The Obligatory "Ten Years After 9/11" Post (updates)

The bad guys won.

No, that’s not meant as a slam at our military, which almost always are sent into some God-forsaken area to kill people of a different skin color, doing the bidding of the corpocracy in the sname of oil, patriotism, or some other marketable commodity. And considering that they’re given such abominable missions, they usually perform with almost unimaginable heroism.

And that’s also not meant as a slam at the men and women of our intelligence services, whose skill, dedication and bravery have, to date, prevented another attack on the scale of the one we will commemorate on Sunday.

And it’s definitely not meant as a slam at the families and friends of the victims of the attacks; any words I could come up with could never adequately describe their pain and sense of loss, so it’s probably best that I not say anything about that, except to wish them the very best as they go forward with their lives.

Update 1 9/10/11: It's also definitely not a slam at the WTC or Pentagon first responders, just so that's understood.

So who is that comment aimed at? Fair question.

It is meant as a slam at our corporate media, which, this prior week in particular, has trotted out its “9/11 Anniversary” file of Dubya’s photo-ops as if we actually want to remember any of them (looking befuddled in the Florida classroom after being told of the attacks by former chief of staff Andrew Card, embracing a rescue worker at Ground Zero while holding that megaphone, as pointless and inappropriate of a prop for such a horrific scene as one can imagine…oh, and by the way, National Geographic, thanks for that fluff “interview” with Former President Nutball). And that also goes to the pundits who have treated potential future war criminals like Dick Cheney with a deference that, perhaps, they deserve in some utterly demonic universe, but definitely not this one.

(Oh, and corporate media, including this guy? The reasons I was given for invading Iraq were that Saddam Hussein had nukes and chemical weapons, not because we wanted to spread Democracy, or something like that, which somehow evolved later after the first two reasons were proven to be baseless lies.)

And it’s meant as a slam at anyone in public office who thinks that the wholesale slaughter of Muslims, particularly in the Middle East, is going to do anything whatsoever to ensure our safety, to say nothing of trying to burnish some assumption of morality on our part. And it is also meant as a slam at anyone in public office who thinks that betraying our Constitution, while claiming to act in the name of expediency, is going to do anything other than further enshrine the national security state of warrantless surveillance and other invasions of our liberty. And it is further meant as a slam at those who, after sending our military off to fight, suffer, struggle and die for a war that didn’t need to be fought (Iraq), believe that it’s somehow our patriotic duty to forget them and go shopping instead, to say nothing of holding those responsible to account (and no, letting them leave office without indictments or prison sentences doesn’t count).

And it’s also meant as a slam at those who “rode the wave” of 9/11 fervor to enhance their public profiles, all the while continuing to cheer the victimization of people of a different skin color, religion and ethnicity and encouraging everyone that they could to do the same, even to this day.

And it is also meant as a slam at those who saw an opportunity to make money off of the tragic events that occurred on that day almost ten years ago, mainly in the form of government contracts.

And it’s definitely meant as a slam at anyone who, for whatever reason (maybe the urging of conservative media or an antipathy to intelligent thought and analysis of the news), decided to turn off their brains and “trust their leaders” during the years that followed the attack (I don’t suspect that that’s still a problem, if for no other reason than the same people on TV, radio and the Internet who perpetrated this fraud switched on or about 1/21/09 into “OMIGOD WE MUST DEFEAT THE SCARY KENYAN SOCAILIST MUSLIM!!” mode), letting craven, corrupt politicians and corporate media sycophants think for them instead. And it’s meant as a slam at anyone who would use the term “so pre-9/11” as a pejorative with total seriousness (as opposed to yours truly, who is being tongue in cheek).

So yes, in all those respects, the bad guys won (including our current president who, by failing to hold our prior ruling cabal to account, has thus codified their behavior, as noted in the fifth paragraph here). I realize that’s not a very happy thought as we conduct or participate in the observances that are only appropriate (and really, is it asking too much of the National Football League not to play their damn games, and for the TV networks to air programs that are tasteful and educational tributes instead?). However, if we fail to recognize this plain fact, we are doing all we can to ensure that future attacks will indeed take place.

For what it’s worth, this is the first post I wrote about the attacks with my own personal remembrances. It’s likely that I won’t post on this subject anymore, so I might as well cover everything at once. And one of the reasons why I probably won’t post on this anymore is because 9/11 hasn’t become an opportunity to reflect on what happened and support one another, considering who and what we are and how we can triumph over our adversaries by our ideals, practicing and obeying the dictates of both common sense and the rule of law, as much as it has become an excuse to subject ourselves to the flotsam of media images and time-practiced emotions and responses with very little in the way of follow-through indicating that we’ve learned very little of anything whatsoever.

Our institutions of government have further eroded. Corporate influence continues to consolidate. The politicians we elect, to a greater and greater degree, utterly disregard the wishes of those they represent (or, more often than not, the symbiosis of the media-political-industrial complex results in dictating policy positions to sheep-like citizens who dutifully parrot talking points on cue, with the patronizing approval of said complex who reap political and financial advantage as a result).

And 9/11 (or the fallout from it, more precisely) had an awful lot to do with that.

That’s why the bad guys won.

P.S. - I thought this was a good column by Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer...thoughtful stuff.

Update 2 9/10/11: As far as I'm concerned, this further validates my opinion (h/t Atrios).

Update 9/11/11: Uh, yep (and maybe that's why the NFL decided to have opening day after all, so this country wouldn't have to think about it too much).

Update 9/12/11: Kudos to Professor Krugman here - if Malkin is apoplectic, then it must be good for America (and if Rummy had a molecule of decency - which he doesn't of course - he'd do us all a favor and go lie down somewhere and turn into dust).