![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So a while back? I think sometime in the beginning of August? when the kerfuffle over the OMG OHNOES A MUSLIM CENTER ON GROUND ZERO GET IN THE CAR started to reach full raging force, I popped open semagic and started just ...RANTING about the whole situation. I lost steam halfway through, but saved the entry and put it away thinking I may dust it off later.
I reread it just now, and it wasn't nearly as nonsensical as I thought. A few lapses in logic, a few instances of repetition, but... I don't know. There's enough raw WTF??? present that I think it warrants posting as this year's obligatory 9/11 post. I did a little editing here and there and brought it up to date, but for the most part, left the stream of consciousness feel to it intact.
Dear $restofthecountry, especially You Fear-Mongering Shitferrets (you know who you are),
Everything I could say about this whole clusterfuck regarding That Mosque Which Really Isn't A Mosque On Ground Zero Which Actually Is Nowhere Near It has been more eloquently said by other people. Most recently by this guy (hattip to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nounsandverbs). So I'm not going to get into the particulars of why You People Are Assholes here.
I will say this though. Since 9/11, y'all have taken this tiny chunk of my city (It's still my city even if I haven't lived there for real in a while) where a tragedy of insane proportions occurred and have since used it to further your own agendas. You act like you own the World Trade Center, and by extension New York City and have the right to use it however you see fit, whether it be to sell US flags, start a war in the Middle East, or promote hate against a particular group of people. You also act as if y'all have the right to dictate what can and cannot be placed in that area of this city because y'all have somehow deemed this chunk of bombed out real estate sacred.
This link illustrates how ludicrous that idea is. Where's the outcry over the strip joint? the off track betting? The McDonalds? (I've been to that McDonalds, BTW - for a fast food joint, it's pretty swank). Now granted, you might argue that all of these things were there long before the towers fell (they all were), and that this is putting something new there. But something new gets built in New York every day. If you actually lived there for any length of time, you'd know that.
I'm not saying 9/11 wasn't horrific. No one's arguing that. Some jackass with an agenda meticulously choreographed flying two planes full of people into two of the most prominent features of the New York City skyline (well, at the time...), causing them to collapse. It killed nearly three thousand people, injured many more, and fucked up the city and its residents physically and mentally, not to mention sent shockwaves through the entire country. After the initial shock of the attacks wore off and the entire world stopped getting its kumbayayas out in our favor (might have had something to do with us attacking Iraq), and despite the endless banner waving of NEVER FORGET... we did actually forget. We forgot that what the small group of people actually responsible for bringing down the towers actually wanted to do was cause chaos in this country, and divide us until we start looking at each other as the enemy. Looking at what's going on here politically and socially in the wake of electing a president that doesn't look like what a scarily large portion of the country thinks he should and also looking at the escalating profiling against people of Middle Eastern descent, adherents to Islam and people who look vaguely like either/or, I'd like to point out that it doesn't matter how many troops you send over there, how many weapons of mass destruction you do or do not find... they've gotten into our heads, and there THEY ARE WINNING.
So much for Never Forget, huh?
For that reason I say this, and here's where I'm going to probably lose friends: It was nine years ago. As a country? We need to get over it.
That's right. I said that. Out loud. In a public post.
Why am I saying so? Isn't it true that forgetting the past means we are doomed to repeat it? Aren't we ensuring that by keeping Ground Zero "sacred?" Aren't we honoring the memory of those that died? Ideally yes, that's what a memorial would do, but we aren't doing that. All keeping that wound open is doing is furthering hate, intolerance, and agendas to spread that around the world we still think we control. We need to move on, to heal, to put something new there. Hell, it's already started. Last time I went home they had a good chunk of the new Tower 4 up already. And we need to get over being all frakking butthurt over it. Harsh, I know, but think about it this way, at the end of World War II, the US well nigh wiped out two entire cities in Japan. You can say that's comparing apples to oranges, that since we were at war with Japan those two attacks were justified, blah blah blah. Fuck that noise.
And considering all the shit people who actually embrace Islam as a religion in this country have gotten since 9/11? They need a space to recover and heal as well. Who the hell are we to even think about denying them that?
