless victims. That, and only that, will begin to right the wrong and bring justice and safety to those who remain.
Have a dinner out. Go to a Broadway play. Buy a car. Get on a plane and f l y. That's my patriotic duty.
Scary.
Maybe I'll dedicate a torch song to him in tribute...
Imal
I hate to be the only one not jumping on the bandwagon (ok, I don't really hate it), but I really don't want to hear any opinions on how WE should grieve unless it comes direcly from the victims' families.
Not that I'm a fan of the media, but keep in mind that if the media is "parading" anyone around, it isn't done without their consent. The media certainly couldn't get me to do anything I didn't want to do, and I have to give enough credit to these people as well. So if they're there, it's because they want to be there, and they have their own reasons for that, whether you like them or not.
This Steyn fellow may have some good points, maybe the "healing circles" are a bit much, but I really don't care what a Canadian journalist, who admits he doesn't feel bereaved, thinks about any of this.
Yes, we should right the wrongs by combatting terrorism, that goes without saying. But anyone who doesn't feel any pain or loss, who doesn't want to partake in any kind of ceremony, is free not to do so. How others choose to commemorate this day is their business. Everyone has their way of mourning. I, for one, think the day deserves a moment of silence, but it doesn't matter what I think.
Until I hear from a victim's family who says "leave us alone and cool it with the ceremonies already," I will respect the efforts made to commemorate this day, even if I don't partake in them.
Better would be a rousing, patriotic gathering where we reaffirm our intentions of never allowing this to happen to us again. It needs to be a rousing, Kick A$$ ceremony that spits in the face of the terrorists and assures the country that we have not forgotten 9-11 and we will not forget what was done to our fellow Americans and that we are on our way to completing a very long journey that will require all the strength, and will, and toughness we can summon.
I agree.
Perhaps it would be better if we Pearl Harborify 9/11?
My point, previously posted on FR, of extreme agitation over all of this, precisely put.
Do not these dead, the dead of 9/11, deserve an original memorial thought of their own? Are we Americans so wussified that we cannot offer it on the most significant anniversary of these deaths?
I can tell you one thing. September 11 was the worst thing that ever happened in my lifetime. I'm not a drippy , showy sentimentalist, and I know what this writer means.
But September 11 horrified me in a way I didn't imagine before. The thought that 3,000 Americans were slaughtered and that I and my family might well be next was not some pop phenomenon to me. I laughed at nothing for three weeks, and I laugh every day.
I grieved in a real way, not for some pop pseudo-celebrity, but for the fact that the largest wholesale murder of U.S. citizens in the history of our country had happened in my lifetime, and that the future was very uncertain.
I resent the hell out of this author's pompous, condescending presumption that those who were not directly related to those killed in the towers are not bereaved.
Who in the hell does he think he is?
I agree with you, and I'll carry it even one step further. This author seems to presume that the only victims of 9/11 are those killed and their families and friends.
If this were a huge, unfortunate accident, that would probably be true.
However, that ignores the fact that our entire nation was attacked on 9/11. It wasn't just an attack on New York or the World Trade Center specifically. It was attack on us. It was an attack on our Constitution and our way of life. It was an attack on my family. It was an attack on me.
This author is not an American. Maybe that explains why he doesn't seem to understand how fellow-Americans can genuinely grieve and cry. It was the most horrible thing that has ever happened in my life. I cried for days. I literally grieved that my nation was threatened and the way of life I had always known was in danger. And that the young children in my family will most likely face this for the rest of their lives, and will never know the peace I have known.
I must admit, I can't understand the detachment of some people who say "Hey, it's their problem. It's a private matter."
It's not a private matter.
To put down Americans for feeling very sincere pain and shedding very real tears for what happened seems to me, in the words of Mark Steyn, to "debase the very meaning of feeling."
SD
There is no comparison between Diana's accidental death and the deliberate murder of over three thousand people on 9-11.
As with December 7, 1941, it is a day which shall live in infamy....lest we forget, and those that forget history are doomed to repeat it. Turn on the History Channel: you'll still see historical documentaries about Pearl Harbor.
I believe, as did my grandparents' generation in 1941, that the worst attack in this nation's history deserves to be remembered, not just to honor our dead, some of which were true American heros and true stories like theirs are what makes our culture into our culture, but so that we don't forget history and repeat it.... again.
As happened on 12/7/41, our world did indeed change: we lost our innocence....again. Despite Mr Safyre's By 9-11, we had become complacent and innocent all over again, and our world did indeed come to an end and we lost our innocence.....AGAIN.
9-11 : never forget.
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