September 14, 2009
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My Thoughts on 9/11
I've been holding back and I thought I would share my thoughts on the tragic event. I wanted to see what other people typed. There were some fitting tributes and some that quite frankly made me want to jump through the intertubes and kick people in the junk.
Let those images sink in for a moment.
They are so stirring and yet one is so false it makes my blood boil, yet a movement in America uses it for proof of a conspiracy. The events of September 11th, 2001 stirred a nation. In a sense they woke us to what the rest of the world had been enduring during the latter half of the 20th century. Fear of terrorist attacks had finally came to America.
Everyone this weekend seemed to ask the same question: Where were you? Sometimes I feel embarrassed about where I was and at other times I feel great because I did not let the terrorists win. The night prior to the attacks, I was in the bar. It was Monday Night Football and a friend of mine was bartending. He said, "Hey Wurm, come down to the bar tonight, we got the big screen, free food, and if you slip me a fin, I'll give you all you can drink." How could I resist? I was a college student and $5 for all I could drink was a deal. The Giants and the Bronocs played and I could care less. I was having a blast with a few friends. I didn't have to worry about classes because my first class the next day was at 11. I had my dorm room to myself because my roommate was student teaching. I had a great sleep. The bad thing was that I woke up later than I expected. My school had chapel at 10:15 and I woke up at 10. Now, it wasn't mandatory chapel but if a teacher spotted you or checked your dorm room then you would get a stern lecture about wasting worship opportunities. I took an Irish shower and made my way to chapel. I saw my friend Dick and he looked horrible. I asked what was going on.
"Planes....flying into buildings...America's at war."
"Shut up, Dick."
"Fuck you, I'm serious."
I shut up and we walked to chapel. Everyone was talking about it. What was I missing? I don't remember anything the chapel speaker said. Then the dean of the school went up on stage and started talking about what was happening and that school would not be canceled. After he dismissed us I headed to my class, a history course on the American Civil War. The teacher came in, filled with tears, and said that he could not lecture today and that we were to go pray for our citizens. A couple of my classmates and I headed for the cafeteria. We got our food and sat down and began discussing what was transpiring. They asked "Did you see it, Wurm?" No, I was sleeping. Then the cafeteria works turned on the overhead speaker system because the President was speaking. There were people laughing and joking and I clearly remember my friend Joel scream, "SHUT THE HELL UP!" We couldn't finish our meal. I went to my mailbox not knowing what to do. The student union was packed. I swear there were more people in that place than for some of our basketball games. I saw the aftermath and then walked back to the class building. I noticed that my afternoon class was canceled. When I got back to my dorm room I turned on the tv and tried calling home. The phone lines were down. Then I heard a guy shouting in the hall, "GO GET GAS! MY MOM SAID IN MICHIGAN IT JUMPED TO $7 A GALLON!" I knew I needed gas so I got out and went and waited about 30 minutes. After I filled up the gas jumped to $2 a gallon. I finally got in contact with my parents. Even though they were nowhere near New York or Pennsylvania or D.C., it was a relief to hear from them. They said the gas station in their small town was selling gas for $11 a gallon.Later that night a group of friends and I went out to the bar....Joel, Dick, Croatian Sensation, Oaf, Baldy, Nelrod, Pringle, Pakdam, Tomzack, Bode...yeah they were all there. We listened as Bush addressed the nation and not an eye was dry when he quoted Psalm 23.
Anyway that was my day.
What I have not enjoyed about 9/11 have been two responses. One is the blind "patriotism" following of the government. That "you're either with us or you're with the terrorists", forced flag-waving mentality. There is something for bringing those that planned this attack to justice but going after a country that had nothing to do with the attack is another. I remember sitting in church and hearing prayers about how we want to bring those responsible to justice and asking God to punish the terrorists. It reminded me of my favorite writing by Mark Twain, "The War Prayer".
You have to think, when you ask God for a decided victory, there is a prayer that you are praying that remains silent. You are praying that other people be maimed and killed.