As a New Yorker (fuck the fact that I live in MA now, once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker), 9/11 still affects me. As it should: that was one of the most terrifying days of my life, even though I was nowhere near the city on that day. A large part of my family lived and worked in the city, a few in the the downtown area even. I had friends in the city as well. All of whom I couldn't reach for days. I had personal emotional ties to those towers, as growing up I'd visit them every Friday with Dad. I and every New Yorker and every person who lost something or someone on that day have every right to still be hung up over it. And seeing what's going on over this Islamic center just pisses me off more in light of that, and all I can say to people protesting it and committing hate crimes in the name of the fallen towers is How Dare You. Way to shit on the memory of every person who died that day, people. You do NOT use a national tragedy as a springboard for hate; down that road lies more and more wars that ultimately we will not win, no matter how much our generals spout rhetoric about successful missions, blah blah blah.
It's 9/11 tomorrow. Lets use the time to heal and love, not divide and hate.
I reread it just now, and it wasn't nearly as nonsensical as I thought. A few lapses in logic, a few instances of repetition, but... I don't know. There's enough raw WTF??? present that I think it warrants posting as this year's obligatory 9/11 post. I did a little editing here and there and brought it up to date, but for the most part, left the stream of consciousness feel to it intact.
Dear $restofthecountry, especially You Fear-Mongering Shitferrets (you know who you are),
Everything I could say about this whole clusterfuck regarding That Mosque Which Really Isn't A Mosque On Ground Zero Which Actually Is Nowhere Near It has been more eloquently said by other people. Most recently by this guy (hattip to
nounsandverbs). So I'm not going to get into the particulars of why You People Are Assholes here.I will say this though. Since 9/11, y'all have taken this tiny chunk of my city (It's still my city even if I haven't lived there for real in a while) where a tragedy of insane proportions occurred and have since used it to further your own agendas. You act like you own the World Trade Center, and by extension New York City and have the right to use it however you see fit, whether it be to sell US flags, start a war in the Middle East, or promote hate against a particular group of people. You also act as if y'all have the right to dictate what can and cannot be placed in that area of this city because y'all have somehow deemed this chunk of bombed out real estate sacred.
This link illustrates how ludicrous that idea is. Where's the outcry over the strip joint? the off track betting? The McDonalds? (I've been to that McDonalds, BTW - for a fast food joint, it's pretty swank). Now granted, you might argue that all of these things were there long before the towers fell (they all were), and that this is putting something new there. But something new gets built in New York every day. If you actually lived there for any length of time, you'd know that.
I'm not saying 9/11 wasn't horrific. No one's arguing that. Some jackass with an agenda meticulously choreographed flying two planes full of people into two of the most prominent features of the New York City skyline (well, at the time...), causing them to collapse. It killed nearly three thousand people, injured many more, and fucked up the city and its residents physically and mentally, not to mention sent shockwaves through the entire country. After the initial shock of the attacks wore off and the entire world stopped getting its kumbayayas out in our favor (might have had something to do with us attacking Iraq), and despite the endless banner waving of NEVER FORGET... we did actually forget. We forgot that what the small group of people actually responsible for bringing down the towers actually wanted to do was cause chaos in this country, and divide us until we start looking at each other as the enemy. Looking at what's going on here politically and socially in the wake of electing a president that doesn't look like what a scarily large portion of the country thinks he should and also looking at the escalating profiling against people of Middle Eastern descent, adherents to Islam and people who look vaguely like either/or, I'd like to point out that it doesn't matter how many troops you send over there, how many weapons of mass destruction you do or do not find... they've gotten into our heads, and there THEY ARE WINNING.
So much for Never Forget, huh?
For that reason I say this, and here's where I'm going to probably lose friends: It was nine years ago. As a country? We need to get over it.
That's right. I said that. Out loud. In a public post.
Why am I saying so? Isn't it true that forgetting the past means we are doomed to repeat it? Aren't we ensuring that by keeping Ground Zero "sacred?" Aren't we honoring the memory of those that died? Ideally yes, that's what a memorial would do, but we aren't doing that. All keeping that wound open is doing is furthering hate, intolerance, and agendas to spread that around the world we still think we control. We need to move on, to heal, to put something new there. Hell, it's already started. Last time I went home they had a good chunk of the new Tower 4 up already. And we need to get over being all frakking butthurt over it. Harsh, I know, but think about it this way, at the end of World War II, the US well nigh wiped out two entire cities in Japan. You can say that's comparing apples to oranges, that since we were at war with Japan those two attacks were justified, blah blah blah. Fuck that noise.
And considering all the shit people who actually embrace Islam as a religion in this country have gotten since 9/11? They need a space to recover and heal as well. Who the hell are we to even think about denying them that?
