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United Against Liberty
Excellent rant from Gene Healy:
I, like Rudy Giuliani, was a 9/11 survivor. And I use that term in the sense that Giuliani does, which means I was sort of near stuff that was going on—across the Potomac from the Pentagon(!)—and I didn't cry, so therefore you should think of me as an American Hero and elect me president.
Anyway, I remember what I thought and how I felt. I felt sick and I felt angry and I felt anxious. But I never for a second thought that anything good was going to come out of this, and the idea that this would be a great unifying moment, a clarifying moment, a moment that would allow us all to fight the Great Patriotic War Against Medieval Retards in Caves without which our lives were vacant and shallow--well, I have to say, that idea never once occurred to me. And though I am generally self-righteous only about my utter lack of self-righteousness, I feel pretty goddamned self righteous that it didn't.
[...]
It's the idea that we're all better off engaged in a grand ideological crusade, collecting ration cards, saving bacon grease and scrap metal, and dutifully attending War on Terror bond rallies. We're all called to different tasks in this crusade. Some of us take point in Sadr City. Some of us cheer them on in the Weekly Standard. But they also serve who only sit and write op-eds.
The notion that our lives lack meaning unless the collective unites us all in service of a higher calling and that mass murder can provide that happy occasion is as old and atavistic as the first cave painting. It's also as natural, human, and evil as all the faults to which flesh is heir.
|8.21.07 @ 2:59PM|#
One thing that impressed me about the American people (who don't
impress me that often) was the surprisingly few hate crimes after
9/11 against muslims/arabs/anyone wearing a turban.
That particular bit of unity hasn't lasted all that well.
Episiarch|8.21.07 @ 3:06PM|#
I think it simply is that a lot of people are collectivist. They
want to identify and subsume themselves within a group, for various
reasons such as belonging, purpose, and identification. When
everyone seemed united--especially in a patriotic fashion--these
types who are on the right felt that belonging, that welcoming
group identity, that shared purpose, and liked it.
Some on the left, such as Hitchens, did also, because he felt
united in a fight against many things he hates, personified in the
religion of the perceived enemy.
I don't need an eternal enemy for my life to have
meaning.
Many people feel much more comfortable with an enemy. Perpetual
partisans on both the right and left are exactly this way--it lets
them know where they stand, who their friends are, and who their
enemies are. No thinking necessary.
Brian Sorgatz|8.21.07 @ 3:07PM|#
Giuliani is a fucking pig. I know his type all too well. Unfortunately, I was raised by one. (Read under the "About Me" heading.)
Syloson of Samos|8.21.07 @ 3:08PM|#
Nate,
A number of Sihks were killed in the wake of 9/11 as I recall.
Which ought to say something about their attackers.
dhex|8.21.07 @ 3:15PM|#
a sihk was attacked in ozone park, queens, by a bunch of guidos
a few months afterwards.
but i will say the numbers were *far* lower than i feared after
9/11.
Alice Bowie|8.21.07 @ 3:20PM|#
Guiliani is like a laxative....
It's ok to take it now and then...but everyday will cause a very
very very bad strain.
I worked on the 38th floor of One WTC...I ran for my life the same
day that Guiliani did.
We were all so scared.
Guiliani (and many people -- americans and jews alike) have
this "Let's get tough" on terrorist attitude
This Tough Guy attitude doesn't seem to be
working. Unless there is a NEW HOLICAST against the Muslims
world-wide (which i clearly don't condone)...I don't see the
problem going away.
It's easy for dick cheney, gwb, and others to have a tough attitude
when they don't have to ride the NY Subway system.
|8.21.07 @ 3:24PM|#
The notion that our lives lack meaning unless the collective
unites us all in service of a higher calling and that mass murder
can provide that happy occasion[...]
Is this about Giuliani or Mussolini?
