There is a post on, of all places, www.militaryphotos.net, which I think you may find heartening, posted by
"FreedomFighter."
RANT WARNING!
Somebody has to be the first one to say it.
I'm over it.
Yes I was somewhat personally affected (no one that close to me died, but my son's playmate was in the towers... in utero.... and got out). 9/11 is my wedding anniversary so I was out of town, and spent the day rafting, which may well have given me a different perspective.... Perhaps it's a helpful perspective, you be the judge.
Yes I want to stop any future attacks, and yes I honor the victims, and all of that. But seriously? "Never forget?" Look, as abominable and shocking as it was, "never forget" is a bit much. I mean it carries the implicit suggestion that if it weren't taken to heart and repeated, people would forget.
The Marine Barracks Bombing was a pretty big deal at the time. So was the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Granted it's different getting attacked on your home turf. (And as it happens, not far from where I sit right now.) And perhaps had the right people kept the lessons of Iran and Lebanon, not to mention the first WTC bombing, and OK City, etcetera, foremost in their minds, we'd have had none of this proverbial "clear blue sky" talk... And no need for it.
But as for regular folks? Well, let's see. Terror. Terror is a set of tactics, but they are defined by their goal: To create the emotion of terror. The assumption that America has accepted is that the goal of the terror is to apply leverage, to cause the target to cower. Cowering is one possible reaction to terror: So is striking out. People seem to assume that we were attacked to influence us, either to withdraw from the Middle East or to get tricked into an escalating conflict in the Middle East. But that's giving the enemy too much credit, I think. I think they attacked us simply to hurt us.
In a terror attack, the hurt is partly physical but the emotional impact can be exponential. To feel terror, or whatever you want to call it (righteous anger perhaps) in response, is part of the desired effect. You might say it is something that can be used productively in the effort to safeguard against future harm. Sure, sure. But that is also an excuse to avoid thinking about the fact that these overriding feelings of being under siege are emotional poison. Am I getting nutty crunchy on ya? Naw... See, we all know that feeling like victims is a far too cherished commodity in American society. Let's not indulge.
Yes there were victims on September 11th, 2001, and we were all among them. But should their continue to be victims today? Who but victims remembers a wrong done to them as a defining part of their character? True, true, you could say that response to monarchist oppression is what made us a freedom-loving land in the first place. But that's where our early society came from; to reject monarchy and increase freedom was an evolution of ourselves. On the other hand, being defined by terrorism would be different.
Of all the 9/11 platitudes, I liked "If they change our way of life, they have won" the best. You don't hear that one much anymore, do you? Well it's time to revive it. Sure, I do remember 9/11... But not as some sort of guiding principle. I don't want that to be the "Remember the Alamo" for the next millenia simply because I'd prefer we defined ourselves by something prouder. 9/11 was no Alamo. Call it an act of war all you want but that smacks of an agenda... It was murder, perverse serial murder.
Remember, please, that this was an act of a bunch of punks. Punks that got lucky. Not the larger Islamo-Fascist monolith that some have conjurred; that may exist as a useful concept but all evidence points to punks. And frankly it's a lot easier to credit the well-grounded "punk theory," because punks behave unpredictably and slip through cracks. The US would have swatted anything larger on the worst of days.
Sure, 9/11 changed the way we protect our country. But should it change our country? I think not. That's why I'm officially over it. I invite you to realize that you are too. It's a necessary step in defeating terror.
That's all. Just my two cents. Not pushing any agenda. Although... I do strongly advise we rethink the logistics of a war on an emotion and/or the most basic and diverse tactic imaginable. Yes I know perhaps that's undermining to the CONCEPT of a GWOT, but if a war can be lost in semantics then it's got issues. I hope the incoming White House people are prepared for a post-post 9/11 world because there are rather more well-defined wars and objectives to win at this time, and people want to accomplish that.
How does that strike you?
Now, full disclosure, NewDirection and FreedomFighter are the same dude. But still. The post above was entirely heartfelt, entirely in line with what I write here. We are America, people, and we are everywhere. The divisions are artificial. Ignore them. Go out there and share your thoughts. Do it earnestly, openly, without the least deceit. I also post occassionally on RedState by the way.
Just stay on topic and stay polite. Don't think troll thoughts, and you won't be a troll. Now go. Somewhere. Anywhere. But somewhere else. And just be yourself.
If you want America to be more like you, then be America more broadly more often.