9/11 Remembrances: How Much Is Too Much?
It's doubtful that any newspaper outside of New York City could raise this question, but the Times asks whether we should set aside the anniversaries of 9/11 as a collective mourning date for the nation. How long should the remembrances dominate the day, and how many years should the city and nation conduct the familiar ceremonies of grief?
Each year, murmuring about Sept. 11 fatigue arises, a weariness of reliving a day that everyone wishes had never happened. It began before the first anniversary of the terrorist attack. By now, though, many people feel that the collective commemorations, publicly staged, are excessive and vacant, even annoying.“I may sound callous, but doesn’t grieving have a shelf life?” said Charlene Correia, 57, a nursing supervisor from Acushnet, Mass. “We’re very sorry and mournful that people died, but there are living people. Let’s wind it down.”
Some people prefer to see things condensed to perhaps a moment of silence that morning and an end to the rituals like the long recitation of the names of the dead at ground zero.
But many others bristle at such talk, especially those who lost relatives on that day.
“The idea of scaling back just seems so offensive to me when you think of the monumental nature of that tragedy,” said Anita LaFond Korsonsky, whose sister Jeanette LaFond-Menichino died in the World Trade Center. “If you’re tired of it, don’t attend it; turn off your TV or leave town. To say six years is enough, it’s not. I don’t know what is enough.”
It's a difficult question, one framed responsibly and thoughtfully by N. R. Kleinfield. Some anniversaries stay in the national consciousness for decades, such as December 7th, Pearl Harbor Day, and June 6th, D-Day. Others tend to fade with time; as Kleinfield points out, no one recalls the date of the sinking of the Maine (February 15th) or the Kent State Massacre (May 4th). Is six years too soon to ask that the official grieving come to an end?
Part of the answer has to do with the perception that the victims of the attack have not seen complete justice. Osama bin Laden still lives, relatively free somewhere in the wilds of Waziristan. His organization has been crippled but not ended, and although we have reorganized to meet the threat of radical Islamist terrorism, that threat still remains real. Calling an end to memorials under those conditions feels somewhat wrong.
Rick Moran has a long and thoughtful post on this question:
But 9/11 stands alone as a date that tears at our souls and requires us to re-examine uncomfortable truths. We are at war. Remembering or not remembering 9/11 won’t change that fact nor will denying the reality of that statement make it less true. The reason is simple. It takes two sides to make war. And our enemies will find ways to remind us that our denial is silly, stupid, and self defeating as often and as painfully as we let them.It may be a different kind of war but war it is and pushing the proximate cause of the conflict into the recesses of our memory because remembering is too painful, or too much a bother, or gives political advantage to one side or another is simply putting off the day of reckoning when those in denial will be forced once again to look 9/11 full in the face and realize the overwhelming truth that America is in danger. And if we are vouchsafed the time to allow the emotional scars of 9/11 to heal, we should also use that time to prepare for the next onslaught while doing everything in our power to prevent it.
I'll disagree with Rick on his views about partisanship playing a role in attempting to tamp down the outrage over 9/11, and therefore the imperative of continuous memorialization. The questions over how long to continue the official grieving have more to do with the blessing and curse of American culture, partly as seen through the recitation of other anniversaries that faded away almost immediately. We are not a culture that tends to focus on the past. For better and worse, each generation discounts the past and focuses on the future, and part of that dynamic is letting go of anniversaries such as the firing on Fort Sumter, the Maine, and the sinking of the Lusitania.
However, 9/11 still has as much relevance to this generation as it did six years ago. The reminders of the deaths of thousands of Americans still have meaning as long as the same conditions that allowed them continue to exist today. When we have defeated the jihadists and ended that threat, then we can allow 9/11 to slip slowly from our collective consciousness, but not until then. In fact, I'd argue that we have already watered it down too much, by shelving the footage of the attacks, of the people that plunged to their deaths before the collapse of the towers, and of the heroic final moments of United 93.
At this point, remembrance is crucial. We cannot forget while the job is left incomplete.
Posted by Ed Morrissey on September 2, 2007 11:22 AM | Comments (42) | TrackBacks (2)
Comments (42)
Posted by Carol Herman | September 2, 2007 12:28 PM
The real problem's the entrenched government agencies.
I just finished reading THE LAND OF LINCOLN. Which goes to great lengths to discuss how abysmal the Park Department is with our heritage.
