...The WSJ.com OpinionJournal "
Best of the Web Today," anyway...
Of the many diaries I've posted here, 9/11: So Over It is the one I put the least thought into the composition of, but the most of myself into the content of. In fact, the bulk of the diary was something I had posted at another, apolitical but military-oriented site. I posted it here, less to make the point of that original post than to suggest to others that you should post elsewhere too, to get your ideas out.
At the other site, considering my post was a response to a 9/11 memorial video, you'd think that if there were something horrible about it, that people there would say so. No. Some disagreed, and unequivocally, but not impolitely.
However on this site, the reception was a bit chilly, even from regular users. But some first-post trolls seemed to have been pointed over by WSJ... Where the response was downright rude and incorrect.
Well, apparently it's all about context. Being on the DailyKos site, the WSJ commentator felt entitled to read into my post things that were not there. Funny, I don't think he'd have gotten much mileage out of it had he more accurately attributed it not to NewDirection of DailyKos, but to FreedomFighter at MilitaryPhotos.net.
As to context... Perhaps now that some starched shirt thought it was worth note, maybe this will get more attention here? ...Although I would really like that to come full circle to the parting thought of that first diary: Talk to the rest of the country. Get out there and do it. You don't have to agree with me about being over 9/11. Be yourself. Be America.
This is the WSJ citation, which I thank "Fred in Vermont" for bringing to my attention:
Over on the Daily Kos, meanwhile, "NewDirection"argues that 9/11 was no big deal: 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 [sic]; 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.
One suspects those on the Angry Left like to scare themselves with paranoid fantasies of incipient dictatorship precisely because they find it comforting to be diverted from actual dangers.
Now there are several interesting things we learn about James Taranto and/or WSJ?, who was so kind as to find my writing among the best on the web that day:
They are reading DailyKos; good.
They are far more open to conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11 than I am, or this site officially is. They seem to think 9/11 was in fact perpetrated by a monolithic bloc of Islamo-Fascists. Or by some party other than the "punks" (Al Qaeda) I identified. Which is not the conclusion of any official or even journalistic investigation of which I am aware.
Again, we hear "Angry Left." ...Who isn't angry these days? Check a poll, WSJ. We may disagree about what to do about it, but we are angry and increasingly the focus of that discontent has an initial in common with Wall Street Journal and "washed up."
James Taranto: I never said 9/11 wasn't a big deal. I said that I am over it. I'm over quite a few things that were a big deal at the time. That's called living life, moving on. It's about not being a perpetual victim... This is threatening to the worldview of the 9/11ists. They want to believe it's positively the most important thing... Ever!
What fantasies of incipient dictatorship are you refering to, James? Speak for yourself. If I've ever entertained any, I assure you, and everyone else here, that they scared me not a whit. I'm not a person who chooses to live in fear. This too is a threatening concept to the avid 9/11ist.
Here is the original "9/11: So Over It," included in full...
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.
And for the record, here is a distillation of the additional commentary I had in the thread where I originally posted this:
...I'm not being absolutist about it. I'm not saying to forget really, I'm saying we should try to get over it, in the civilian sphere, on an emotional level. The only guy I knew who died in the towers was Rob Scharf:
http://www.september11victims.com/...
I was in his grade at school. He was a Marine, and he was just there to work on some computer stuff that day only. I probably never would have seen him again, and although I have the distinct recollection that we did pal around I'm not sure I recall the particulars, but I miss him anyway.
My neighbor who was in there, pregnant, saw stuff in the courtyard of the towers... Fallen bodies... That affected her very deeply. Just hearing about it affected me deeply. She's a structural engineer. She thinks they were blown out in the explosions of the planes, but I would guess many had jumped.
As I said I wasn't here that day, but I came back and went to work into the cloud of smoke which lingered for about two weeks. I'm not going to forget it. But I can get over. I think that it's necessary to do that. I think it's necessary for the country as a whole to do that. I think that's sticking to the purposes of this country, namely life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I reject the notion that 9/11 changed everything, most of all that.
[Here is a link to the video the beginner of this thread had not succeeded in linking to:]
http://video.google.com/...
...I was not being disrespectful to [the original] post. Yes, it is a very touching memorial.
...
But it shall not replace rockets' red glare, purple mountains' majesty, or even the Alamo. A Day of Infamy ideed, but not one that shall live forever, because those people need to rest in peace, and their killers need to be brought to justice. The way to do that is with professional, focused effort. Not a cult of victimhood that actively picks its own scabs. What else to call an attack on a statement that was neither irreverent or unrealistic in its outlook?
Finally, James Taranto, and all you other Kossacks, I have these thoughts to share....
I used to go to the Wall Street Journal offices frequently, accompanying my father there to work, during the 1980s. After the Marine Barracks Bombing and the move of the WSJ offices to the new World Trade Center buildings, security there was tight as a drum. There was an armed guard and a bag scan. The fear was terrorism. There was never, actually, a time when that wasn't a concern. Not in my lifetime.
In short, I never doubted terrorism was real. I read my Tom Clancy, I even read the WSJ from time to time. I was shocked, appalled, saddened, and angry right along with everyone on 9/11. But I got over it.
I got over it, returning to the same old normal world I'd always lived in. Not the Bambi-fied nonsense the 9/11ist are wont to conjur, but a world in which terrorism is a real threat. But not remotely the most important thing in the world.
That's what this is about. No agenda, no politics, no national security recommendations. Just, simply, emotionally, I'm over it. And may I humbly suggest you all should be getting there too.