2008 Woodie Awards
Misconstruing 9/11: A guide to forgetting other dangers in the American landscape
Vince Ochoa
Issue date: 9/12/06 Section: Opinion
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For the past four years for the first week and a half of September we remember 9/11. The U.S. has not let Americans comfortably mourn 9/11 to help them attempt to proceed with their lives. Today, 9/11 has a new meaning. 9/11 is what the federal government employs to strike fear in our lives. 9/11 was a vehicle manipulated to start a war that was on the government's agenda. That is the purpose Pearl Harbor served. What is FDR's ever-so-famous quotable? Was it "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"? He was right.
FDR, like every other politician, knew that with fear you can bring the masses to its knees. Disabled, the masses are chained at the ankles, ready to be dragged through whatever misadventure the government has constructed. That is what we are today, disabled. This is what we are today, chained.
The notion that terrorists are jealous of our freedom is no different than a bad movie plot. Osama does not want the freedom to buy an iPod nano. I doubt very many terrorists want to be policed by their national government. I doubt they want to legalize gay marriages and abortion. I doubt they very much want to have elections. And I most certainly doubt they want to live under the U.S., which is ruled by a democratic dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. If Osama or any other terrorist group wanted everything I just listed then they would be doing American citizens a great favor. Ironically, the fear the terrorists - and the government - bring limits our freedom. If they were jealous of our freedom, they have less to be jealous about now.
Every catastrophe that happens to the United States displays our weaknesses. Just like Hurricane Katrina demonstrated to us how useless and neglectful state, local, and federal governments in a time of disaster, 9/11 magnifies the vulnerability of the United States and how much people around the world do not envy us, but hate us.
The justification of our war on terror, essentially, is perpetual war for perpetual peace. We attack our "threats." That way, they will not harm us again. Having war in order to keep peace is an ill-advised paradox to say the least. We cannot say no to violent extremists by killing them.
FDR, like every other politician, knew that with fear you can bring the masses to its knees. Disabled, the masses are chained at the ankles, ready to be dragged through whatever misadventure the government has constructed. That is what we are today, disabled. This is what we are today, chained.
The notion that terrorists are jealous of our freedom is no different than a bad movie plot. Osama does not want the freedom to buy an iPod nano. I doubt very many terrorists want to be policed by their national government. I doubt they want to legalize gay marriages and abortion. I doubt they very much want to have elections. And I most certainly doubt they want to live under the U.S., which is ruled by a democratic dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. If Osama or any other terrorist group wanted everything I just listed then they would be doing American citizens a great favor. Ironically, the fear the terrorists - and the government - bring limits our freedom. If they were jealous of our freedom, they have less to be jealous about now.
Every catastrophe that happens to the United States displays our weaknesses. Just like Hurricane Katrina demonstrated to us how useless and neglectful state, local, and federal governments in a time of disaster, 9/11 magnifies the vulnerability of the United States and how much people around the world do not envy us, but hate us.
The justification of our war on terror, essentially, is perpetual war for perpetual peace. We attack our "threats." That way, they will not harm us again. Having war in order to keep peace is an ill-advised paradox to say the least. We cannot say no to violent extremists by killing them.