You don't need anymore examples than the mess at Ground Zero, thanks to the stinking political interests over at the Port Authority; a bunch of fascist bandits, not-elected; but drawn up by Compact. Between NY and NJ. The interests of the public? Be damned.
These scourges are trying to force feed us their crap. While they dress their "officers" up like Smokey The Bear.
And, then you have the outdoor mosque being built in Pennsylvania. No, the toilets won't be due East! The Crescent is there. And, even spookier; the names of the killers are mixed in with the passengers. How do you like that?
9/11 should remind us all of the turkeys infesting government.
Sure, Larry Craig's angry! Do you blame him? He knows he's not the only one!
But like all aristocracies, getting out of touch seems to be what happens to those who inherit power. For the french? They had to pull out the guillotines, to chop off a few heads; or the crap at the top would have kept on ticking.
STill, the french revolution doesn't shine a candle to ours!
And, 9/11 will be there; and should be there, until somebody HERE goes and hands the House of the Soddies a huge bill.
Me? I think the bill-due will come from other arabs, not as rich. Very jealous. And, so pissed off, now, that they're fighting each other. Good things in small packages.
Of course, it's the left that has the most problems with displays of American patriotism.
And, it's the left that's entrenched in the beauracies. Like homosexuals using toilets, and hand signals; you can identify the problems, easily. But you can't clean them up. Except one flush at a time.
Posted by clarice | September 2, 2007 12:38 PM
As Sweetness & Light notes, however, the NYT which thinks enough is enough on 9/11 just ran ten stories on the anniversary of Diana's death. Pshaw to those who see no improper motive for this soul-searching by the world's most ridiulous paper.
Posted by ketchikan | September 2, 2007 12:40 PM
Ed, you said "...each generation discounts the past and focuses on the future." This is true of those who progress and generaly speaking most of us do just that. The ones who won't let go are leading less than fullfilling lives and are putting their families and cultures at a disadvantage. Examples are blacks who consisitently use the sad history of slavery as an excuse for their actions and demands such as reparations and preferential treatment. I think that part of the problem for many muslims is that they have not adjusted to changes in the world and have held too firmly to past events. While most religions continue to observe their original core basis they have made some changes over time to adjust to a ever changing world.
Katina was a devastating event. But HOW and how long we keep "observing" the anniversary will be an indicator of our ability to move on.
Both 9-11 and Katrina deeply affected our whole country but in different ways. Can we learn, adjust and move on or will they be forever used by those that want to be or want to portray others as victims.
We shouldn't set an arbitrary timetable to quietly let these anniversaries fade, but if we are a healthy society the memories of these events will be less painful overtime, we will have made changes based on lesson learned and the amount of attention will be put in its proper prospective.
Posted by Bennett | September 2, 2007 12:41 PM
As soon as you ask the question, should we stop holding memorials on 9/11, the answer becomes clear. No one would be asking the question otherwise.
Posted by NahnCee | September 2, 2007 12:48 PM
I wonder how much of the discomfort over public displays of grieving has to do with the concept of revenge and kicking Muslim Arab ass for having the temerity to kill us in our own country.
Remembering back to 9/12/01, there was a white hot rage that demanding that SOMETHING be done in retaliation. Everyone agreed that going into Afghanistan and deposing the Taliban was the Right Thing To Do, both to prevent future attacks by AlQueda and to make up for the body count from the World Trade Center.
However, Afghanistan was way too easy, like sliding a hot knife through warm butter, and the thirst for vengeance was not sated. We wanted our military to do something harder to show the world that when you go into New York City and demolish our skyscrapers, very very very bad things will happen to you in return.
Going into Iraq as another instance of a hot knife and warm butter, but the rebuilding process there has proven to be expensive and frustrating. Next time we do the vengeance thing we want to just go in, kick their asses, and then leave them to deal with their own smoking debris as part of their punishment.
But to a certain segment of our population, I think that memorializing the dead of 9/11 risks re-igniting that white-hot heat of vengeance and ensuing war. They'd rather toss aside the memories of that day and those people than risk EVER having to go to war over anything ever again.
I wonder if you asked them a follow-up question, how many of the people who think we should shut up with the memorials already are also anti-war. (As is the NY Times.)
Posted by Steve | September 2, 2007 12:48 PM
Rick Moran is wrong when he says it takes two to make a war. All it takes is one, as seen by what has happened since the early ninties. Because we denied that we were in a war doesn't change the fact that Bin Laden has been at war with us since that time.
