Dave Mason Has No Post-9/11 Fears; Calls Terror Attacks A 'Wake-Up Call'

LAUNCH.COM ^ | September 6. 2002 | Bruce Simon

[eddie willers]

I just love it when I find out that some entertainer whose work I admire also surprises me by being conservative.

In fact, you might say I'm...."Feelin' Alright".

[eddie willers]

ping

[Benrand]

That's intersting...Traffic was a good band. Maybe most of the hippy crap didn't make it past California.

I got this in my email from a guy who has been in the software industry a long tim and felt the need to tell us how he felt about the anniversary of 911...made my blood boil, but I read it right after I watched Black Hawk Down. Sent him a note, he didn't like it too much. He was postively hysterical last year at 9/11.

Scripting.com, home of Dave Winer.

Yesterday I dashed off some thoughts about Sept 11 on Scripting News [3], my web log, and have been getting lots of email on the piece. So I'm running it through the email channel. Let me know what you think.

***Lessons of 9-11 A week from yesterday is the one year anniversary of you know what. That day I'l l be speaking at Seybold in Moscone Center in San Francisco, about Web Services and Publishing with people from Amazon, Apple, Google and my colleague Jake Savi n from UserLand.

I was going to try to watch no TV related to the one year anniversary, but last night I saw there was a Frontline special [4] on the spirituality of the event, and given that Frontline is so excellent, I had to give it a chance. It was very stimulating, both emotionally and intellectually. Well worth a watch.

A common theme -- what kind of God lets this happen? I answer that with another question. What kind of a country is so selfish that it doesn't see that 9-11 was tiniest big tragedy viewed from a global perspective. What about famine in Afri ca? What about AIDs?

They wonder at the spiritual vision of a person who jumps from the World Trade C enter to certain death, but don't wonder about the millions of people who do the same thing with tobacco? It's out of balance. We're out of balance.

9-11 was, imho, a small upheaval in getting to some kind of equilibrium in how The US participates in the world, both from the US perspective, and the world's p erspective. That we got so much sympathy says how big the human heart is. That t here wasn't more celebrating in the streets of world capitals says that they for give us for our selfish attitude, which is back in force as if 9-11 never happen ed.

So what were the lessons of 9-11 that the US has failed to learn? I think it's t hat God doesn't think we're as important as we do.

The concept of national security is obsolete. We can't close our borders. We liv e on this planet with everyone else. Global warming, AIDs, terrorism, all penetr ate all borders. New York is a world city.

The last gasps of isolationism will be snuffed out by more humiliation, until we get the truth, we aren't above the rest of the world, but we /are/ part of it.

Dave Winer

[MonroeDNA]

Uh huh....

Feling alright....

[tomkat]

...home of Dave Winer

perfect

[eddie willers]

Thanks for the bump, but jeeze...
why'd you have to post that mindless excerpt?
Remind me not to buy any software from this loser.

[Benrand]

I mean, I was right to go off a bit on him...I called him on his string of "issues" and he resorted to telling me, who was in the military, to do his job rather than mouth off...and this guy is ALWAYS talking about the freedom of the internet and how it lets everyone be a publisher and all that blog crap.

[IncPen]

His album "Certified Live" is among the favorites in my collection. I tried (and gave up) trying to get it on CD.

His version of Sam Cooke's "Bring it on Home" from that album cemented my lifelong love of Sam's music.

It's a great album to put on for a party. I can't count the number of times I've had it on and people have sat down to listen to it, asking me "who's that?!".

And to find now, after all these years, that he was on our side the whole time?

Hot dang. I think I'm gonna go have a beer.

[PhilDragoo]

Astonishing.

Saw him at the Allen Theater in Cleveland in 1974.

"Only You Know And I Know"

And he's talking about freedom and responsibility and values and etiquette.

Bravo, Dave Mason.

[Benrand]

Sorry about the length. I went off on him, just wanted to see if others thought it was as ridiculous as I thought it was.

This guy preaches all this free speech crap, but he's just a stereotypical 60's lib.

[Auntie Mame]

So your friend, Winer, thinks that America considers itself selfish and above the rest of the world; and until thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands more Americans die at the hands of homicidal murderers, America will not understand that it is a part of the whole world, and all that is in it, which he surmises to be AIDS, global warming, and terrorism. He also equates people jumping from the burning World Trade Center to people smoking tobacco.

It's very sweet, that he's trying to write. I might suggest he learn how to think first, makes for better writing. Hope he sticks to his day job, but who knows, with this example of his writing and thinking abilities, he could also become an editorialist for many of the major newspapers.

[eddie willers]

Alone Together

One of the best albums ever recorded
(especially on "puke vinyl" like the one in my collection).

Definately a disc2die4.

[PoorMuttly]

Yes...Freedom is not license...it is the opportunity for RESPONSIBILITY !

[Benrand]

Pretty stupid isn't it?

I'm not sure where he gets this selfish and isolationist stuff...here's the exchange.

This guy is "big" in the weblog community.

-------------------------------------

Our borders are wide open.

Maybe you military guys ought to get on the ball and do your jobs instead of mouthing off.

Dave

----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael V Lang" To: Sent: Friday, September 06, 2002 11:20 PM Subject: Re: Lessons of 9-11

> You are demented. Sit down and check out Black Hawk Down and get a clue about > how the damn world works. >

> Growing up in the 70's 80's, I hear all this hippy no border bullshit and it's a > huge lie. >

> People out there do bad things to each other, we can send them all the money in > the bank, it won't change their evil behavior, we can open our borders wide > open and even do away with the Constitution throwing the US into chaos (and the > rest of the US dependent world) and it won't change their behavior. >

> Get in the real world... >

> Best. >

[BluesDuke]

Traffic was a good band. Maybe most of the hippy crap didn't make it past California.

Or, maybe the British psychedelics had a better sense of humour about it. I mean, you just couldn't listen to the like of "Shanghai Noodle Factory" or "Medicated Goo" without thinking that the California psychedelic people just didn't really get it...Traffic was a terrific band, but one of their most underrated traits was their wit.

[Senator Pardek]

Interesting factoid (though I'm sure you know this) - Mason played the 12-string acoustic on Hendrix's version of "All Along The Watchtower".

[tet68]

He got his last name right.
"Can't we all just get along" bump.

[kcar]

Yes I used to love Traffic - just assumed they had retired. Maybe they could play a John Barleycorn remake..."And these three men (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld) made a solemn vow, Usama bin Laden must die..."

[PoorMuttly]

You were totally right to go off more than a bit on this miniscule, destructive pig. He doesn't realize that he has only respected, accepted and obeyed his OWN "customized" God...not the one who wrote His own book, and laid it all out in plain language, through semi-literate fishermen and shepherds.

He is true to his values, and you will not reach him. You can outnumber him, and overpower him, though. Maintain dignity, love, and determination at all times. This is our American tradition, and what sets us apart from the miserable. He doesn't know this, and evidently doesn't want to. I'm not just speaking as a Christian...but as an American, from what we have all inherited, and the benefits thereof.

[eddie willers]

Traffic was a terrific band, but one of their most underrated traits was their wit.

So I turned around and forty thousand headmen hit the dirt.
Firing twenty shotguns each and, man, it really hurt.
But luckily for me they had to stop and then reload.
And by the time they'd done that I was heading down the road.

Heading down the road....
With forty thousand headmen on my trail...