The other response that sickens me is what people call the Truth Movement. What do they want? The truth about the 9/11 attacks. Sure, I'll concede that there are things that would be interesting to know but then I think of all the videos that were confiscated and agreed in doing so because I could see people selling those videos to make a profit from these tragic events. One thing I have heard people say is that they want the truth but when asked what good will the truth do, they have no answer. Will knowing 100% benefit society? Or will it just make you want more and more and more? You can post all the youtube videos that you want, it's not going to make you seem like a scholar. Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it's the TRUTH. I have this website that says that the city of Mankato, MN is encased in a dome and the temperature is a constant 76F. The same website also says that Mankato was the site of a secret Nazi submarine factory and has excellent whale watching and boasts underground pyramids and hot springs. Then there is a video from The Onion that people claim is evidence that the government was behind 9/11 because they want to inter Americans in re-education camps. How fucking dumb are you? You claim that you want the truth so the victims can rest in peace. Your meddling is blocking that from happening. Why don't you go expose a story that the moon landing was a hoax? Oh wait, you already posted a few youtube videos about that. Thank you, your scholarship and ability to embed videos is astounding.
So you want truth? What will it give us? Why don't you jsut admit you want to see the government fail? You don't want government because you are one of these so-called Libertarians who doesn't like government interfering in the lives of citizens. You can have that. Move to Somalia. You'll love it. They have no central functioning government. Of course you may have to deal with pirates and all sorts of other evil doers but at least you will be free of government.
I ran into a truth movement person on Saturday. They were having a protest in my small town. Three people showed up. I asked my questions that I have asked here and they had no answer. They made a lame excuse that said they didn't ever want to forget those events. Then I replied with this:
"Knock, knock"
"Who's there?"
"9/11."
"9/11 who?"
"I thought you said you would never forget."I am being mean to the Truth Movement but I am going to help you. Yes, in my Christian nature, I will lend you a hand and point you in the direction that you should look where to lay blame for the tragic events of 9/11. OK...sigh...here it goes....the mastermind of the attacks was.....Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco.
You don't believe me. Well I don't have a youtube video to post but I have researched this plenty so I consider myself a scholar on this subject just like everyone who claims to be a demolition expert in light of 9/11.
So the band wrote this album and in fact Jeff Tweedy penned this song, Jesus Etc.
LISTEN! IT'S RIGHT THERE!
Tall buildings shake
Voices escape singing sad sad songs
Tuned to chords strung down your cheeks
Bitter melodies turning your orbit around
Voices whine
Skyscrapers are scraping together
Your voice is smoking
Last cigarettes are all you can get
Turning your orbit around
I mean how can you not hear it. They wrote most of that material in late 2000/ early 2001. They even had the audacity to originally plan to release the album on September 11th of 2001. Want more proof? Here's the cover to their album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot:
SEE! Even though the two towers featured on the album cover are Marina City in Chicago, it bears such a striking resemblance to the World Trade Center. I think Jeff Tweedy masterminded the attacks to get back at AOL/ Time Warner because of how they mismanaged their contract.
Yeah, Jeff, you keep playing that guitar. I know the truth.
So I will remember 9/11 but I am not going to go out and attack people because they are of the Muslim religion or have brown skin nor will I purpose asinine conspiracies where there are none necessary.
In loving memory of all who suffered and died in the attacks perpetrated against America on September 11th, 2001.
Comments (38)
a stirring post, sir.
though i have to say, i do identify with the libertarians more than any other political party...but i do recognize (and even appreciate) the value of a stable federal government and even more so, the rule of law. i love the language, what can i say?
@BranmacFeabhail -
And now I feel like a dick. I guess I should have been more specific in my naming of the Libertarians. They are the ones that are more like anarchists but use Libertarian because there is such negative connotation with anarchy.
Interesting image of that shocking day. And you're right: the conspiracy theories are pointless... but they are natural. The unthinkable happened. People just want to understand the reasons to take charge of them and lay the blame in order to stop those involved from doing more damage. It makes them feel less helpless. And there WERE reasons and there WERE individuals responsible. That shouldn't be ignored. Can't be ignored. It's just important not to get carried away and, as a society, go about acting like paranoid schzophrenics - which is, afterall, the aim of terrorism. Paranoia destabilizes.
You were a seminary student? Are you a priest or something? You never struck me as one.
I'm glad I saw this today. This is a terrific post about that horrible day and actually does some good. Truth? You can't handle the truth!!! - the dicks making up all of the conspiracy theories are bananas. Oh, the knock knock joke made me snork beer out my nose again - you bugger. You always get me!
Terrific post man. Well done.
@godfatherofgreenbay -
oh no worries, i'm not so quick to take offense as all that.
I'm glad to know you won't be attacking people with brown skin! Hehe.
On a serious note, this is a beautiful post.