Posted by quickjustice | September 2, 2007 12:49 PM
I'm a New Yorker who lost friends and neighbors in the attack on the Twin Towers. In the weeks thereafter, I attended many funerals.
I refused to fly for a year after the attacks. I became nauseous any time I saw Ground Zero. For New Yorkers, the trauma was visceral.
We've all done a lot of healing in the past six years. I can board an aircraft again. The memorials to the victims, police, and firefighters are built. The Victim Compensation Fund has finished its work.
At the same time, we don't celebrate December 7, 1941 as an official holiday. We celebrated VJ day instead.
I say that private commemorations of 9/11 can and should continue. The families of the victims, and those who died trying to rescue them, should continue privately. But as Rudy Giuliani said when he halted the work of the fireman digging in rubble for the remains of their companions months later, it's time to win the war and move on.
Then we'll have something to celebrate.
Posted by Ray | September 2, 2007 1:02 PM
To me, 9/11 is not just a testament to terrorism, it is also a testament to heroism by Americans. The Times talks abut the negative aspects of 9/11 and asks if we should just let it be forgotten, but 9/11 highlighted some very brave and noble actions by Americans that fateful day and that's what we should all remember most. Many heroic acts were performed on 9/11, by those who fought the fires and died in the collapse of the twin towers, and those who helped so many others get out. By those who climbed into a burning Pentagon to help save so many people, and those few who fought the terrorists on Flight 93. These are the things we should always remember, the reasons we hold ceremonies . It isn't a monument to terror, it's a monument to the courage of the American People. When should 9/11 be forgotten? When all of humanity is dead and there is no one left to remember.
Posted by Jeff | September 2, 2007 1:19 PM
I say give it up. The left has already put a trojan horse in the memorials, debasing them and basically using them to spit on western civilization.
Examples? Check out the plans for the Flight 93 memorial. It's a wall and I kid you not, it is in the shape of the islamic crescent and points toward mecca. They call it the crescent of embrace or some other crappy thing. I will never, ever go there to visit.
Todd Beamer's father was on the memorial committee. His reaction is exactly what it should be. Contempt. Despair.
Shove the memorials.
Posted by John Steele | September 2, 2007 1:25 PM
A few points:
First, during Vietnam one of the favorites of the anti-war crowd was "suppose they gave a war and no one came." To which I always responded "suppose they gave a war and only the other guy comes." Moran is wrong, it only takes one to make a war --- a very short, very costly war for the loser.
Second, I do not think we should walk away from 9/11 as a memorial occasion. That said however, I am a bit up the nose with New York and New Yorkers who treat 9/11 as if it was their own personal tragedy. The attacks of 9/11 were not an attack on New York, they were an attack on America and everything we stand for. We do not need a four hour memorial with each name read again and again as if the only people harmed were the ones in the collapsed buildings. 9/11 belongs to ALL of America, not just New York.
But over the years the rest of us have pretty well gotten used to New Yorkers and their "world revolves around us" attitude.
Posted by Carol Herman | September 2, 2007 1:28 PM
Actually, Jeff, going silent, would give the islamic-fascists the victory.
You'd be surprised, but not only Todd Beamer's dad is upset with the "outdoor mosque being built on the crash site for Flight #93."
And, as long as this gets heard, I suspect we'll also continue to grieve that day, 9/11.
Yes, Clarice. Your point is well made. The New Yuk Times, (shedding advertisers as well as subscribers), is still pushing its Lady Diana memorials, "ten years after the fact." I guess "the paper of record" wants to remember the clothes? What else is there? A story that Camilla didn't go to the last "show time?" Did Elton John? Does anybody really compare Diana
s death ... because her boyfriend allowed the driver of their car to be drunk as a skunk ... with 9/11?
As to what the New Yuk Times doesn't do, is go after the bastards who are disregarding public opinion, at the memorial sites.
Sometimes, ya gotta wonder? Will the crap they've planned ever fly? Could it be possible, Americans are still all roused up about 9/11?
Ya know, we're at some political juncture. No one sees that affirmative action has run its course. And, too many Americans think a minority bunch of aristocrats can still do just about anything they want.
It's gonna take the 2008 election, I guess, to get a political re-focus?
Posted by Neo | September 2, 2007 1:50 PM
I have a real problem with the attitude that seems to come from NYC in regard to 9/11.
