(no subject)

[primroseburrows]

September 11, 2001.

September 11, 1973.

September 11, 1971.

Killing is killing is killing and it's all terrorism and they do it and we do it and yes we do it don't fool yourself and when will it stop?

If you're not outraged, you're not paying fucking attention.


You mourn now as if the world will never be the same

And the rest of us hope to hell it won't be.
Not like it always has been

Because this is not a 9-1-1 poem
This is a 9/10 poem,
It is a 9/9 poem,
A 9/8 poem,
A 9/7 poem

This is a 1492 poem.
This is a poem about what causes poems like this to be written

And if this is a 9/11 poem, then
This is a September 11th poem for Chile, 1971
This is a September 12th poem for Steven Biko in South Africa, 1977
This is a September 13th poem for the brothers at Attica Prison, New York, 1971.

This is a September 14th poem for Somalia, 1992.
This is a poem for every date that falls to the ground in ashes
This is a poem for the 110 stories that were never told
The 110 stories that history chose not to write in textbooks
The 110 stories that that CNN, BBC, The New York Times, and Newsweek ignored
This is a poem for interrupting this program.

The entire poem can be found here

Comments

[peacey.livejournal.com]

It'll never end, prim, because what we're dealing with is the human race. The human race is capable of great love and great hate. To be outraged by acts of great hatred is a natural and unavoidable reaction within those of us who know the value of great love. These twins of hate and love dwell in all of us and each one of us is driven toward one or the other - sometimes to varying degrees of both. God gave us free will to decide. No person and no country is perfect. That which is bourne of man is inherently imperfect. As such, man's creation - the USA - is imperfect. Given that, and given the fact that the word "perfect" is extremely subjective, it's my opinion that you won't find any coutry closer to "perfect" on the planet than the USA. Flawed, yes certainly. But less flawed than any others. Running a country is dirty, nasty business and it is naive to believe they don't, but it's equally naive to believe that some of these dirty, nasty things *shouldn't* go on when weighed against the alternative (not any of the examples you referenced, btw).

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

*hugs* *sighs* I agree with you about all the free will and imperfection stuff. About the US, I also agree, for the most part. For everything I protest and bang my head against, there are ten good things. When I think of the politicians and others I don't agree with (and I'm not naming names, today's not a day for that), I think of FDR, Kennedy, Carter, King, Susan B. Anthony, Helen Keller, Pete Seeger, and so, so many great Americans. I know it sounds like I don't love my country sometimes. It's not true. It's because I love my country so much that I get so angry. We may not agree on everything, lovey, but we both love this old place in our own way.

And I love you, dear. Always. Even if we are going to cancel each other out at the polls. *g* Oh, by the way!!!

BETHANY'S HOME!!

Thanks for your prayers on that one, kiddo; keep 'em going for her big brother who's still over there.

[peacey.livejournal.com]

YAY! Hugs and a crisp, snappy salute to Bethany. As for the big bro, I continue to keep him - along with all the other heroes - in my prayers. God bless and protect those that protect us.

And I love you too, sweets, even if everything you think is wrong (a joke, dahlink, a joke! ).

I have noticed today that as we remember the outrageously evil acts that happened two years ago, that much of this country's rage has tempered. In my opinion, in this instance, this is not a good thing. We may say that the remembered acts infuriate us, but is that emotion truly felt? In the special edition of Time put out right after the attacks, Lance Morrow wrote an editorial titled, "The Case for Rage and Retribution" that was brilliant. To quote...

"A day cannot live in infamy without the nourishment of rage. Let's have rage. What's needed is a unified, unifying Pearl Harbor sort of purple American Fury - a ruthless indignation that doesn't leak away in a week or two, wandering off into Prozac-induced forgetfulness or into the next media sensation...or into a corruptly thoughtful relativism (as has happened in the recent past, when, for example, you might hear someone say, "Terrible what he did, of course, but you know, the Unabomber does have a point doesn't he, about modern technology?")..... Let America explore the rich reciprocal possibilities of the fatwa. A policy of focused brutality does not come easily to a self conscious, self indulgent, contradictory, diverse, humane nation with a short attention span. America needs to relearn a lost discipline - self confident relentlessness... If what happened on Tuesday does not give Americans the political will needed to exterinate men like Osama bin Laden and those who conspire with them in evil mischief, then nothing ever will and we are in for a procession of black Tuesdays.... The worst times, as we see, separate the civilized of the world from the uncivilized. This is the moment of clarity. Let the civilized toughen up, and let the uncivilized take their chances in the game they started."

You go, Lance! :)

Ummmm...I kinda took over your livejournal, didn't I? *lovelove* Sorry hon.