LibertyPlease|8.21.07 @ 3:26PM|#
For practical guide to the behavior of the American masses, see Idiocracy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/
|8.21.07 @ 3:28PM|#
Nate,
You remember things different than I do. I remember there being a
small rash of unprovoked attacks and vandalism. I'm not saying
anyone was lynched in daylight. Maybe that's your point, that it
could have been worse.
|8.21.07 @ 3:31PM|#
My point was it could have been a lot worse, and its getting worse rather than better which I don't understand.
Urkobold™|8.21.07 @ 3:33PM|#
YOU PEOPLE DON'T KNOW THE RUDY GIULIANI THAT THE URKOBOLD KNOWS.
WHEN THE URKOBOLD WAS TRAPPED ON THE 81ST FLOOR OF TOWER NUMBER
ONE, FEARING FOR HIS TROLLISH EXISTENCE, IT WAS RUDY WHO GRABBED
HIM AND CARRIED HIM OUT ON HIS STRONG, HERCULEAN SHOULDERS. WITHOUT
RUDY, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND NEW YORKERS WOULD'VE DIED THAT
DAY.
WEIBSKOBOLD! BRING THE URKOBOLD MORE OF THAT SPECIAL MEDICINE. OH,
YEAH.
|8.21.07 @ 3:40PM|#
Both.
I shouldn't have been surprised to see Christopher Hitchens in
there as well, that crazy collectivist power-worshipper.
|8.21.07 @ 3:47PM|#
I really thought Hitchens biographies of Paine and Jefferson were quite good. Its sad that hes gone off the deep end of war-mongering. Maybe its the booze.
Alice Bowie|8.21.07 @ 4:02PM|#
I challenge anyone in this BLOG...or in the whole world (for
that matter) to explain to me EXACTLY what Rudy did on (and
after 911) to make him America's Mayor.
I'm not being cynical or trollish...I JUST REALLY want to know
|8.21.07 @ 4:07PM|#
In another thread, Tom Walls referred to America's Mayor of 9/11® as Ghouliani. That's just great--hadn't seen that one before.
jimmydageek|8.21.07 @ 4:10PM|#
Alice,
He "was there", helping NY stay alive! I mean, without him, there
would be no NY left at all!!
Anonymo the Anonymous|8.21.07 @ 4:11PM|#
If you want something done right, gotta do it yourself:
DONDEROOOOOO!
M|8.21.07 @ 4:24PM|#
Very good, compromised only by the unfortunate and ignorant slur on cave paintings, which are works of high art.
Rhywun|8.21.07 @ 4:42PM|#
a sihk was attacked in ozone park, queens, by a bunch of
guidos a few months afterwards
9/11 just made them change their usual target from blacks to
turban-y looking people--it's not like they weren't going to attack
someone.
Rhywun|8.21.07 @ 4:45PM|#
the idea that this would be a great unifying moment, a
clarifying moment, a moment that would allow us all to fight the
Great Patriotic War Against Medieval Retards in Caves without which
our lives were vacant and shallow--well, I have to say, that idea
never once occurred to me
Oh, I saw that happening right away, as I was fleeing the
neighborhood. Not as a good thing, of course, and most
certainly not in Iraq.
|8.21.07 @ 4:47PM|#
BOOM! MONEY SHOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My dear Moose, "Money shot"? Have you forgotten what day
it is? Bad show, old boy, bad show.
Paul|8.21.07 @ 4:57PM|#
The notion that our lives lack meaning unless the collective
unites us all in service of a higher calling and that mass murder
can provide that happy occasion is as old and atavistic as the
first cave painting.
Almost all policital stripes, except that of libertarianism seems
to want national, collective unity. Whether it's the war on terror,
the war on poverty, healthcare acces/quality/care, political
engagement, you name it.
Christ, I've been subjected to editorial commentary on NPR about
how much better the country was when we had just a couple of media
companies-- thus forcing us all to engage collectively in daily
issues of our time-- contributing to our "national civic
education".
This, of course, immediately followed by an editorial excoriating
our current media conglomeration, and why just a couple of big
media companies are bad-- all without any sense of irony, or
intellectual connective tissue to the previous editorial.
