Wednesday, September 14, 2011

WAR AND PIECE

   I can't say I agree with Mother Jones magazine that Krugman's 9/11 piece was "shameful" in its timing. Truth often must be insensitive and seldom dishonors the teller.  When it comes to war, we walk a fine line between honoring the victims/supporting the troops and avoiding the excessive sentimentality that feeds jingoism.
   I have to confess that when I saw the towers go down I did not know there were still people inside, so what went through my mind was how much this event was going to be milked by the neocons. Later, I was stunned, heartsick, and horrified by the extent of suffering, but on 9/12 I did not partake of the Bushiephoria that supposedly united the country.  I didn't trust Bush before it happened and he did nothing afterwards to make me trust him more.  When we went into Iraq, my reaction was "Huh?"  A close friend of mine lost her nephew and even she was skeptical of the administration's response.  More recently, I could have kissed Joe Biden when he said of Rudy that his sentences consist of a noun, a verb, and 9/11. (Ironic when some digging reveals that his career as a prosecutor may have indirectly contributed to the event.)
   My father is a veteran of WWII, specifically of the action during the Bulge.  After reading his account, I am heartened when I hear soldiers in uniform being thanked for their service by passersby in public places.  As a nation we are striving to make up for our treatment of the Vietnam vets.  Yet we must always be mindful of the undertow of self-righteousness and idealization.  Especially on occasions like the 10th anniversary of a horrific event.  It's not Krugman's fault that the event and its victims have been exploited by politicians and profiteers.  He's just the messenger.
   Ron Paul in the Tea Party debate tried to tell his audience what started the conflict (our desecration of ground sacred to Islam).  They shouted him down; they want to believe that the terrorists hate us for our freedoms. These kinds of irrational and untrue beliefs only create more victims.
   Sometimes I can't help wondering what our response would have been, the nature of our commemorations, if the target had been a stadium full of the homeless and disabled.