posted
This September Eleventh I will be doing the same thing as I did last September Eleventh. Wondering what glee I will have while unwrapping my birthday presents tomorrow.
I think I might get socks.
Also, how can today be about "remembering" when you haven't let it go at all?
But, my birthday is tomorrow, and that it more pressing.
Registered: Oct 1999
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-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:On the aniversary of death, they played PROPAGANDA for WAR.
Same as they did for Pearl. But much less so, since on December 7th, 1942 we were actively building war machines and devices for the sole purpose of destroying the Japanese. I'm sure the launch of the USS New Jersey was well-reported.
quote:They said last time they had a leader calling for war so voraciously was the 1930s. Yes, they compared Bush to that guy
FDR, or Churchill?
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
How I have spent my September 11: Sleeping in till noon. Doing some laundry. Heating up (but not eating the whole thing, because our microwave could not heat a meal evenly even if it was a two-dimensional plane.) some somewhat old roast. Reflecting upon the fact that all of this, including this, and everything else, has affected me in ways far too deep for me to really talk about, which is even worth, because talking about things is the only thing I do well. And by well, let us be charitable and say "doesn't suck quite so terribly."
I'm not particularly interested in watching television, because sometimes I feel like I've already seen and digested and considered so much that hearing someone else talk about the things I've been thinking about is like being trapped inside some monsterous echo chamber. I suppose I simple am jealous of my grief and don't want to share it, especially not with people with rational reasons to grieve. I mean, honestly.
I'd go to a movie, only my car has two flat tires, one of which cannot be repaired, and I just spent 200 dollars on my dorm room deposit, and while I could buy a new tire, or even two, it offends my sensabilities. Though so does being non-mobile. And my throat hurts. Yay. (Or, if you really must know, it doesn't hurt so much as it has that curious chunky feeling that precedes a cold.)
posted
One year from that tragic day...I'll probably watch some ABC coverage of Bush's speech, but mainly I'll keep off the TV. Who wants to re-live it?
I agree its probably not a good idea to show those planes crashing into buildings again on the TV anytime soon. However, I do hope they are shown on specials or in documentaries for future generations to see years from now. I'll want my kids to be able to see what we all saw on that day, not some freeze-frame photo of a tower blowing up.
No one brought this up but there was some talk about it recently...a 9/11 movie. There will most definitely be one. It could be a docu-drama, much like Thirteen Days, not a straight up Rambo/Bruce Willis style action film. It'll deal with the attacks form all points of view...a firefighter, maybe, a senator, and maybe the president. Granted, this is speculation (as there is no movie in the works), but since there was a movie about Pearl Harbor and the Kennedy assassination, there will be one on this, whether it be 10 or 100 years from now.
Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
This is a blog entry I just posted. I don't think anyone here except for Frank & maybe Se�or Benson reads it, so here it is. Flame as you will.
GODFUCKING DAMMIT I HATE HUMANS!!!
I just was yelled at and made to leave by Emily and Gretchen...because I refused to believe the bullshit that surrounds today. Because supposedly I'm "mean" and "callous" and "uncaring." Well, fuck you, too.
Yes, a year ago 3000 people died in a shock attack on this nation. Yes, I was galvanized as well. No, I lost no one...but yes, like most people I almost lost someone. My sister was under the North Tower on the train on her way to work when the first strike came; she was evaced and looked up to see the second one. Linda was part of the Brooklyn Bridge exodus. Lenora was driven hom to the Bronx from her school by a cop; both she and the officer were coated head-to-toe in remains and dust. I have a personal stake as well: I grew up living and breathing New York. I'd eaten at Windows On The World.
But I don't buy into the "remembrance" concept. Memorials are small, personal, tasteful. They are not media extravaganzas. They are not jingoistic bonfires of nationalism fueled by laser-guided strikes of "righteous rage." DEATH HAPPENS. EVENTS HAPPEN. Fluidity simply...IS. Recently, I read a comment on Flare that said, "The universe is simply a fluid series of uncertainties." How right that person was. Things happen, and we move on. So it's been a year. SO WHAT. Is this going to be a yearly thing? I, for one, am simply fed up with the "memoriams," the anniversaries, the pointless nothingness. Where are the services on January 26th? Or January 28th? We BARELY have them on December 7th anymore. And why only the BAD times? Why not V-E Day or V-J Day? Why not the day the British left Yorktown? Or the end of the Civil War?
