11 September Special
It was five years ago. It’s a little hard to believe for me. Five years have passed this quickly? Five years since you could take a pair of nail clippers on board an airplane. Five years since you felt safe flying. Five years since you learned where Afghanistan was. Five years since you may have lost a loved one in the attack.
Five years since my mother put that “Support the Troops” magnet on her car (it’s sure to have ruined the paint by now).
In those five years, the US has vowed all-out war on terrorism. And indeed the US has gone to war. In Afghanistan and Iraq, US soldiers are still active. Still active. Five years later.
But who has really won?
Five years later, girls wearing wonderbras, mothers carrying formula for their newborns, and eighty year old grandmothers with bobby-pins in their hair are strip-searched at airports. Men of arabic descent must change their t-shirts if they decide to wear one with Arabic script on it, no matter what it says. Innocent sex-entushiasts must explain the vibrator in their pants and the plethora of sex toys in their carry-on bag.
The terrorists have taken away our freedom to do normal (and in some cases slightly abnormal) things on a plane.
Ever hear how the US government was spying on tons of Americans through their phones and whatnot? That didn’t happen (at least on such a widescale basis, you adorable little conspiracy nutters, you!) before 11 September 2001.
Did you ever actually read the Patriot Act?
Where is the lawmaking going to stop? When our free Internet is dead or when Big Brother finally watches our every move through an authoritarian government?
Just like 7 December 1941, Americans will remember and honor 11 September 2006. But, perhaps, instead of simply waving the flag around, you could remember those who died with a memorial or a prayer. Instead of blindly supporting the death of the principle this country was built on, just maybe you can think about what the hell is going on here.
Any comments that were clearly not devised using as much brainpower as the average orangutan (aren’t orangutans cute?) will be mercilessly torn apart. Think before you type, damn it. You’re not an ape. Or at least I’d imagine you aren’t. If you are an ape capable of reading, using a computer, and thinking, please tell someone, because it may be a slow news day. (You never know.)
Photo from JeanKern on Flickr.
Offline, Opinion, Rants 
10 September 2006, 22:53
9-11, conspiracy nut mari, first person, picture of an orangutan, posts I'd rather like to delete, rant, sarcastic mari, vitriolic mariYou can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
September 11th is always going to be a special day for all of our lives. The twin towers and the pentagon were hit.RIP for the people who died.
Yes, orangutans are cute.
It’s a shame that the world is growing more ridiculous by the day… I’ve had friends have gel inserts confiscated from their shoes before boarding planes, and know people who have had luggage damaged and so forth at airports by nutty security folk. Whatever. It’s how the world is at the moment. It’s not going to get any easier, not for a while anyway… and there’s very little we can do about it.
I remember 9/11. I was in school. I think that was the most shocking and scariest thing that has happen, and since it occured in the same state where I live, NY. I was also really scared because my aunt and uncle live in NYC. Im just really glad that they were not working that day. 5 years later, and I still dont know where the US really is on terrorism. I think that the US has always been scared of something, it just hasnt hit us until 9/11 that we were full aware that something like that could actually happen.
RIP for those who lost their lives on 9/11