Disastrous Atrocity

Filed under:9/11,Need a Good Editor?,Sad — posted by Anwyn on May 31, 2011 @ 12:03 pm

September 11 is listed in the “Major Disasters” section, subheading “Aircraft Disasters,” of son’s new almanac. It is the only hijacking in the list–the rest are accidents–and the phrasing is poor: “Two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, one went down in a PA field.” No, Almanac editors, the planes didn’t crash; they were deliberately flown into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The one in the PA field did crash, and it’s due only to the heroism of the doomed passengers who did not allow it deliberately to be flown into yet another important American building full of people. I do not understand people who still insist on avoiding calling 9/11 what it was: an atrocity. It was not a tragedy, as many news outlets and politicians have called it. It was a disaster, as the Almanac calls it, but that does not give its true character: It was a cold-bloodedly planned, determinedly executed mass murder-suicide.

I hadn’t before said anything to my son about 9/11. He’s only seven and it happened before he was born. But he likes to read to us the lists of events and cool facts in his almanac. It really gave me a jar to hear it in a list of accidents consigned to history. Unprepared, I ended up giving him the nutshell on what happened, including the heroism of the Flight 93 passengers, but I couldn’t do it without tearing up. He listened intently, but next time he wanted to read the list to us, he sternly warned me not to repeat the story of 9/11 and not to cry. He then omitted it from the list, because the fun, for him, was quizzing us on “What happened?” in each particular disaster, and he didn’t want to hear the painful story of 9/11 again. At least he grasped that there was something different about that one.

I Do Not Forget

Filed under:9/11 — posted by Anwyn on September 11, 2010 @ 8:32 pm

Never forget, and figure out how you’re going to explain the memory.

Never Forget Before It’s Time to Remember

Filed under:9/11 — posted by Anwyn on September 11, 2009 @ 10:27 am

And never go soft on the ones who did it and all of their partners in heinous murder.

RIP, Mr. Kelley, your coworkers, airline pilots and passengers, firefighters and police.

I have one of those “amazed at obvious, mundane stuff” moments when I consider how many children have been born since 9/11 who have no clue yet and who won’t have to for some years to come, when they’re learning about the attack as history. My father was born seven years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I wonder how old he was before he learned about it? My own child was born two years after 9/11, and I feel a sense of relief for his kindergarten teacher that she won’t have to be the one to try to tell her classes about it.

Never forget, for sometime you will need to talk about it with your children and help them understand sufficiently but not excessively. There is not much call for making them feel the shock and the tears I felt as I watched a tower burn and crumble on TV, but they will need to understand what some people are capable of. Eventually. But thank God, not today, for them. Only for those of us who were alive and aware–who remember, as they never will. Never forget, because as a limited number of people who remember, we’re called upon to do so.

I Love These Lights

Filed under:9/11 — posted by Anwyn on September 4, 2009 @ 11:09 pm

But that fact notwithstanding, it’s shameful that eight years after the fact, we still have only lights. It is dishonorable to those who were killed and to the governing bodies involved that they have not yet been able to agree on an appropriate plan and build it. On the other hand, I’d rather we have lights forever than have anything that smacks of either submission, guilt, or shame-facedness. I still have a soft spot for the new WTC 7:

Never Forget

Filed under:9/11 — posted by Anwyn on September 11, 2008 @ 9:43 am

I’ll never forget.

Is This Headline a Joke?

Filed under:9/11,Need a Good Editor?,Politics — posted by Anwyn on October 29, 2007 @ 11:02 am

Worrying about “the Americans” more than “the importance of avoiding a Muslim backlash” in the wake of 9/11 is taken as evidence of “Tony Blair’s Corrosive Allegiance to George Bush Laid Bare for the First Time.” If the authors of the book being excerpted don’t have any stronger tea up their sleeves than that … zzz. The cognitive dissonance is pretty stunning, as well:

Blair followed the call by sending Bush a five-page memo, outlining his thoughts. (“His memo is a lot better than yours,” Bush would tease his staff. “That’s why I listen to him.”)

