Never Forget
Friday September 12, 2008
Past 9/11 Retrospectives: 2006 | 2007
Over the past few years I've seen the phrase "never forget" increasingly crop up in 9/11-related speeches and editorials, and I still can't figure out exactly what it is that I'm supposed to continue to remember.
We know that there were 2,993 people killed as a direct result of the 9/11 attacks. It was horrible, no question--by far the worst terrorist attack ever to occur on U.S. soil. (The second worst, the Oklahoma City Bombing, claimed 169 lives.) I don't mean to sound glib. I'm treading lightly here, because the death toll was so horrific.
But most of us don't use 9/11 anniversaries as a way to remember the lives of people who were killed on that day, because most of us in this nation of 300 million don't know anybody who was killed on that day. I'm betting that what most of us remember is the fear, the trauma, the sense of vulnerability. That's certainly what I remember. My generation can now understand the crystal clarity with which Baby Boomers remember where they were when Kennedy was shot, because we have similar memories of what we were doing when the attacks happened. We know, in other words, what national terror feels like.
And isn't creating lasting, persuasive memories of national terror what terrorism is all about? The planners of the 9/11 attacks didn't just want to kill as many Americans as possible; they wanted to scare the rest of us. They wanted us to be traumatized and never forget that trauma, and to keep making national policy decisions under the influence of that trauma.
"Never forget" was more than likely the lesson the 19 hijackers meant to send us seven years ago, and like most victims of terrorism, we were good students. It sunk in. The main lesson we learned from 9/11 is that Americans can be killed in large numbers by international terrorists. We can make policy decisions that decrease the odds of this happening again, such as increasing airport security. We can make policy decisions that increase the odds of this happening again, such as killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians (whose children will also "never forget," and may well become the next generation of terrorists). But no policy decision will ever make us safe again. We can be killed by the thousands. We know this now. It isn't an entirely preventable danger.
Malaria, on the other hand, is much more preventable. It kills an estimated 7,400 people every day--about two and a half times the number of people who died on 9/11--and it's completely treatable. But here's the catch: It costs money and other resources to treat it.
Let's imagine for a moment that, after the Afghanistan War, the U.S. government decided to take the money and human resources that they would have spent invading Iraq, and instead dedicate it to substantially reducing the incidence of malaria in the developing world. That would be a heroic act. It would improve the global image of the United States to such a degree that terrorists would have a far more difficult time recruiting suicidal young men to kill us. And best of all, it would save lives.
It's not an intuitive response to terror, is it? Terror tells us to kill or be killed, strike or be struck, to become a threat to other nations before they become a threat to us. Terror tells us to disregard our constitution and our most fundamental democratic values and rally around an eternal war declared against terror itself, a war that could one day be used to justify transforming our nation from a relatively nonviolent open society to an extremely violent closed society. Terror appeals to our lowest, violent animal impulses.
Franklin Roosevelt has been mocked many times for saying in his 1932 inaugural address that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. He deserves some of that ridicule--there are many things we should fear other than fear--but most of them are much less dangerous to us. Terror is lifeblood for dictatorships, poison for democracy, and a tyrant's greatest weapon. We'll never forget the terror. But we as a nation are gradually abandoning terror as a policy rationale, and that's a war on terror that we can win.
More on the Seventh Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks:
Over the past few years I've seen the phrase "never forget" increasingly crop up in 9/11-related speeches and editorials, and I still can't figure out exactly what it is that I'm supposed to continue to remember.
We know that there were 2,993 people killed as a direct result of the 9/11 attacks. It was horrible, no question--by far the worst terrorist attack ever to occur on U.S. soil. (The second worst, the Oklahoma City Bombing, claimed 169 lives.) I don't mean to sound glib. I'm treading lightly here, because the death toll was so horrific.
But most of us don't use 9/11 anniversaries as a way to remember the lives of people who were killed on that day, because most of us in this nation of 300 million don't know anybody who was killed on that day. I'm betting that what most of us remember is the fear, the trauma, the sense of vulnerability. That's certainly what I remember. My generation can now understand the crystal clarity with which Baby Boomers remember where they were when Kennedy was shot, because we have similar memories of what we were doing when the attacks happened. We know, in other words, what national terror feels like.
And isn't creating lasting, persuasive memories of national terror what terrorism is all about? The planners of the 9/11 attacks didn't just want to kill as many Americans as possible; they wanted to scare the rest of us. They wanted us to be traumatized and never forget that trauma, and to keep making national policy decisions under the influence of that trauma.
"Never forget" was more than likely the lesson the 19 hijackers meant to send us seven years ago, and like most victims of terrorism, we were good students. It sunk in. The main lesson we learned from 9/11 is that Americans can be killed in large numbers by international terrorists. We can make policy decisions that decrease the odds of this happening again, such as increasing airport security. We can make policy decisions that increase the odds of this happening again, such as killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians (whose children will also "never forget," and may well become the next generation of terrorists). But no policy decision will ever make us safe again. We can be killed by the thousands. We know this now. It isn't an entirely preventable danger.
Malaria, on the other hand, is much more preventable. It kills an estimated 7,400 people every day--about two and a half times the number of people who died on 9/11--and it's completely treatable. But here's the catch: It costs money and other resources to treat it.
