-Caveat Lector- thanks for that.
--- Joshua Tinnin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > -Caveat Lector- > > http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2002/09/11/notes091102.DTL > > Not Another 9/11 Column > You can read this now, or you can log off and shut > down and get quiet, and > just remember > > By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist > > > You do not need to read this column. You do not need > to be reminded of > September 11 in any such manner. > > You have permission to right this moment click this > link or perhaps this one > or this one and spend your valuable time elsewhere > on the Web, sucking up > the finer ambrosial entertainments and informational > succor, safe in the > knowledge you will be sufficiently pummeled by heavy > emotional 9/11 > terrorist-infused pain throughout the day, unless > you live under a rock in a > cave in a deep trench on a tiny forgotten moon > orbiting Uranus, and even > then. > > Perhaps you should just go offline entirely, just > shut it all down, go sit > on the stoop or walk outside the office and stroll > down to the park and sip > a coffee or a fine scotch or perhaps imported > laudanum, and remember. > > In your own way, on your own terms, remember where > you were, what you were > doing, what you were feeling when you observed the > world change forever, > when you witnessed history writ large and in dark > gothic script, raw and > obscene and indelible. Perhaps this is the best way. > > Remember it personally, intimately, sans smarmy > musical accompaniment or > prepackaged images or Tom Brokaw's melodramatic > intonations, entirely free > of someone with an overly pious glare extolling how > Jesus hates terrorists > too now let us pray but not for those other icky > religions we don't > understand because they are wrong and ugly and they > dress funny. > > All overshadowed by our fearless quivering > chickenhawk leaders, squinting > and scowling and trying to muster some sort of > support for their > corporatized warmongering, droning about how we > shall smite those evil > evildoers even if it means creating new bomb-able > evildoers where none > really existed before, boom boom oil oil let us > secretly examine your email > and tap your phone and scan your shoes, don't you > feel safer now. > > You have permission to keep the TV off all day. It > is absolutely true that > we as a nation need to commemorate, collectively, to > unite and mark the day > and bow our collective heads, draw strength from our > concentrated mourning. > > But if you are like roughly 272 million other people > in this country, it is > very possible you do not need to see the images > right now, or perhaps ever > again: the falling bodies, the doomed towers > erupting smoke like tragic > volcanoes, the huge planes vanishing into walls of > steel and glass like > ghosts sailing through paper. > > Only this time with slow-motion effects and > dirge-like TV soundtrack and the > superimposed image of Old Glory waving in the > background, manipulating your > sadness synapse like a hammer on a nail. > > There, see? Even describing it casts a pallor, > evokes all sorts of > media-tainted responses, draws you down a prescribed > visceral trail, when > the best thing might be just to acknowledge the > collective grief and then > turn the volume way, way down and get quiet. > > This is your challenge, this is your assignment, and > it is not at all easy. > You must sift, you must reject, you must resist > getting sucked into the > sensationalistic media vortex of this day, all the > articles and programs and > talk shows and religious finger-pointing and awful > commemorative plates, as > you pick and choose your 9/11 memories very > carefully. > > An image here, a voice there, the phone call you > made to your loved ones > just after. Find the few remaining untainted > fragments of the tragedy and > its aftermath and feel them deeply, get quiet and > solemn in yourself and > just think, contemplate, turn them over in your > hands, examine closely, > breath and feel. > > Because for many of us, it has become nearly > impossible to avoid cynical or > jaded feelings about 9/11, to avoid seeing how this > epic human tragedy has > been cast and recast and diminished and leveraged > and regurgitated as some > sort of zealous rabid uber-patriotic call to arms, a > pseudo-psychological > touchstone, an excuse to launch more war, a > justification for a million > smarmy melodramatic Hallmark sentiments and a > million United We Stand bumper > stickers and far too many new viewers for JAG. > > You have permission to completely disavow yourself > of aggro-American > hyperbole or false patriotic sentiment or the > Bush/Cheney spin machine. > > You have permission to be a complete traitor by > ignoring Dan Rather entirely > and refusing to stick a flag on your Japanese SUV > and by not believing the > simplistic reductionism of Good Righteous Us vs. > Evil Hateful Them because > in many cases We are Them and They are Us and the > lines that separate Us and > Them are more like thin ideological equivocations, > which don't. > > And finally, you have permission to feel patriotic > in your own way, define > your grief and your sense of allegiance independent > of the imposed > governmental guidelines, to connect with the horror > and the sadness not as > an American or as a Republican or Democrat or war > supporter or as a > guilt-riddled contributor to the NYC Firefighter's > Fund, as a this or as a > that, or else. > > But merely as a global citizen, complex and > conflicted and distraught and > baffled and angry and yet deeply benevolent at heart > and ever, ever hopeful. > This is all you have to do. > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---- > > -- Thoughts for the author? E-mail him. > -- Subscribe to Mark's deeply skewed, mostly legal > Morning Fix newsletter. > Mark Morford's Notes & Errata column appears every > Wednesday and Friday on > SF Gate, unless it appears on Tuesdays and > Thursdays, which it never does. > He also writes the Morning Fix, a relatively > hilarious thrice-weekly email > column and newsletter. Subscribe at > sfgate.com/newsletters/ > > > <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> > DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER > ========== > CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. > Proselytizing propagandic > screeds are unwelcomed. Substance?not > soap-boxing?please! 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