Frankly, it has degenerated into a mad scramble to get federal dollars by wrapping everything and anything with the burial cloth of those who died on 9/11. Beyond that, 9/11 is viewed as just another hoax by the "evil Bush" and the "dark UberLord" Dick Cheney.
Posted by Carol Herman | September 2, 2007 2:17 PM
NEO: Seems Guiliani is having national appeal, that's he's earned as the Mayor of NYC, when 9/11 happened.
Since we don't know the future, all we can do is watch, wait. And, see.
There's a possibility, too, that Bill Clinton became passe on 9/10. And, his wife may not get digested as presidential timber. If it was my money; I wouldn't be risking it on her.
While, yes, a lot of bad billionnaires, are backing her; like Cuban is backing DePalma.
Again, most of us are outside. Waiting to vote.
But I don't discount New Yorkers. A great deal of America's wealth is stationed there. (Which is why the Soddies funded 9/11. With their hits, though, our financial markets didn't melt. And, the Hudson didn't enter the "bathtub" and then flood out all of New York City's underground tunnels.
Sometimes? Miracles happen. And, we don't recognize their signals?
As to the New Yuk Times, well. Just like the WaPo they just don't know they're a dead industry, yet.
Posted by Dale C. Wyckoff | September 2, 2007 2:38 PM
I wrote this last year and e-mailed it to everybody I knew then.
+++++++++++++
The Sounds of 9/11
The other day I read a really nice column on 9/11. It was written by Peggy Noonan and titled "I Just Called to Say I Love You, The sounds of 9/11, beyond the metallic roar." I was impressed.
Ms. Noonan opens the column by relating her conversations with others. She'd ask them what to them was the sound of 9/11. New Yorkers all, they talked about the sound of fire trucks, or planes crashing into the towers, or the towers falling. The sounds metallic, the sound of an unnatural tragedy.
Having evoked the images of the day, she went beyond them. Next Ms. Noonan wrote about different sounds. The phone calls that people made. People on the jets and in the offices calling home to their loved ones. One flight attendant called her husband, reaching an answering machine she left a massage. "Please tell my children that I love them very much. I'm sorry, baby. I wish I could see your face again." This is when I started crying.
A Capt. of the New York Fire Department called home before leaving for the scene. He knew where he was going, and never returned. He'd just called to say I love you.
She wrote "Something terrible had happened. Life was reduced to its essentials. Time was short. People said what counted, what mattered."
And I've reflected on this over the past few days. It strikes me that I've thought these thoughts before. What would I say if the end were here? I think most of us have had these thoughts. It's the last great tragedy of life, what's been left unsaid.
And it struck me. What a wonderful bit of jujitsu it would be if we remembered 9/11 that way. If we made a point of reaching out to the people we care about. Telling them they matter, our lives are better for having known them. How proud were are of their accomplishments. How we felt for them when they hurt.
Many of you receiving this e-mail I haven't formed a friendship with, I haven't gotten to know. This might give you something to think about. To those of you whom I've befriended, I thank you. My life is better for having known you.
Posted by NahnCee | September 2, 2007 4:04 PM
And it struck me. What a wonderful bit of jujitsu it would be if we remembered 9/11 that way.
Gee, sorta like we're supposed to use Christmas to remind us of peace on earth and to strive for good will towards men? How's that working out, what with the PC-niks demanding that we take down our Christmas trees and the Muslims starting to demand equal time for their pedophile prophet.
Posted by Fight4TheRight | September 2, 2007 4:28 PM
Over 3,000 innocent American civilians killed, murdered on a single morning on American soil. And some want to sweep that memory under the rug?
“I may sound callous, but doesn’t grieving have a shelf life?” said Charlene Correia, 57, a nursing supervisor from Acushnet, Mass. “We’re very sorry and mournful that people died, but there are living people. Let’s wind it down.”
Well Charlene, you want to 'wind it down'? Then why don't you catch the next bus to Canada or the next boat to Islamabad. There's the door, fool.
Posted by Lew | September 2, 2007 4:48 PM
Those who want to just get over it and get on with life (i.e. start talking about ME!) are those who can't relate 9/11 to anything larger. Its just a sad thing that happened a few years ago, like their dog dieing or their car being sideswiped in a parking ramp. Nothing they need to think about or react to in any really meaningful sense. Besides, the pesky darned issue keeps diverting the spotlight from the fact that they want somebody else to pay their medical bills and they can't afford tuition for the kids at Cornell and gas for the beemer is way too expensive, and on and on and on.