No, instead we cling on to the past like a bunch of scared children. "Oh, it's Columbine Day." "Oh, it's Oklahoma City Day." "Oh, it's the death of JFK, Jr." "Oh, it's Flight 800 Day." "Oh, it's September 11th." They want to name today as "Patriot's Day," you know. I love it. Patriotism by default, a new crop of involuntary martyrs. How many of those people really cared when it came to it? How many of the rest of us really cared? I sure didn't, and I still don't. Why? Because I can see the larger picture. Look beyond nations, looke beyond stupid infighting, and look at the larger picture.
Almsot 350 firefighters lost their lives last year; Company 2 was entirely wiped out. Tragic, yes...but have you ever met a firefighter? They're like Klingons--they wouldn't have wanted to go any other way. Tragic, perhaps. Heroic, indeed. But sad? No. It's JOYOUS. I don't know a cop, firefighter, paramedic, or other member of a civilian support agency that wouldn't have done the same dam thing. These people do not do these things because they merely enjoy it. They ARE the jobs. It's not like your sales analysis job or my data entry job. It's not because they're good at them or mildly enjoy them. They are HARDCORE and I'm DAMN proud of them for dying on the job, doing what they loved and knew they needed to do. Would that so many of the rest of us be able to claim the same .
But past the immediate loss...what does it matter? It's become the international equivalent of a "Save The Children" ad. The flag waves, the smoky shots are shown, and the crying starts...and it's all designed to make us feel BAD. Well, fuck THAT. Death IS. Events HAPPEN. Let it all get put to rest, let the people directly affected with move on with their lives, and stop dredging it all up. Frank Zappa talked once about "death by nostalgia," the point where "one cannot take a step without becoming nostalgic about where we once were." This nation was soon approaching that point, and in the past year, we've barreled along at a vastly increased rate. Just let it all settle. If you want to remember, that's grand, and power TO you. But STOP INFLICTING IT ON THE REST OF US. I DID my bit: 3000 new names for Starfleet vessels. That's MY way.
I won't even get INTO the whole fucking nationalism aspect except to say that (A) this nation SERIOUSLY needs to reexamine its policies in the world and got off its holier-than-thou fucking horse,; and (B) you can't destroy a small cell-based organization using conventional and standard military maneuvers. We showed that to the British 226 years ago, the Viet Cong reminded us of it 30 years ago, and the Bajorans are gonna make a note of it to the Cardassians in about 350 years.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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if "I just was yelled at and made to leave by Emily and Gretchen" is so, then you have just learned something about your OWN social and political situation, and your OWN 'high horse.'
Registered: Mar 1999
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Actually, we DO have these sorts of services, Shik.
Veteran's Day / Armistice Daty Memorial Day Remembrance Day (Canada) I'm pretty sure most of the other countries represented on this board have similar days. I KNOW the Japanese have one for the nuking of Hiroshima.
It just happens that Sept 11th, for the time being, is a NEW day.
It is unlike any other remembrance day, because on THIS day, it was not just a military target, full of soldiers, which was destroyed, but planes and building filled with civilians. Women, old folks, and children. All at once.
And another thing.. the Afghanis aren't the only ones who learned from Vietnam. "Standard" maneuvers now aren't what "standard" used to be. All hail the tunnel dogs.
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
Yeah, but they're off-hand ones. memorial Day is merely a 3-day weekend, as is Veterans' Day. I mean things like all of this shit. Where's my slow-mo picture montage of Scobee & Onizuka? Where's my "Amazing Grace" backdrop to Isaac Kidd? Where's my moving reenactment of the boxcar in France?
Death by nostalgia.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Yeah, make it a holiday, then in fifty to a hundred years they can ask the kids why we have that holiday, and the fucking kids won't know.... This past 4th they, the news, asked a bunch of people why we celibrated that day... Few got the right answer, which, everyone knows, was of our rebellion.....
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Today already is Patriots Day, or Patriot's Day, or some variation thereof. But just today, September 11, 2002.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
Still seemed like it was almost yesterday, I know it's a dumb cliche, but it just doesn't feel like it's already been a year yet.
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
"They said last time they had a leader calling for war so voraciously was the 1930s. Yes, they compared Bush to that guy
"FDR, or Churchill?"
Wild guess here, but I think he may have been talking about the other side. I don't think Roosevelt and Churchill were calling for war in the '30s (barring Sep. '39, but that was more a declaration than a "calling").
Registered: Mar 1999
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