09-11-01

Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Will this lead to war? To more killing? To beget further killing? It was a tragedy. A deep tragedy. It's a deep tragedy when any human being dies. The fact that they are forever nothingness. But…it sickens me to see all the political figures and news commentators in a row, Democrat & Republican alike, stand up one after the next and demand "punishment" of the perpetrators of this act. "Punishment" being a code word for, "We're going to go out and kill them with our big guns." There's no hint that they mean they want to capture and put the accused on trial, no, they are out for blood. Each tries to outdo the next in their desire to destroy the enemy who did this. This act was committed by a small group of people. They are not an entire country. Even if they were assisted by a government, that doesn't mean the whole country supports them. I only can't help but think that bombing the shit out of Afghanistan isn't going to solve any problems. In fact, it might make long-term hatred for the U.S. worse. We will probably kill a lot of innocent men, women and children. Does that make us any better than the terrorists?

Speaking of self-righteous, it's very alien to the American psyche - suicide bombers. The deep fanaticism of those willing to die for their cause. These people truly believe they are justified in their actions; if they didn't truly believe, they would not have been willing to go through with this plan. American fanatics never die for their cause - I'm not talking about psychos, serial killers. I mean those who are activists in a political or religious organization. American political and religious fanatics are sometimes willing to kill for their cause, like anti-abortion activists who shoot an abortion doctor, but rarely die for it. Timothy McViegh accepted his own death in the end, but he didn't blow himself up with the bomb - he was caught later. These attackers obviously really hate the United States, in a much more powerful but similar way to how Americans hate Iraq. I think nationalism in all forms is dangerous, that's why I could never feel patriotic. I am a citizen of the world. I believe in justice and natural human rights and equality. Those qualities are not about national boundaries; they are about human boundaries.

I'm also afraid this is going to increase Conservative power in the government as everyone "rallies behind" the president. And then support the troops. Support the bombing. Get revenge. Americans often act like we never committed mass murder. They forget the Native Americans. They forget the black African slaves. They forget Cambodia and Vietnam. We are not pure and clean; we just don't usually see the blood.

Let's talk about the act. It was carried off with amazing, military precision. Secret agent precision even. Four skilled pilots able to smuggle weapons on four different planes, to successfully hijack all four planes. Only one of the three failed to find his target. The audacity is astounding. Think of the will power it takes to dive yourself headfirst into a building. All the horror that followed is so extreme, so outrageous, so incomprehensible. A small group of men could kill so many people. To affect the American country so dramatically. They chose their targets very symbolically: Pentagon, symbol of American Imperialism, militarism, war. The World Trade Center, symbol of Capitalism and American corporate power, and Camp David (possible destination of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania) place where Israel signed a peace treaty that they have failed to live up to with American support. I can understand that Capitalism and American Imperialism are destructive and hard to fight, but killing innocent people never solves anything. In fact, as I said before, it could easily make the military-industrial complex of the US even more powerful and unquestioned. Global warming will increase and we'll all die more quickly.

It has been a stunning day, and I don't think I've caught my thoughts and reactions very eloquently, or perhaps not even completely accurately. I'm not exactly sure how I feel. It's a quite confusing event. It shakes up our American culture. In the meantime, I wish peace to all.

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