And another thing, they're getting really bummed hearing about the totally confusing and incomprehensible courage of those people who rose to the occasion in wholly unexpected ways. The quite ordinary Americans who willingly gave their lives to save others. That sort of thing doesn't fit the cynical materialism of the jaded model of humanity that they "know" is real. And damnit, its just plain embarrassing!
So let's just "move on" as they say, and get on with OUR lives. Those other people just weren't lucky, like us. It is after all, all about us.... isn't it?
If you can just turn your back and leave it all behind, as if it were nothing more than a speed bump on the road to your own personal nirvana, then you truly are a charter member of the Paris Hilton Society of self-obsessed light weights that passes for citizenship around here lately.
Good Luck!
Posted by jerry | September 2, 2007 5:29 PM
I don't want to see 9-11 turned into a memorial day for modern cultures victimology. I would like to see the day commemorated by simple ceremonies that place amid normal daily activity. I don't want to see a public day of official mourning where we stop the world.
Oh yeah, My duty station on 9-11 was the Pentagon.
Posted by Del Dolemonte | September 2, 2007 5:30 PM
I'll have to disagree with the Captain and agree with Rick Moran on the political advantage angle.
If the drive-by media could use images and memories of 9/11 in order to push some part of their agenda, they would definitely do so. But they can't remind us of how President Bush performed right after 9/11, because that would just bump his job approval back up. However, if Bill Clinton had been in office on 9/11 and responded the exact same way Bush did, I'm sure the media would be reminding us about Clinton's "9/11 greatness" every September for the next hundred years.
Posted by Bennett | September 2, 2007 6:30 PM
I wouldn't be too hard on that nurse in Mass., I've had friends say it to me in the past..."gee, I hope we don't have to hear about the victims again..."
And these are friends who are staunch Republicans, Bush supporters. I attributed the remarks to grief fatigue and being out of anything new to feel or say about that horrible day. They don't want to forget but they don't want to be reminded either. They don't want to feel the anger and the fear and the sadness all over again.
Which is exactly why memorials are so important. We may not want to feel all those things every 9/11 but it forces us to acknowledge all the people who never had the chance to feel anything again because of what happened that day.
Posted by unclesmrgol | September 2, 2007 8:07 PM
The day we say we need to move the Arizona for new development is the day we should forget Pearl Harbor. Now, I'm trying to think of something fitting for the Twin Towers and 9/11, but somehow it fails me. Maybe not enough time has gone by...
Posted by Dr. Bob | September 2, 2007 8:30 PM
As much as I hate to relive the evil of that day, I feel it is a necessary thing, I have a duty to remember it as vividly as I can. I still pull off the highway during my morning commute at that time on the day and pray and cry.
We owe our devotion to those innocents that were brutally murdered. We owe them the commitment to do everything possible to bring justice to those responsible for their untimely deaths. If you don't like calling the day a memorial, call it a day of renewed resolve.
We dare not forget lest we become a lesser country - one unwilling to stand up for her citizens, one that ceases to care.
Posted by docjim505 | September 2, 2007 9:07 PM
How did Americans in 1943 or 1944 remember Pearl Harbor?
--- "We got stabbed in the back by those dirty Japs! We're gonna get even with those little yellow bastards if it's the last thing we ever do!"
--- "We lost two thousand men in a couple of hours. We've lost tens of thousands more since then, and may lose hundreds of thousands more before this is all over. This is the price we pay for our liberty and to free the world from the scourge of nazi and Jap fascism."
--- "Those brave men at Pearl Harbor, even though they were taken by surprise, really put up a good fight. We'll follow their example and put up a good fight of our own, and keep putting up a good fight until we win."
What's different now? Have Americans lost the capacity for rage? Or is Britney Spears really that much more important?
Posted by ET | September 2, 2007 9:34 PM
We cannot (and should not) stop remembering 9/11/2001 any more than we can stop remembering December 7th, 1941. It does not have to be a set-aside holiday; low-key memorial services and/or general public acknowlegements will be adequate. What is important is that we not forget it was the attack on US that finally got us involved in combating our fanatic Islamic enemies. We must not forget; 9/11 will be a rallying battle-cry for years to come, regardless of some misguided pacifists (or worse) who would just like to forget it.