This post is most definitely different from others 09/11 posts.
Amazing post, sir. Well done.
I'm sick of the conspiracy theories being thrown around like a ball. It's crazy and pathetic and, above all, useless. Like you said. The truth won't bring back those who died, will it? *sigh*
I liked your post.
Oh, and I loved the Jeff Tweedy part. Nicely done.
Nah... we should blame the writers of the show "The Lone Gunman". They had a show (I believe it was the pilot episode, if I'm not mistaken) where our heroes are on a plane destined to be flown - by the US Government - into the Towers, in typical X-Files/Lone Gunman conspiracy fashion. I don't remember the reason, something to do with throwing the country into chaos and securing more control I think, but it was so close to what happened on 9/11 (minus the government conspiracy) that it was pretty eerie.
EXCELLENT, excellent, excellent post. I love your writting, you are brilliant. Thank you!
Um I'd like to point out that most libertarians HATE the truther movemet! Glenn Beck is a libertarian and he was the on who exposed Van Jones as a truther! Libertarians don't want no government they want less control such as no czars and the end of most social programs. And Libertarians have played a big part in the tax tea parties(yes that's righ it's not just a republican thing)
You can read more on the platform here:
http://www.lp.org/platform
the war prayer! yes!
we studied this in my u.s. history class. very significant. nice reference.
Great, great post. I'm glad to see your reference to Mark Twain's War Poem. I wish more people could read it or listen to it. I agree that the reaction of "Let's construct an enemy so we have something to attack." Alas, the enemy really is us. (Pogo) I don't want to sound cold hearted as I truly do regret the loss of innocent lives. But I, for one, was not surprised at the attack. Maybe the timing and the manner, but not the fact of an attack. It was because of our arrogance and beligerance. And after Bush went charging ahead full throttle, we became even more arrogant and beligerant in the eyes of the rest of the world. So with all of the "National Security" measures, I felt more unsafe afterwards than I did on Sept 11.
Many people will claim that 9/11 was their watershed experience. To me, my watershed experience was the day we invaded Iraq with our shock and awe bombs killing over 100,000 innocent people. I had a wilderness experience to try to do some root cause analysis of how our country allowed this to happen (especially just a couple of weeks after over 5 MILLION people were all in the streets on the same day (largest demonstration in history) all saying the same thing - NOT NOW). I came away that our society was lacking in four things: critical analysis, empathy, ethics/justice, and conflict management. You hit on these very well yourself. We are definitely in accord.
Thanks.
@Ampbreia -
I have come to the belief that part of the reason why the government did so much to seal record shut was that they wanted to create conspiracies and make the masses fearful of what they were willing to do to their own people. Maybe that is way off but to me that is more logical than some.
Yes, I studied for the ministry in a teaching compacity. I was an ordained minister and a licensed teacher. I taught high school religion and also 5th and 6th grade at a religious elementary school. I wasn't married so I took a vow of celibacy.
@dikdoktor -
Sorry to make you waste your beer. I feel ashamed. Oh and I wanted to quote that "You can't handle the truth".
@Bricker59 -
Thank you very much.
@Drizzles -
Thank you!
@RestlessButterfly -
I wanted it to be that way. I only was reading about how we have to fight other nations or how the government blew up the building via remote control. It was really eating away at me so I took a different route.
@OhItWontBeForever -
Thank you. I dislike when people say they are exposing all these conspiracies because that honors the dead. Honestly I don't know if the dead care that they are trying to bring down the government by posting videos.
I was speechless the first time I heard that song and looked at the album cover. Maybe this can be our generation's music hoax like the previous generation had the Paul is Dead hoax.
@ithiliya -
Oh man that show was crazy. I vaguely remember it but not so much the episode you are talking about. Maybe 9/11 could also be blamed on Sam Byck. He planned on hijacking an airliner and flying it into the White House to kill Nixon. Sean Penn starred in a movie about this called The Assassination of Richard Nixon. Or we could blame Frank Corder who got coked up and tried to fly his single engine cessna into the white house to kill Bill Clinton but he crashed on the lawn and the Clintons weren't home. I can't remember that one and that was one of three attempts on his life.
@OBSESSiVE_BEAUTiES -
Aw...thank you very much.
@sick_of_dreams -
Well I guess the Libertarians that I read here on Xanga need to read the stance of the party instead of posting how they want to government to come down.
