This summer's nonsense surrounding the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" has done me in. It's pushed me over the edge. An irresponsible and cynical ploy by leaders of the right-wing has created an irreversibly poisonous atmosphere in this country. Elements of our media have gleefully thrown gasoline on the fire by relentlessly covering the story and giving voice to professional islamophobes like Newt Gingrich.
Individuals in our corporate news establishment feign surprise as the ugly, ill-informed, and bigoted factions of our population scream their heads off over the manufactured controversy. The Joe Scarboroughs of the world say that rabid anti-Muslim rhetoric is bad for America. But it was those same individuals who fed the American people a steady diet of horseshit about the Islamic world pre and post 9-11 especially in the lead up to the war in Iraq. Confusing people by saying we needed to "liberate" the oppressed people of Iraq from the al-qaeda connected tyrant Saddam Hussein. In truth the Iraqi people had suffered just as greatly from UN Sanctions backed by US muscle. The networks and newspapers were the ones that helped paint the entire Muslim world as a bunch of terrorists. But underneath all the mixed signals lay the real message, "Avenge the deaths of those who perished on September 11th." The media is just as responsible for this mess as the Sarah Palins of the world. The GOP and Tea Party are just using the framework the media created; the foundations were built as early on as the Iran Hostage crisis in 1979 (remember the "Nuke Iran" bumper stickers).
To get to the point of the diary, I am a New Yorker who was here on that horrible day. Like millions of New Yorkers, I experienced the terror of September 11th, 2001 firsthand. This doesn't make me special. I didn't lose anyone on that day. But on the other hand, three firemen who worked across the street from me perished. I called hospitals trying to locate a friend's brother before it was confirmed he was killed in the attack. I took the subway everyday during the days that followed the now forgotten anthrax attacks - a terrifying experience for me having just finished reading two Richard Preston's books about bio-terror and deadly viruses - "The Hot Zone" and "The Cobra Event." Like most New Yorkers, I inhaled the fumes that emanated from the smoking pyre on a daily basis. Just like everyone in the world has a little piece of Chernobyl inside them, most New Yorkers carry around the toxic remnants of the World Trade center in their organs and cells. I share with my fellow New Yorkers the collective PTSD that many of us still have. For years, every time I heard fire engine and ambulance sirens, I immediately thought there was another attack underway. September 11th, 2001 was traumatizing event for me like so many others.
Then of course the events that followed were almost as bad. The country basically went insane. The administration hijacked the events of that horrible day and led the so-called "War on Terror" - two wars, torture, patriot act, domestic spying, etc. In essence, a total disaster for the country and the world. The GOP, the Tea Party people, the right-wing say we must never forget "the lessons" of the September 11th, 2001. What lessons are those I say? That humans have a seemingly limitless potential for viciousness and cruelty? Or is it that Islam is an evil "gutter religion" and "we should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity" as Ann Coulter famously said. Is that their "lesson" because it's basically the policy that the GOP has pursued ever since the attacks.
After these Tea Party people are done wrapping themselves in the American flag and pulling out their Constitution/bibles; they open their mouths and something about taxes and "big government" spews forth. The next thing that rolls off their tongue is some kind of nonsense about 9-11 mixed in with "Supporting the troops;" like one must support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to truly support our troops. They claim to speak for the victims of 9-11. They talk about it so much it's like they want to own it.
Well today I'm formally offering them my September 11th, 2001. They can have it. They can take my horrible memories of that day. They can have it. They can have the years of my life living in the post-911 world. Because I wish that day never happened. Post-911 sucks ass and they can have it. They can have the bubbling cauldron of fear and bigotry that the puppetmasters in the government and media stir around every time they need pull some shit over on the American people. They can have and love it because I don't want it. I hate it. Tea Party, take my 911. Take it and own it forever.