Posted by edward cropper | September 2, 2007 10:18 PM
all one has to do to answer your question is look at the 30,000 WWII veterans dying each month.
Without the victory these men and women won for our country we would be out of business PERIOD.
Most of us who are old enough to remember do not and more and more of our citizens are too young to have a clue.
Last memorial day there was not a single WWII vet at our service. Each year there were fewer and fewer. This year there were none.
Our young people are not taught history in schools anymore . The attitude of our country is who cares about the past ?
That is a true recipe for national disaster.
Posted by Zoomie | September 2, 2007 10:52 PM
We can "move on" from 9/11 when the people that perpetrated it are dead and their ideology is wiped from the face of the earth. Until that day, we'd BETTER remember.
I didn't lose anyone close to me. No one I knew was in danger. I watched it like everyone did on TV, and it should be more than a thirst for vengeance that motivates us--though I want bin-Laden's head on a pike. It should be determination that that will never happen again.
What most of the media fails utterly to discuss is that this isn't about 3000 dead Americans. It was an attack on our way of life. Our prosperity. Our history. Our culture. If the terrorists had been going for maximum civilian casualties, they could've targeted something other than the Pentagon and possibly the White House or the Capitol Building. They would've waited until later in the day, when up to 50,000 people would have been in the WTC. They targeted our economy and our military--the economic and military engines that make us the Colossus of the world. They didn't just attack NY and DC. They attacked every single bloody one of us. Americans fail to realize that at the peril of themselves, their OWN loved ones next time, their own sense of safety and security, their prosperity, their freedom. Until that danger is eliminated, no, we shouldn't stop remembering.
Honestly, for my generation--I was three years out of high school--we should never forget. It was the event that defined our fortunes and futures. I, my brother, and my sister went into the military because of 9/11. Many of my friends changed their majors in college and/or enlisted. If there's any lesson we should take from 9/11, any one thought we should carry with us for the rest of our lives, it's this: The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. My generation's blood is being shed overseas. ALL our blood was shed in our country. Born in unprecedented peace and prosperity, most of us never learned that lesson. We'd damn well better learn it and believe it now.
Posted by Rose | September 2, 2007 11:47 PM
I'm from Texas and the last I heard, The Alamo had REMAINED CONSISTENTLY AND WITHOUT EXCEPTION the #1 tourist atttraction of the USA.
The Tree of Liberty shall be watered with the blood of patriots and with tyrants, from time to time.
And I disagree with those who say partisan politics has nothing to do with the opinions of those who want to diss 9/11 - the only folks I've seen dissing it are Dim Liberals - even though all Democrats do not diss it.
And yeah, I've been following the debauchle of the Flight 93 "Memorial" - tribute to Muslim Terrorism, ever since the plot was first approved by the committee, and later "modified" while holding fast to the original design.
A RED CRESCENT OF RED MAPLE TREES, oriented properly towards MECCA, to remember ALL who died on that flight! ALL!!!
All the hundreds of thousands of complaints that have been sent have accomplished is that the committee and the parks service keep shutting down access to their offices and members, further and further and further - especially ONLINE.
Posted by Rose | September 3, 2007 12:01 AM
Posted by Lew | September 2, 2007 4:48 PM
And God have mercy on our souls.
Posted by Fight4TheRight | September 3, 2007 12:10 AM
Zoomie,
That is one HECKUVA comment you have posted here. Awesome. Thank you!
Posted by NahnCee | September 3, 2007 12:45 AM
When was the last time you saw a picture of the Twin Towers falling? There's been a media blackout on showing any of those images since about two weeks after it happened. The media who consider themselves to be our elites have determined that they're too ... something. Provocative? Sad? Enraging? Or do those pictures that are seared into our brains anyway make us remember? And *that* is what MSM desperately does not want to happen. The question then becomes, why?
Posted by GoDaddy | September 3, 2007 12:50 AM
It is a real tragedy how many people have already forgotten about the horrors of that day...
I would personally like to see the TVs replaying the video of people jumping from the top floors; the heart tearing 911 calls from the South Tower as it collapsed, the 911 calls from Flight 93...maybe if we keep it front of us, it won't be such tough decisions for judges when they come up against cases like the "Flyin',Lyin' Imans"...and Congress won't vote against John Doe protection and then reverse themselves later...or maybe even slow the dhimmification of America.