As a New Yorker (fuck the fact that I live in MA now, once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker), 9/11 still affects me. As it should: that was one of the most terrifying days of my life, even though I was nowhere near the city on that day. A large part of my family lived and worked in the city, a few in the the downtown area even. I had friends in the city as well. All of whom I couldn't reach for days. I had personal emotional ties to those towers, as growing up I'd visit them every Friday with Dad. I and every New Yorker and every person who lost something or someone on that day have every right to still be hung up over it. And seeing what's going on over this Islamic center just pisses me off more in light of that, and all I can say to people protesting it and committing hate crimes in the name of the fallen towers is How Dare You. Way to shit on the memory of every person who died that day, people. You do NOT use a national tragedy as a springboard for hate; down that road lies more and more wars that ultimately we will not win, no matter how much our generals spout rhetoric about successful missions, blah blah blah.
It's 9/11 tomorrow. Lets use the time to heal and love, not divide and hate.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 12:58 pm (UTC)From:I ♥ you on levels that should require chocolate and flowers.
I agree with you, and I've angered a few deeply Xtian friends because of my views.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:18 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:22 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:28 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:02 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:21 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:27 pm (UTC)From:Dude,
1. You aren't from new york, this shit didn't happen to you. shut the fuck up.
2. I'm pretty sure a lot of non radical muslims were injured/killed in the towers falling.
3. gonna burn a holy book fuckers? your burn the koran I burn the fucking bible. Let's play a game of whose the bigger douche bag...I'd win.
and for folks who're like "it happened in America, so it effects us too" no..just fucking no. You can be upset, and want to help support the families of the victims, and support the rebuilding of the WTC, but this Righteous indignation over shit that didn't happen in bum-fuck where ever? fuck you. call me when a plane passes through your 1 story town hall building and we'll fucking talk, otherwise shut the fuck up. assholes.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:30 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:32 pm (UTC)From:sounds like a pest control problem. I recommend extermination.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:36 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:39 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:51 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:44 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:54 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:45 pm (UTC)From:This is pretty much what I was trying to get at (and didn't quite get there). People didn't give a rats ass about New York until 9/11, I kind of resent their interest in it now.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:49 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:51 pm (UTC)From:*COFFEESPEW* Oh that was priceless, Kibble. BRB LOLing forever.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 01:39 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 02:51 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 02:54 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 02:55 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 05:44 pm (UTC)From:I felt cheated because my parents came of age 30 or so years earlier when they could do radical things like take over their university's administration office and print off Doctorate degrees for everybody they wanted because of some bullshit politics in post-secondary education. Aside from the actual things my parents themselves actually did, their entire generation created massive waves of dissent and participation in acts reclaiming their democratic freedoms. But in my young adulthood it was too controversial to say things like "Muslims are not your enemy" and "The United States brought this upon itself". Rather than bringing power to the people, this event brought power to the propaganda that came out of the mouths of politicians and mass media. The message is the same with multiple sets of lips syncing them out.
The reaction started with no time to think, and many sources of public influence still haven't stopped to take a breath, let alone stopped to consider what they're actually saying. History blurs timelines, and if this reaction of intolerance and backlash continues, the terrorism that enacted itself in the form of those people in those planes on that day will appear justified. Things wouldn't have turned out this way if those of us in The West reacted to the event as the tragedy it was, yet still upheld the individual freedoms as the highest priority. No Guantanamo, no No-Fly list, perhaps not even Afghanistan let alone Iraq - and, of more recent importance, no intolerance towards a simple matter of basic freedoms: the freedom of speech, of religion, to assemble, and to make legal and ethical business transactions based simply on the way the economy is designed to work.
The documentary Where in the World is Osama bin Laden? by Morgan Spurlock is worth a viewing around times like this.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 07:10 pm (UTC)From:lack of infrastructure's a bitch, yeah
no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 07:44 pm (UTC)From:THIS is what most people tend to forget..every fucking time they do a shoe bomb/ underwear bomb/ stupid trick bomb they are just fucking with our heads and it does not matter if its real or not now.
I agree that if they just put a memorial plaque and be done with it maybe we could get on with truly rebuilding and healing. Shit does Ireland have a plaque for every bomb site or conflict site? Hell does England or any other country that has been dealing with terrorism on their own land longer than we have? America get over yourself.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 08:56 pm (UTC)From: