I was sitting here watching the 9/11 service and when they rung the bell
at 9:03, I had to turn it off.
I remember seeing the second one hit, dumbfounded, blankly thinking that
this was a hoax or that this needed a soundtrack and Bruce Willis (so
did Andrei Codrescu).
I also remember being up late nights, keeping a lot of folks company on
IM who were still staying below 15th St.
And in my own context, I lost a cousin in Oklahoma City, and was part of
the Katrina disaster, as my home in Baton Rouge was in the extended path
of the whole thing, and suffered little damage, unlike so many of my
friends, whom we housed through the Fall.
But, when I watched the observance, I was in a double bind. While on
one hand, the event was horrendous and deserves remembrance, the problem
is that it will undoubtedly be used by the Bush Administration and
American Media Culture once again as a justification for its own
irresponsibility, and for that, I feel that perhaps some other form of
commemoration would be in order. One that would maintain the gravitas
of the event without the maudlin faux patriotism that actually reduces
it to an ad for little silver coins with pop-up WTC effigies.
Today, I'm not thrilled, and am set with even more resolve to vote these
idiots out of office… The DHS and TSA are paper tigers that let
people think that they are somehow safer, but are band-aids for the
severed limb of social injustice in/by the US. The war has more to do
with the Project for the American Century and the Bush/Hussein feud than
Al Qaeda or even oil. In the power vacuum created by the fall of the
USSR, it is the US who have taken on the role of imperial power.
I guess I'd like to make my simple and possibly naive plea- Less bombs
and guns, more education, outreach, health care, food and housing here
and abroad. Either way, some people will lose their lives at this
point, but would it be better to have it happen while giving someone a
meal, or by detaining someone at a checkpoint? I'll support 115,000
Peace Corps in Iraq…
Sorry if I'm naive, but I'm speaking from my gut today.
Patrick Lichty
- Interactive Arts & Media
Columbia College, Chicago
- Editor-In-Chief
Intelligent Agent Magazine
http://www.intelligentagent.com
225 288 5813
[email protected]
"It is better to die on your feet
than to live on your knees."
A Polemic - In protest of 9/11 rememberance.
-
Type: discussion
Comments
>Sorry if I'm naive, but I'm speaking from my gut today.
You are not naive - just somone who values and respects humanity and not
just rich Americans alone, as the corporate led Administration so
clearly does.
The value of life around the world has been demoted, made more
disposable by an extremely elite group of people who should be arrested
and put to trial as soon possible, before they do any more damage to all
of our lives…
My take on rememberance - is that all the lives lost since 9/11 should
be acknowledged equally.
marc
>I was sitting here watching the 9/11 service and when they rung the bell
>at 9:03, I had to turn it off.
>
>I remember seeing the second one hit, dumbfounded, blankly thinking that
>this was a hoax or that this needed a soundtrack and Bruce Willis (so
>did Andrei Codrescu).
>
>I also remember being up late nights, keeping a lot of folks company on
>IM who were still staying below 15th St.
>
>And in my own context, I lost a cousin in Oklahoma City, and was part of
>the Katrina disaster, as my home in Baton Rouge was in the extended path
>of the whole thing, and suffered little damage, unlike so many of my
>friends, whom we housed through the Fall.
>
>But, when I watched the observance, I was in a double bind. While on
>one hand, the event was horrendous and deserves remembrance, the problem
>is that it will undoubtedly be used by the Bush Administration and
>American Media Culture once again as a justification for its own
>irresponsibility, and for that, I feel that perhaps some other form of
>commemoration would be in order. One that would maintain the gravitas
>of the event without the maudlin faux patriotism that actually reduces
>it to an ad for little silver coins with pop-up WTC effigies.
>
>
>Today, I'm not thrilled, and am set with even more resolve to vote these
>idiots out of office… The DHS and TSA are paper tigers that let
>people think that they are somehow safer, but are band-aids for the
>severed limb of social injustice in/by the US. The war has more to do
>with the Project for the American Century and the Bush/Hussein feud than
>Al Qaeda or even oil. In the power vacuum created by the fall of the
>USSR, it is the US who have taken on the role of imperial power.
>
>I guess I'd like to make my simple and possibly naive plea- Less bombs
>and guns, more education, outreach, health care, food and housing here
>and abroad. Either way, some people will lose their lives at this
>point, but would it be better to have it happen while giving someone a
>meal, or by detaining someone at a checkpoint? I'll support 115,000
>Peace Corps in Iraq…
>
>Sorry if I'm naive, but I'm speaking from my gut today.
>
>
>Patrick Lichty
>- Interactive Arts & Media
> Columbia College, Chicago
>- Editor-In-Chief
> Intelligent Agent Magazine
>http://www.intelligentagent.com
>225 288 5813
>[email protected]
>
>"It is better to die on your feet
>than to live on your knees."
>
>
>
>
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