No, as Zoomie pointed out, this was the beginning of a long war, by a shadow enemy without borders, and it should be remembered as such...it should be replayed so often that it is "seared" into our souls so we have the courage to continue the fight five years from now and then continue until we have vanquished the aggressors.
9/11 signaled the start of a war on ALL Americans, wherever they live or work, and continues today...and that is the reason it must be remembered and replayed...
Posted by Carol Herman | September 3, 2007 12:52 AM
Zoomie, I'll 2nd that. Your post is AWESOME!
And, 9/11 isn't going away! The Bonkeys are brain dead. And, unable to even fathom what it feels like to be an American. What's left over there? The remnants of the affirmative action crowd.
Also, if you look at their parades? They get media coverage; but no turnouts.
Oh, Rose, what are we going to do about that outdoor mosque? Nothing stops them! And, I've heard that some parents have sued so their kid's name isn't on one of these marble headstones, along with the names of the terrorists. That did, by the way, piss off the parks department! And, yes,since they have "44 steps" ... there's a movement for the American names to be left blank.
And, ya know what else? If that eyesore opens? I bet there will be truckers trucking in Port-a-Toilets. Setting them down EAST. Just to frost the behinds of the muzzies. In other words? If better reasoning doesn't prevail? And, outside the realm of the lawsuits? I expect tit-for-tat. And, a lot of mishigas. I doubt a vast majority of Americans are gonna tolerate it.
Heck, Bloomberg, da' mayor of NY, thought he had enough money to run as an Independent; only to discover, if he spent it, it would go to waste. People really don't like him. And, Ground Zero is still a mess. (Of course, the neighborhood where the Twin Towers went up, was one of those eyesores, that fester along some city blocks. Building the Twin Towers was a renewal effort. You should'a seen what was there before!
Posted by daytrader | September 3, 2007 1:22 AM
On this post I have to agree with Carol
It is not just the outdoor mosque in Pennsylvania , but look at the prior one of the 9/11 memorial in Arizona.
Both a slap in the face for all who died.
Should we downplay 9/11 now?
Not the least and we should really be looking at how many are trying to debase it and twist the message.
Have any of you read the information on the memorial that is to be placed at ground zero.
It was all out there a couple of years ago during the design process , but was played down.
Do your homework.
A small percentage of the country follows politics or the dynamics of what constricts our lives.
They others ignore it at their peril.
Posted by DWPittelli | September 3, 2007 8:27 AM
Too much remembering!
It's not as if we still have a holiday on World War I Armistice Day.
Oh yeah...
Posted by Keemo | September 3, 2007 9:02 AM
Great thread....
The morning of 9/11; we had fox news on the TV as usual, getting breakfast on the table for our two sons while getting ourselves ready for another work day. The four of us will never forget what happened that morning; we all stood in front of the TV, dead silence in the room. Suddenly, my wife blurted out "we are under attack" as she had figured it out that the first plane couldn't have been an accident. Soon after, the second plane hit tower two; we were indeed under attack. All other matters; work, school, bills, mortgage payment; all other matters became irrelevant as we watched our country under attack; as we watched innocent civilians jumping to their deaths...
The NYT and all other Liberal scum can play the game all they want; no one will ever erase that day from the minds of my family. The day will come when my boys get married and have children of their own. My sons will carry the message to their own of what happened September 11, 2001... Terrorists, Muslims, radical religious thugs, killing in the name of a God..... We will always carry the message.
In my view, the USA should have delivered the same message sent in prior years over a few cities in Japan; attack America and this is what will happen to you and yours. Peace through strength is a proven winner. Death and destruction through weakness is a proven loser. The righteous and the brave fight for freedom, liberty, and human rights; the frightened and the weak fight the righteous and the brave through media outlets and courts. I know what side I'm on; I know what happened on that horrible day; I will never forget, and I will pass on the message to future generations in my family. Screw the NYT and all other frightened little "place the blame" people; this family has built it's own memorial for 9/11.
God bless those who serve this country in uniform; all uniforms...
Posted by Bender | September 3, 2007 9:30 AM
You are conflating two different things -- grieving and remembering.
It is long past time to stop grieving and feeling sad about our losses. It is time to stop focusing on losing.
Instead, we must focus on prevailing. And to do that, we should and must continue to remember 9/11, not to get all teary-eyed and grief-stricken, not to bring us down, but to build us up, to remind us of the work that lies ahead, to remind us that we are at war, and that this is what the enemy want to do to all of us.