Blair argued the Taliban regime should be given an ultimatum: hand over Bin Laden or face attack.

He also argued that restarting the Middle East peace process should be a priority.

Finally, he stressed the cancer was not confined to Afghanistan, nor indeed Al Qaeda.

They would have to act against all who financed or supported terrorism.

Blair thought those things himself? Wrote a memo to Bush on the subject? Instead of allowing Bush to lead him around by the ring in his nose? Huh. I could’ve sworn the headline said …

The “sense being communicated by the US”, Campbell wrote later, was “that they were constantly trying to link Iraq into the equation. TB was keen to pull it back”.

Tony Blair was not all that gung-ho to get into Iraq? I don’t know, man … the headline sure said …

It is to laugh. Really.

Got it from Allah’s headlines. Of course.

“I Think You’d Be Better Off Talkin’ About This Movie”

Filed under:9/11,Jerks,Sad — posted by Anwyn on September 14, 2007 @ 5:51 pm

James Brolin blithely put his foot all the way into it and seemed in no hurry to try to retract it when he wished radio hosts “Happy 9/11” on Tuesday. As AP says, he does indeed exhibit stunning stupidity, along with gracelessness, tactlessness, and uselessness, but I think he was also getting a lot of pleasure out of yanking chains. Over 9/11. Prig Prick.

I Honor the Memory

Filed under:9/11 — posted by Anwyn on September 11, 2007 @ 10:34 pm

Never forget.

How Will You Spend 9/11?

Filed under:9/11,Religion — posted by Anwyn on September 8, 2007 @ 12:04 am

I will be going about my usual life, with some thoughts of those who were killed in the horrendous attack and some thoughts for those who are working to dispel lies.

What I will not be doing is going over to Bilal Mosque, the same folks who sent their friendly neighborhood outreach representative to my church, for an “open house” that my church invites us to attend in our latest newsletter.

On Behalf of Bilal Mosque, we would like to invite you all to our sixth annual 9/11 commemoration and open house at Bilal Mosque. We started this open house right after 9-11 mostly to answer questions on Islam and related issues.

Since then it has become a yearly ritual. We hope our friends, neighbors, any one who is interested — will drop by, share some food, ask questions, have a dialogue, pray for peace and justice and generally get to know one another.

I get the feeling it’s time to start church shopping. Or maybe just become one of those “spiritual, but not religious” people I keep reading about.

Truthers Begone

Filed under:9/11 — posted by Anwyn on September 7, 2007 @ 11:52 am

Karol is organizing people to counteract the treacherous lies of the Truther crowd, who actually have the gall to go down to Ground Zero on 9/11 to try to tell the families of victims, or anybody who will give them two seconds to start their spiel, their trashcan 9/11 religious beliefs. I wish I were in New York to participate in this.

I was preparing to link back to several of AllahP’s old posts when the Truthers first began to rear their ugly, malevolent heads when I realized the videos in all three of them, YouTube all, are “no longer available.”

I really wonder why.

Surely You’re Joking, Mister See-Dub

Filed under:9/11,Not Cool,Priorities — posted by Anwyn on August 10, 2007 @ 7:56 am

Why the devil have we been taking our shoes off all these years, then?

Update: And then there are the days when I wonder why terrorists haven’t simply started buying up flight attendants by the dozen. It seems to be a fertile field:

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A flight attendant appeared in court Monday to answer charges she was drinking alcohol on the job and told a captain “You’re dead” as she was removed from the plane.

All things considered I’d rather have them threatening the captain and getting themselves tossed off the plane rather than throwing their weight around to toss off the passengers.

H/t: “Unsupported Content Type” Ace.

Listen to the Big A

Filed under:9/11,It's the Jihad — posted by Anwyn on July 16, 2007 @ 11:32 pm

“Exit question: How much of [$750 million in U.S. aid to Pakistan] is going to end up buying weapons for Osama?”

Girl from Indiana

Filed under:9/11,Cool — posted by Anwyn on June 21, 2007 @ 10:07 pm

I heart Purdue University.

Via Fark.


next page


image: detail of installation by Bronwyn Lace