Allow me to preface this by saying that I stand to piss a lot of people off in this entry. Bear with me.
Am I the only one who finds it completely bizarre that the Sci-Fi Channel saw it fit to hold a Twilight Zone marathon on September 11th? Since early childhood, Sci-Fi Channel Twilight Zone marathons have been punctuation marks on holidays for me, chiefly Thanksgiving and New Years' Day, but putting such a mark on the greatest national tragedy since the Kennedy Assassination seems inappropriate on the surface, but let's give this a little thought before just calling it blasphemous.
I remember what I was wearing this time seven years ago. What I was wearing isn't important; the fact that, even though what I was wearing and every horrifying detail sticks in my head to this day, I woke up this morning not knowing what day it was until I turned on the television and noticed all these program titles like "America Remembers" or "Remembering Ground Zero" or "Commemorating the Lives of..."
Why is the media so intent on me remembering this? It was a tragedy, it happened, and, as with all tragedies, there is a time to move on, especially beyond the Hallmark card maudlin bullshit CNN tells me is important this time of year. They cart it out like so much funereal tinsel and wave it in my face like nothing else is happening today. The influx of information from all corners of the globe stops "so can remember." Instead of the news ticker, there's a list of a few thousand names. I knew none of these people, and though the circumstances under which they died were tragic, I didn't see a list of Katrina victims in the news ticker on the anniversary of landfall. The fact that we don't commemorate Oklahoma City, plane crashes, major natural disasters, or any other tragedy that has cost American lives with this kind of dirgeful fanfare indicates to me that 9/11 is really just overwhelmingly different. I don't know what to think about all the ostensibly crazy people (sorry, I mean truth-seekers) who say it was a false flag attack by government insiders. Honestly, at this point that's irrelevant. The changes this day has wrought upon the American psyche and cultural landscape can likely never be undone. More than ever our consumer and news cultures are based on sloganeering, sentimentality, sensationalism, and other sibilant-sounding words.
The foundations for this New America were laid this day seven years ago, and laid well. I watched in horror, but not the collapsing towers, oddly enough. I saw Toby Kieth say, when speaking of the terrorists, that we were "going to put a boot up their asses." I saw bumper stickers with things like "Let's Roll," "Freedom Will Be Defended," and "9/11/2001: We Will Never Forget"; all of a sudden there were more American flags everywhere than had ever existed at any period in the country's prior history. But I saw other things, too. I saw the members of a secular nation's legislative branch holding hands on the steps of the Capitol and singing hymns. I saw the establishment of an alert system that told me how afraid I should be on any given day. I saw many of my civil liberties vanish inside a week, and instead of protesting, the majority of American citizenry clamored and wondered why more hadn't been done. Patriotism became synonymous with blind consent instead of informed dialogue with the government. I essentially saw the American national character mutate into something craven and vulgar.
Seven years have passed, and it's time to move on. I'm sick of external forces trying to make me feel bad for not caring that the twin towers aren't there anymore. Last year I spent 9/11 in a Bratislava internet cafe watching videos of people jumping from the flaming hulk, listening to final phone calls to 911 dispatch, watching the cloud of unknowing shroud the streets of Manhattan with tidal force. I took it all in, even the footage that was grisly and painful. As I watched, though, I couldn't help but think that the tragedy resided not in that horrible day seven years ago, but in how far we've fallen since then. I'm not blaming the government. I'm not blaming the media. I'm blaming the people of America for being complacent, cowed and stupid enough to put up with it. I'm just as guilty as anyone; I haven't done anything to rectify the nation's ills, and until I get into graduate school, I probably won't. For now I'm going to watch the Twilight Zone and grimace at the cruel irony of watching a holiday marathon on the Eleventh of September.
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4 comments:
I agree with all you said. Did you happen to catch Keith Olbermann's comments last night on what he calls "9/11 TM"? He pulled no punches.
I didn't, sadly. I'd be curious to hear his take. I'll look him up; thanks for reading.
I wouldn't say any of this is offensive really. I agree with a lot of it. However, I believe that you are highlighting symptoms of a much larger problem with American society. While many of these were triggered by 9/11, they were caused by on going issues that we even can see in the 1990s and 1980s (and earlier).
The two main issues I see here in your post are the media and overall American culture. To the former, I believe it has become mostly detrimental to society. I see no worthwhile news organizations in the United States. When you have 24-hour news, you need to find new ways to get people to pay attention when things are not going on. So it became more about ratings and subscriptions than about news. The media and the garbage they put out has become tacky and hollow. And I believe it has hurt the nation, as people still believe they are being well informed when they watch or read this stuff. It has also negative affects on important events, like political races, where entirely irrelevant "news" is overplayed because it more closely resembles a soap opera (and thus is more likely to get people to watch).
But Americans eat it up...of course they do, or these organizations would not do it. They simply give people what they want. It is not the media's fault. American culture is responsible. We are simply too comfortable. Nothing destroys the character of a person or a nation like comfort. It is so easy to walk way from what is important, from values, or from principles when you are oh-so-comfy. While I think a major national disaster is the only thing that could reverse this (because it would make people uncomfortable), 9/11 would not qualify. The reason for this is that most people (just about everyone) was not directly affected by it. When I say national disaster, I mean where the existence of the country is at stake. Where millions could die or have their lives significantly and obviously changed (and not just inconvenienced at the airport).
I won't go on because this is already too long, but I do not know if anything will change until America hits a brick wall and wakes up.
Well said, Wilson. I dunno, I was raised to believe that complacency doesn't really fall within the makeup of a responsible citizen. I just at this point want a poll taken of how many Americans still hold by "never forget" and how many look at the TV screen with the same annoyance I do. At this point I wonder if the media devotes the whole day to 9/11 remembrance because they think it would be unpopular and insensitive not to. I'm all about a nod here and there, but there is no reason to devote the entirety of "American Morning" to 9/11. Then there's the tacky "memorial" video the Republicans aired. I know you are one, but the video WAS tacky and more than anything built around exploiting how scared most of the American populace was in the aftermath.
As for the media, you're completely right. Journalistic integrity is 90% dead. There can be no Woodward and Bernstein-like massive uncovering simply because as a people we've gotten too accustomed with the mediocre-to-awful one-way information vehicle the media provides us. There is no easy fix for this. I've rambled enough.
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