some 9/11 thoughts

So, today is September 11th. “9/11”, twelve years after THE “9/11”. 

I haven’t really done any serious reading about it, not this year nor in previous years. But I have seen a lot of folks posting comments and pictures commemorating the event. Facebook posts about “where I was when I heard twelve years ago” and inspirational “never forget” type pictures. Well, it seems to me that “not forgetting” isn’t the same as actively remembering, and it’s definitely not the same as pondering and questioning and looking for answers.

What is it that we’re “not forgetting”? That we’re America and how shocked and afraid we were that someone hurt us in our own home? That we went to war in “the wrong country” for dubious reasons? ‘Cause I haven’t seen anyone post about that stuff. It’s generally about the people who were killed and the brave first responders.

Yes, those things are worth remembering. But the much more important issue, I should think, is why did this happen? And I don’t mean “why was there a failure in our national intelligence agencies?” I mean “what is it that drove these people to attack us?” Clearly those people thought they had some justification.

Again, I haven’t really looked into this, watched documentaries or whatever. But generally the only casual talk about why this happened that I hear is that they hate us, they hate our freedom, they hate our way of life and want to destroy it.

I don’t know about that, but I’m sure, there’s at least some religious aspect: that we don’t share their religion and should be punished; we’re not a conservatively moral society, despite the supposed “Christian” faith of a majority of people in this country (Is that true? I haven’t looked it up, but it feels true. Of course, I do live in the South, so…) and should be punished.

But I think it’s probably more about the political and cultural pressure we exert around the world. That we want people to be like us…sort of. Or, maybe it’s just that we want the rest of the world to do what we say. So we prop up some governments that we think will help us maintain a status quo where we get what we want, and we work to overthrow governments that don’t. We go to war and turn innocent people into combatants by treating them like combatants. (We do that here at home, too…with police in inner cities and at economic protests.)

Yes, yes, this is all just knee-jerk liberal clap-trap, and I don’t understand how things are out there in the real world. BUT…

Why are we as a society not asking these questions? Why do we wrap ourselves up in an American-flag-shaped complacency when it comes to examining who we are and how we live? Way too many people seem dissatisfied, even if they don’t know why, for us to sweep these questions under the carpet.

The way we live is not good for people. It’s good for government and big business, but not for people. Sure, it’s great for some people but not “the people”. We need to change things.