PS: I thought "national civic education" was a class on Honda
repair.
VM|8.21.07 @ 5:01PM|#
simply cannot, cannot, cannot post this picture
www.sharknet.net/pics/monkey2.jpg
too much, even for this moose. do not look. For the love of all
that's holy, DO NOT LOOK!!!
ARGH!
Instead: Monkey Shot
glass.
Paul|8.21.07 @ 5:06PM|#
Goddamnit, moose. You made me freakin' look. Never, ever tell a man of questionable repute to not look.
Jim Lippard|8.21.07 @ 5:09PM|#
Nate: My impression is the reverse of yours--Balbir Singh Sodhi, an Indian Sikh businessman, was murdered by Frank Silva Roque in Mesa, Arizona on September 16, 2001. I'm not aware of any similar cases in the area since. Roque was given the death penalty, which was overturned by the Arizona Supreme Court in favor of life imprisonment.
|8.21.07 @ 5:27PM|#
"""I challenge anyone in this BLOG...or in the whole world (for
that matter) to explain to me EXACTLY what Rudy did on (and after
911) to make him America's Mayor."""
He was Mayor and a victim.
Paul|8.21.07 @ 5:33PM|#
EXACTLY what Rudy did on (and after 911) to make him
America's Mayor.
He did nothing. Which, in the eyes of any real
libertarian, means he's worth serious consideration.
In my world, the Maytag Repairman would be president, congress, and
the po-po.
|8.21.07 @ 5:34PM|#
I predicted a dark era of 10 to 20 years where the Constitution wouldn't be worth the paper on which it was printed. What has surprised me is people talking about pre-911 America as no good or something not to be like. The post 9/11 America is strong, the Pre-9/11 America was weak. What idiots.
Paul|8.21.07 @ 7:16PM|#
I'd love it if the pre-9/11 America returned. I freaking
miss it.
yeah...
*looks wistfully out the window while phone rings off the
hook...*
|8.21.07 @ 8:54PM|#
In fairness to Giuliani, and the discussions on what he did
positive on 9/11, and on the issue of post 9/11 "backlash"
violence, here's backhanded but sincere praise from a surprising
source, and for surprising reasons. The late Palestinan professor
Edward Said in Counterpunch
less than a week after wrote:
"New Yorkers have been fortunate that Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a
normally rebarbative and unpleasantly combative, even retrograde
figure, has rapidly attained Churchillian status. Calmly,
unsentimentally, and with extraordinary compassion, he has
marshalled the city's heroic police, fire and emergency services to
admirable effect and, alas, with huge loss of life. Giuliani's was
the first voice of caution against panic and jingoistic attacks on
the city's large Arab and Muslim communities, the first to express
the commonsense of anguish, the first to press everyone to try to
resume life after the shattering blows."
|8.21.07 @ 8:58PM|#
Despite that, I think Gene is right about today's political interpretation of 9/11 as cause around which to make one;s meaning.
tros|8.21.07 @ 11:03PM|#
fight the Great Patriotic War Against Medieval
Retards
Hey, somebody besides me used the word "retards"! Where is the Wine
Commonsewer?
tros|8.21.07 @ 11:08PM|#
GO 'WAY! BATIN!!!!!!
To a pic of the exploding twin towers, no doubt.
http://www.churchofeuthanasia.org/
|8.21.07 @ 11:55PM|#
Alice Bowie:
We'll never know if Giuliani did anything special. What we
do know is that his administration didn't crumble and
throw its metaphorical arms up in the air. I don't particularly
like the guy for Prez, and we could always play what-ifs about a
different administration, but Rudy's administration dealt with the
problems. Mistakes were made etc., but I honestly think the only
thing he did to be America's super #1 hero is not crumble. This is
not meant to be a glowing endorsement...
|8.22.07 @ 1:01AM|#
The tone and subject of political rhetoric aside, I would say post- and pre-9/11 America are indistinguishable (now that all the flags have rotted/peeled off of everyone's car).
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