@valeriexoxjoleen -
I had a professor in college that would assign The War Prayer in every class he taught. I had him for at least 4 classes and we read it in all four classes. I think it is my favorite of Twain's writings.
@curiousdwk -
I think we created more terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan than the terrorists on 9/11 created. I think for every terrorists our military kills, we create two more.
I once had my car searched because I matched a suspicious vehicle and I was driving near a military base. I was livid. They didn't even bother putting things back. There I stood packing my clothes into my suitcase after the police and agents left to search another vehicle. All in the name of patriotism.
It is pretty scary stuff!
Regarding your comment to me about the search (and destroy?) mission of your car. There is a great price that we pay for hyper-vigilism. And yet we act as if there were no price. (No price is too great for "freedom".) Yet I contend that the Soviet Union did not fall because of the great work of Reagan, but because of their own economic implosion - mostly because of defense spending. And we are just as susceptible to an economic implosion because of our misplaced priorities and non-concern of true costs. (Not to say the emotional cost of hyper-vigilism.) If we don't re-set our value system and be more skilled in true cost/benefit analysis of decisions (or lack of decisions) I am afraid of the consequences.
@godfatherofgreenbay - Didn't see the Sean Penn movie, and I barely remember the plane crashing into the lawn attempt on Clintons' lives. But yeah, good point
The Lone Gunman episode was just strange because it was like they wrote the conspiracy theory before the trigger event even happened!!!!
By the way, to jump into the whole Libertarian thing, I think a ton of borderline anarchists latch onto the Libertarian groove because it gives them some sort of legitimacy. "Anarchist" makes you sound like you have a mohawk and spend your days spray-painting cars and breaking shop windows. "Libertarian" sounds so... colonial patriot
That said, Glenn Beck is no Libertarian. He, like the anarchists, is just riding their coattails for the air of legitimacy. He's a raving f'in lunatic, with a possible emotional disorder (or really good acting skills), who only rails against taxes and "big government" when he doesn't like the person in power. Just like every other talking head out there, left or right.
@godfatherofgreenbay - I agree. Most people confuse libertarian with anarchist. It really irks me that they claim to be libertarian with out participating in the party at all, or at the very least stopping to check the party platform!
@curiousdwk -
That is so true. I despise when people say that Reagan was responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union. It's like they give him supernatural powers and forget the blunders of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan not to mention all the other states that were fighting for their freedom i.e. Lithuania and other Baltic states. I still think that Americans will see our failure in Afghanistan and place the responsibility upon Obama failing to remember that Bush got us quagmired in the region with his cowboy-esque bullying. Why did we have soldiers guarding oil pipelines that were from companies which had massive amounts of stock owned by Bush and his cabinet members? Why were our soldiers deployed to Afghanistan to guard opium fields? Why were we doing everything possible not to find Osama bin Laden? Oh I am starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist.
@ithiliya -
I love teh clips of Beck playing with dollhouses and then crying about 9/11 and then a little while later screaming about how he hates the families of the victims of 9/11 and then promoting his 9/12 project...I can't stand the guy.
@godfatherofgreenbay - *shivers* Ugh, you had to remind me. I swear if I see one more clip of his teary mug I'm going to start a movement of my own... towards the nearest gun shop.
I seriously don't get the 9/12 project. What a bunch of overemotional malarchy. You're gathering a bunch of people to remember how they felt the day after 9/11? I'm assuming he means besides "terrified", "confused", "uncertain", and "angry". So great, everyone gathers and remembers how people worked together and gained perspective in the face of tragedy... and then what? Hold a bake sale? Paint over graffiti? Clean up an urban park? What's the point?
@godfatherofgreenbay - Are you still in the ministry? The words and pictures you post don't seem all the priestly... unless you're a priest frustrated and rebelling against those vows of chasity and such.
Sometimes, when one starts to spout out the facts of our crazy war in Afghanistan and especially Iraq, it's hard NOT to sound like a conspiracy theorist. Or at least hold the belief that these crazy people had hidden agendas.
@Ampbreia -
No I sort of had a falling out of faith and learned to enjoy life for what it is.
@godfatherofgreenbay - Good for you! *HUGS*
@Ampbreia -
Not to say I have completely lost my faith, it's just that I am no longer big into the worldly church. Sure I go and do things but I see all my activities inside the church as a way for me to express my faith and also this may get me sent to hell but sort of as a hobby like to keep my mind clear of stress.
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