6 years later
6th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. I have to wonder how edgier do people still get on this day, for the symbolic meaning and do they change their daily schedule? or do they just go to work like any other day. I did happen to get on the train earlier than usual, not like it makes much of a difference, but one thought that has crossed my mind living out here is to be wary of big crowds of people. The metro has been getting more and more crowded lately, but it is usually during set periods around rush hour. Today it was relatively packed for being before rush hour, I wonder if the date had anything to do with getting people up earlier to work.
I got distracted for a bit from studying watching some youtube clips, one was a cnn clip the day after and you could see the tickers underneath talking about events being canceled, rolling casualty reports, and a graphic banner saying “America under attack.” It reminded of the tense few days following the attacks when most of the conversations about it was that of shock, surprise, sometimes jumping to anger and calls for retribution. I was back in Honolulu and was listening to a lot of AM radio on my way between work and the court, and it was my first real realization as to how much the right wing had taken over the radio waves who’s anger seemed to contrast with the relatively calm demeanor of the TV news casters. The radio folks said that they were angry for America, angry for justice, angry for an explanation to how and why this could have happened. The fact that their views and opinions were being broadcast over the airwaves give them a false sense of credibility, as in time I started hearing the same irrational arguments from some people I would run into in the days after the attack.
Some of the other youtube clips going around that I think capture the mindset at the time - 9-11 calls from one of the hijacked planes, and two from people trapped in the burning towers. One more memorable one was a rolling camera showing smoldering flames juxtaposed with the audio of the phone call right up until the point the towers came down. The clips display a swarm of human emotions, at one point the sheer terror comes out in the voice a caller realizes that they are probably going to die in the burning, at one another moment lashing out in anger at the operator, as if yelling at the operator is lucky to be in an air conditioned building far away is going to improve the situation, and that emergency personnel are supposed to climb 100+ flights of stairs in a burning building in a cinch. Then there is the operator who is trying to keep the callers calm, while both probably know the desperate circumstances that are unfolding.
What the clips also show is in part the mindset of Americans, pursuing their careers and dreams, in a sense living oblivious to the fact that the very tower they go to work everyday has been a repeated target for terrorist attacks, represents a symbol of American capitalism and economic dominance, fueling the foreign policy that impacts that it has on people in far corners of the world, all out of sight, out of mind. They also are oblivious to the vulnerability that the “soft” target and the potential chaos that a direct attack would have on the structure, and more importantly, any escape routes for an evacuation. On any given day the trains, elevators, phone lines are supposed to work. When an emergency happens, the fire and police are supposed to get there and do their job. But when the unthinkable happens, things are quickly brought back down to the basic chaos and nothing is for certain anymore.
Watching one of these clips in particular I feel very torn, on the one hand I feel horrible for the people on the other line and can’t imagine what it would be like to see the world around you literally burning and crashing down. On the other hand I am irritated again at more moments of anger directed at the emergency operator, accusingly as if he or she is doing anything but trying to sort out what has just happened and try to get first responders to the callers locations. In the face of certain death blaming a complete stranger over the phone is an understandably human reaction, but it reeks of “how dare you” or “why did this happen to me?” Then there is the image of the towers crashing down and you hear a gut-wrenching crack over the phone, with the voice screaming out to god in a reminder that all the people stuck in the tower were in fact doomed the entire time.
I’m also reminded that the tragedies were documented through American newsmedia and audio don’t t make it any less horrific to the loss of life and human suffering that followed in retaliation for 9-11. No clips exist to show us about the people trapped in the burning buildings in the first weeks of the war, or the bombing victims in the years of occupation that followed. 6 years after the attacks of 9-11, and now after 5 years of war waged in its name I am still struggling with what the lessons learned are for Americans as a whole. If talk of an upcoming 3rd war in the middle east is credible and plans are being made, then it is only a matter of time before there might be another set of frantic final 9-11 calls made to an operator in an American city. While this time the lesson of 9-11 would give them a sense of who might’ve committed these attacks, they still would probably not understand why.
Linkes 9/11/2007
NORFED private currency
Austin Gold Company
Brazen home invasion attempted SA scary.
Diego Garcia South Indian base
DOD and Co. bling bling
Ron Paul Video on youtube