Do you remember in those early post-9/11 days when you were considered unpatriotic and a bad American for criticizing anything George W. Bush and his administration did?
It feels like that today.
If you don’t display relief in drunken revelry and jokes about violence you are an unpatriotic bad American. Expressing discomfort or even being unsure about how you feel with the joyous outpouring turns you into some sort of 9/11-apologist who loves terrorism.
Today’s one of those days where voicing dissent is unacceptable, and that sucks.
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Yesterday morning I went to Home Depot to buy a new recycling bin, and I saw a guy there wearing a shirt that said “I Shot Mother Fuckers [sic] in Iraq”. I’m pretty sure it was not meant to be ironic. That t-shirt spurred more of a reaction than did today’s news. I guess I hate America.
@hotrod, I am always amazed when people choose to emblazon their ignorance on their chest (or car bumper or. . .)
Of course you hate America, you hate everything right, good, and just. Duh.
In the early post-9/11 days, I was 24 and so unsure of my own voice and opinion I just stayed quiet.
Today I stayed verbally quiet, but thanks to the magic of Facebook I was able to post my voice to the many people who will “like” agree with me. I posted tentatively at first (because a part of me is still 24 and really didn’t want a fight), but the nice thing about social media is that it enables normally quiet folk to voice their opinion without having to fight over the gun-toting, “I shot mother fuckers in iraq” kinds of folks. And, to my joy, I found not one, not two, but MANY people who are on my same page. People who are on your page.
I’ve never known you to hold your tongue on any issue. Don’t do it here. The distance between people who are singing in the streets and the people who are terrorism-loving-9/11-apologists is measured by us.
Chest-pumping quasi-xenophobia is the kneejerk pep rally that follows such an event. Having actual considered thoughts must wait for that to fade.
Those thoughts will be mostly conspiracy theories, sure, but still, they have some effort behind them.
I think Martin Luther King said it best: “I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that” [Martin Luther King, Jr.]
@Rebel With A Cause, It’s been discovered that Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t actually say that.
I have a “I shot motherfuckers in Iraq”bumper sticker,and I don’t consider myself pro OR un patriotic.I’m just telling it like it is.I don’t look at anti war stickers or shirts as being stupid or un patriotic.If someone is offended by my sticker,so be it.I’m offended ever day,so what.I’ll get over it.That man wearing that shirt probably uses it a form of armor,to keep people away.That’s the purpose of my bumper sticker.Those of us who have had the event of armed combat occur in our lives sometimes have a hard time reconciling that with our now mundane,un adrenalized lives.It does not mean to infer that we feel others are un patriotic.By the way,my sticker does a super job of persuading the police not to pull me over.Cheers.
Brilliantly said. When I popped onto the FB to see people’s reactions, I was really, truly surprised by the things I read, as far as crass, violent, hateful celebration (complete with pictures – ugh). And it’s strange, because I thought I had surrounded myself with people who weren’t like that, so much.
And just like you said, I felt silenced. I saw someone had said something about feeling icky about celebrating death, and they got leapt-upon. So I just read and observed (which is unusual for me).
That day I could get behind the celebration of finding him and stopping him. But I’ve never been able to get excited over sticking-a-head-on-a-pike-for-all-to-see situations. And so I felt compelled to comment here, because it is somehow soothing to find other people who feel the same way.