So, 9/11 a day of grieving? Hell no.
9/11 a day of remembering? Absolutely.
Posted by GeoW | September 3, 2007 10:29 AM
I willing if we can also put an end to the wailing over Katrina.
Posted by g wood | September 3, 2007 12:27 PM
It is no surprise that the NYT would wonder why we still want to dwell on 9-11. On that fateful day, there were two emotions: fear and anger. Both sides of the ideological spectrum felt fear, and both sides in the beginning felt anger. This is why our country seemed to be together in the massacre's immediate aftermath. As days wore on, those on the right got angrier, and those on the left, realizing that the Great Satan had had its due comeuppance, began to feel THEIR anger dissipate.
I want to remember 9-11 not to mourn, I'm done with that; no, I want to remember 9-11 because I'm still angry. This is what separates those on the right from those on the ideological left today.
We're still angry, and they're not.
Posted by False Flag | September 3, 2007 11:37 PM
Let's hear from Col. George Nelson, USAF, former U.S. Air Force aircraft accident investigator:
"In all my years of direct and indirect participation, I never witnessed nor even heard of an aircraft loss, where the wreckage was accessible, that prevented investigators from finding enough hard evidence to positively identify the make, model, and specific registration number of the aircraft -- and in most cases the precise cause of the accident...
The government alleges that four wide-body airliners crashed on the morning of September 11 2001, resulting in the deaths of more than 3,000 human beings, yet not one piece of hard aircraft evidence has been produced in an attempt to positively identify any of the four aircraft. On the contrary, it seems only that all potential evidence was deliberately kept hidden from public view…
With all the evidence readily available at the Pentagon crash site, any unbiased rational investigator could only conclude that a Boeing 757 did not fly into the Pentagon as alleged. Similarly, with all the evidence available at the Pennsylvania crash site, it was most doubtful that a passenger airliner caused the obvious hole in the ground and certainly not the Boeing 757 as alleged…
As painful and heartbreaking as was the loss of innocent lives and the lingering health problems of thousands more, a most troublesome and nightmarish probability remains that so many Americans appear to be involved in the most heinous conspiracy in our country's history."
See hundreds of other military, aviation, and engineering experts call bullshit here:
http://patriotsquestion911.com/
Posted by Tim W | September 4, 2007 4:11 PM
I lost my brother in the WTC and I think there should be some sort of memorial service but it should be toned down a bit. Whatever they do, I will not watch it, read about it, attend it etc... as its to painful to do so. I attended the first memorial service in NYC and that was enough for me. I don't need reminders of 9/11 because I live it every day.
The problem for relatives of people killed is that you can't really get away from 9/11 and the loss of loved ones unless you totally check out from society. History changed that day and each day going forward evolves from the events of 9/11. Each time I pick up a newspaper or watch the news, I am reminded of my loss. I want to move on but I can't because of the historic nature of the event and the policy decisions that have followed. It’s kind of a vicious circle that wears on ones soul.
What I will do is get pissed off and refocus my rage on what needs to be done, which is killing large numbers of Islamists with extreme prejudice. Since I can’t join the military, I will work on educating people to the threat of radical Islam, particularly liberals who just don’t get it and want to move on. These people (Islamists) can not be reasoned with, negotiated with and they will keep coming until we stop them or kill them in such large numbers that they don’t ever think about messing with us again. I don't want them to like me but to fear me and crap down their legs when they hear the word U.S. Marines.
As for the NYT's, they have to play down 9/11 because they wouldn't want to get the Neanderthals all worked up as it distracts from there domestic leftist agenda. To them, 9/11 was our fault and was deserved, not something to be mourned and memorialized.
Posted by Peter McCartney | September 7, 2007 5:36 PM
Here in Australia we commemorate national and state tragedies on a yearly basis. The Granville Disaster, the mass killings at Tasmania and Anzac Day for example. In regards to 9/11 with so many lost which involved different cultures and nationalalities I believe that a yearly remembrance day is in order to remind us of the futility of terrorism and the heroics of the ones that sacrificed their lives in order to save others. With the war on terrorism continuing, which involves our country and others, it is not only a reminder of that fateful day for the occupants of this planet, but it gives us time to pray for the ones lost and the ones that are to be lost, in this fight. Lest we forget!
Posted by Glenn | September 11, 2007 1:23 PM
Americans, as a whole, tend to obsess. This (remembering 9/11 extravagance) is just another example.