Let the made-for-tv orgy of blubbery and tackiness begin. If this day were so important most employers would have given people the day off. It’s about whipping up patriotism and dulling people’s minds with emotionalism. I participated in the moment of silence, but only because I was asleep.
From Forbidden Thoughts on 9-11:
“What cheeses me off the most about the Sept. 11 attacks is that it gave Americans a newer, better reason to be narcissistic. Before they were just (in their own eyes) the world’s No. 1 providers of liberty, entertainment and industry. Now they’re the world’s No. 1 victims, too.” -name withheld
A friend of mine noted, as all the flag bumper stickers and crap started getting slapped up all over houses, cars and work cubbies, that some people weren’t even really sticking the stickers on their cars — they were scotch-taping them to the inside of their car windows. It was as if they knew that their surge of patriotic feeling would fade, and they wouldn’t want to be left looking like a hick with the stupid flag sticker left on their car. Totally cynical, but I think that’s true.
— Maggie, Massachusetts
The deification of firefighters was the result of guilt. Most white-collar people never think of blue-collar workers at all or dismiss them as insignificant. When yuppies realized that firefighters would brave flames to save their sorry, self-centered lives they suddenly became ridiculously reverential. There is no convert like a new convert.
— Name withheld, New York
On 9/11/01, I just kept going out to stare up at the sky. It was so quiet and empty — and yes, actually beautiful — without jets and vapor trails everywhere. What corner of Antarctica will I have to visit to to see another completely empty sky from horizon to horizon?
— Name withheld
The people on Flight 93 were not goddamn “heroes” or “warriors,” they were passengers on the wrong plane. If I have to hear about Todd Beamer and “Let’s roll” one more time I am going to puke.
— Houghton
We were living in D.C., but it didn’t really faze us that terrorists had hit our very own city. We attempted to go to the movies where a homeless man kindly told us that no movies were being shown that day; grudgingly ate at the only food establishment open –Taco Bell — and ended up renting Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson Lee’s staged X-rated extravaganza. We did the nasty all day (no thanks to Tommy and Pam), convincing ourselves that what we were doing was life affirming. And it was.
— Name withheld
Has Maggie ever tried to get a faded old bumper sticker off her car? Some of that glue can outlast the petrified forest!
It’s not as funny as your Avery shot, but here is a bit of found art pertinent to your 9-11 anniversary post.