Let's imagine for a moment that, after the Afghanistan War, the U.S. government decided to take the money and human resources that they would have spent invading Iraq, and instead dedicate it to substantially reducing the incidence of malaria in the developing world. That would be a heroic act. It would improve the global image of the United States to such a degree that terrorists would have a far more difficult time recruiting suicidal young men to kill us. And best of all, it would save lives.
It's not an intuitive response to terror, is it? Terror tells us to kill or be killed, strike or be struck, to become a threat to other nations before they become a threat to us. Terror tells us to disregard our constitution and our most fundamental democratic values and rally around an eternal war declared against terror itself, a war that could one day be used to justify transforming our nation from a relatively nonviolent open society to an extremely violent closed society. Terror appeals to our lowest, violent animal impulses.
Franklin Roosevelt has been mocked many times for saying in his 1932 inaugural address that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. He deserves some of that ridicule--there are many things we should fear other than fear--but most of them are much less dangerous to us. Terror is lifeblood for dictatorships, poison for democracy, and a tyrant's greatest weapon. We'll never forget the terror. But we as a nation are gradually abandoning terror as a policy rationale, and that's a war on terror that we can win.
More on the Seventh Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks:
- Political Truce: The Seventh Anniversary of 9/11 (Kathy Gill / About.com: U.S. Politics)
- Seven Years Later, World Ponders Meaning of 9/11 (Amy Zalman / About.com: Terrorism)
- 9/11 Remembered (Justin Quinn / About.com: U.S. Conservative Politics)
Comments
Abortion of a life is NOT a personal issue. No matter what way you look at it, that baby is alive, with a beating heart, brain function, and a soul. God said, “…I knew you before you were formed in the womb…” What you are saying is no different than someone deciding after three years with their child that they are tired of being parents, so go ahead and slaughter your child.
Abstinence education is one thing. How about teaching the truth about abortion? These clinics only show a sweet rosy side with no problems involved. Show the mother to be pictures of aborted baby’s. Show her, her baby after it’s been aborted and stuffed in a jar or garbage bag. In the news I hear on occasion about woman who gave birth to their baby and stuffed them in garbage bags. They are arrested and convicted of murder. What is the difference? Why is one way of murder okay and another illegal? They say the baby isn’t legally born until the head came out and it takes his or her first breath. Who’s to say that baby the mother gave birth to and wrapped in plastic even had a chance to open his or her mouth to breathe?
How can this issue not be an issue of the Federal Government when it’s the government that creates laws and enforces them? Are you saying we can’t rely on our elected officials to take a stand for the people and for what they believe in and change laws? Like I said, our nation was founded on the belief of God. “..thou shall not kill..” God created that life. You and I are walking proof of that. If we’re not a life inside our mothers while we are growing then what are we? Those innocents have a beating heart, a heat that pumps blood throughout the tiny body enabling it to grow and thrive. We can tell children in school text books that a single cell is a living organism but yet those unborn babies are made of millions of cells, and people are saying that tiny baby is not a life? If anything is contradictory, that is.
It is not anyone’s decision who lives and who dies. It’s not the mother’s, it’s not the father’s and it’s not the Government’s. It’s God’s decision. If God creates that child in you, “..I knew you before you were formed in the womb..”, then he intended for you to be born. If God doesn’t want that child to be there, he will take it in his own way. I have lost one child to miscarriage. I was a little over 6 wks pregnant. God took that child to be with him because he knew it was not time yet. Nothing bad happens to anyone for no reason. That child brought me even closer to God than ever before. Because of that child, this is where I stand today. And I will always stand. Against people like you that believe in “choice” and not life. I will not stop standing for what’s right, I will stand for God and for His unborn innocence.
Just remember, allowing this to continue is only building God’s army in heaven. All those so called “Dr’s” are doing is adding to heavens Grace. Every innocent is in heaven now and they’ll be standing in front of those Dr’s and mothers and people who killed them when they stand in front of God on their judgment day.
You make me sick. A “fetus” heart beats 18 days after conception. Ignorant women think that because they made a mistake and something happened that they don’t want to deal with, they can KILL it! Just because it’s developing in their body, doesn’t mean it’s not a separate indeividual. I was adopted at age two and I am greatful that my mother didn’t MURDER me before I could even speak for myself! I am a young 21 year old female who is due for my first child in April. I could never stop the heartbeat of my owm flesh and blood and that is not because I was adopted. It’s not a suprise that the same people that support abortion are the same democratic liberals that bring our country down! That is why I am voting for McCain. To keep you selfish bastards from making our country fall more than you’ve already made it! I hope abortion becomes illegal. You people disgust me.
Thanks for your comments, folks, but they would have been more useful if you were responding to a post that actually had something to do with abortion. This one refers to 9/11-related issues, and does not refer, directly or indirectly, to the issue of abortion rights.
I’ve linked to some of my abortion-related content here. You might find it interesting:
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/americancivilliberties1/u/Civil-Liberties-Issues.htm#s1
From here on in, though, I ask that comments in this thread actually have some bearing on the topic of the post. I can’t move posts from one thread to another, so any comments below this line that focus on abortion or other issues unrelated to 9/11 will be deleted.
You are, of course, welcome and encouraged to start an abortion thread in the forum.