Today's the day I remember why I hate mindless patriotism.

[frannyan]

It's that day again where people pull out their fake patriotism and pretend that it was Pearl Harbor for the next generation. How about a moment of silence for those people who's memories have been used to start war, a moment for the possibility for world peace that was passed by in favor of aggression, a moment for those who have died in a misdirected attack fueled by battered car flags and a misbegotten notion that disregarding the constitution, and personal freedoms is patriotism.

It infuriates me. The damage that was done in the name of 9/11 was larger than the damage done on that day. For a breif moment in time, the entire world reached out a hand. For one short period of time, the shock of such a slaughter, such a publicized slaughter in a first world country, reached across barriers and opened the channels for a strong alliance based on condemnation of such a horrible act. For a few days... it seemed as if world peace was a possibility. Countries that were enemies seemed willing to talk, to console.

And then, little by little, that openness was chipped away by arrogance, hate, the hunger for power and ego. Unilateral action, denial of personal rights and freedoms, the condemnation of speaking out, rallying in the name of fear and hate...

Phone taps. Racial profiling. Holding prisoners without due process. Torture. So much more, all in the name of 9/11.

I remember being in a parking lot on campus and seeing all the battered, faded, torn and shredded car flags. The faded, yellowed, sun-wash flags torn from the newspapers, hung in the windows of the dorms.

It was symbolic, really. A symbol of a strong country that used to stand for freedom and liberty, battered in the name of patriotism.


Yes, I was terrified the morning of 9/11. Yes, I called every person I knew who was in the area of NYC. Yes, I panicked. The sky, free of vapor trails, silent from air traffic was bizarre and surreal and I watched more news that day than I ever had in my life.

But that doesn't mean a goddamned thing.

Comments

[azurite]

I'll be perfectly honest, I don't think world peace was something on anyone's mind post 9/11. Other countries may have reached out to the U.S. in sympathy, but "world peace" doesn't mean "first world countries with nukes all getting along." It means everyone, everywhere, and post-9/11, a lot of people in countries around the world were CELEBRATING. They were glad Americans -heathens, capitalists- had died, and they celebrated the act of the terrorists that brought down the World Trade Centers.

How can you call that a possibility for world peace? There won't be one, not until there's some semblance of acceptance among peoples--not just of different cultures, but within our own country. We can't talk about peace and acceptance when we have laws discriminating against our own citizens.

Don't get me wrong, I think the war is wrong, racial profiling, phone taps, prisoners held without due process, and torture are all wrong, but realistically, after 9/11, world peace wasn't a blip on anyone's radar. Not unless the U.S. renounced everything that makes America what it is, for better or for worse. The U.S. as a country will never do that. Call it misguided patriotism or what-have-you, but that is how I feel about it. Hopefully I haven't misworded anything too badly here, though.

[frannyan.livejournal.com]

There was a breif period of time where pretty much every government, including ones we basically were at undeclared war at, offered at the very least a symbolic hand of friendship and aid.

There will always be dissenting groups, just like there will always be a KKK or religious fanatics in the US, but they don't (often) make up the government of a country.