tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8972120889629675714.post3567197611213831363..comments2024-02-25T05:24:24.948-05:00Comments on Beyond Easy: The 9/11 post I wish I didn't have to writePatrick Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02410016566636603639noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8972120889629675714.post-6036747233206447312011-09-15T23:22:10.535-04:002011-09-15T23:22:10.535-04:00Yarrum: What about the American character suggests...<b>Yarrum:</b> What about the American character suggests to you that we wouldn't be short-sighted and melodramatic toward just about EVERYTHING?<br /><br /><b>Nookum:</b> Indeed. On 9/12, all the front pages were: "9/11: a look back on the tenth anniversary." Yeccch.<br /><br /><b>Adam:</b> I'm from the New York Metro area, so I can sort of understand why the coverage would be ubiquitous. The day it happened, they let some of us out of class to call our parents on the school phone (this was before mobiles became widespread) to make sure they were still alive. A few of us got some bad news.<br /><br />Still, I don't think it warrants one or two weeks of pre-9/11 anniversary 9/11 anniversary coverage. Especially not on the national level.<br /><br /><b>Matt:</b> "We" is a funny way of putting it, especially since the American public is so disengaged with all the wars we're running. (There's one argument for reinstating the draft -- the American public might actually start giving a shit about our foreign incursions/occupations again.)<br /><br /><b>Jeff:</b> And yet, here we are citing the Gettysburg Address :P<br /><br /><b>J:</b> Pretty much what my grandfather says whenever I ask what happened to him on the shore of Normandy in 1944.<br /><br />No matter how rotten a day or week I'm having, I can always remind myself that I'm not living in Cambodia under Pol Pot. Makes my own petty grievances seem rather shallow and perks me right up.Patrick Rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02410016566636603639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8972120889629675714.post-57491561664534546542011-09-14T05:57:09.410-04:002011-09-14T05:57:09.410-04:00Long-time reader and fan of all things 8EB/Beyond ...Long-time reader and fan of all things 8EB/Beyond Easy, and I thought I'd tell you that not only do I share the sentiment of 9/11 being blown way outta proportion, I went against your advice and looked up some info on the Khmer Rouge.<br /><br />There's this guy that runs a bakery a few blocks away from my house. Real nice guy, easygoing, generous, really talkative. The guy's a Cambodian immigrant in his late thirties/early forties. I once asked him what brought him to the U.S., and he simply gave me a bear claw and a coffee on the house and said "I don't want to talk about it."<br /><br />Really puts this whole 9/11 thing into perspective.<br /><br />(Also, in light of all this talk about WTC, all I gotta say is that you're REALLY gonna enjoy 1984.)Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09978690269819333834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8972120889629675714.post-29745156696914696902011-09-11T15:55:35.963-04:002011-09-11T15:55:35.963-04:00A part of the Gettysburg Address came to mind toda...A part of the Gettysburg Address came to mind today:<br /><br />"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."<br /><br />...So shut up about it.Jeffreyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02069705623123673560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8972120889629675714.post-58931189329445695462011-09-11T11:45:18.212-04:002011-09-11T11:45:18.212-04:00We, as people living in the geo-political designat...We, as people living in the geo-political designation of the United States should commemorate September 11 by ceasing aggression and embracing peace over war, because right now "we" are doing a better job spreading terror with predator drones and depleted uranium than Al Qaeda could ever hope to do.TraitorMagnushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09819247400684258143noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8972120889629675714.post-17098401961006424802011-09-11T10:43:42.082-04:002011-09-11T10:43:42.082-04:00While I might disagree with your sentiment that 9/...While I might disagree with your sentiment that 9/11 was an "insult rather than an injury" everything else we could agree on. I've always lived on the western coast of this country so my entire exposure to 9/11 from the beginning until now has been completely media fed. I've never even been to New York or D.C. Sure I can lament about how the patriot act eroded away my freedoms or that flying became even more a pain in the ass or how ten years of war has turned my country into a very bitter and angry place, but really to me 9/11 is something I saw happen on TV. Moving on did not take anywhere near the amount of effort as those directly impacted by it.<br /><br />What I find interesting is that while the media is drowning us in 9/11 (I am dreading the fact that watching the opening of football season today means it's going to be all over the place), the actual people in my life don't seem to be noticing. Not that people I know don't watch/read the news. Far from it. It's just that by and large people around me aren't talking about it. I found this fascinating and tried to reason why. Has everyone in fact moved on as they should have? Are people burnt out on all the coverage and thus avoiding the topic? Or do people just not care anymore? I don't have a good answer for this one. It might be possible that 9/11 for many people is becoming part of our murky history that everyone knows happened but does not give much thought to even on anniversaries, kind of like V-E day or the Pearl Harbor attack.Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10016188508658731186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8972120889629675714.post-80358254910839832402011-09-11T09:53:55.917-04:002011-09-11T09:53:55.917-04:00And don't forget there's a good amount of ...And don't forget there's a good amount of coin to be made by wallowing in 9-11 nostalgia (nostalgia? Yes I think many are nostalgic about the seeming certainty of that time.) The 24 hour news cycle has a voracious appetite, and the anniversary of 9-11, not to mention the 10th anniversary, probably has dollar signs dancing in the heads of all the major media companies' execs. Hell, I bet even Animal Planet and the Food Network have specials planned :-/nookumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14639689221907180704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8972120889629675714.post-54464594654073070872011-09-11T03:49:35.873-04:002011-09-11T03:49:35.873-04:00Something always bothered me about 9/11 exposure, ...Something always bothered me about 9/11 exposure, and you were very perceptive in your critique. There seems to be an American tendency to be both short-sighted and melodramatic - similar to our glorification of WWII, a conflict that happened entirely abroad with the exception of one attack.<br /><br />Incidentally, I suppose it is a sign of the times that just the *idea* of Google image searching "Vietnam" and "napalm" sent a shiver up my spine. I guess I'm still human.Yarrumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17716281562474789198noreply@blogger.com