The way the story of the above photograph was told me was thus: Right after the first plane hit, Stephan, who
lived In Jersey City and being a camera buff, hung out at Hudson Camera,had
grabbed his camera was huffing and puffing it down to the waterfront when he
stopped for film. Pete, threw him two rolls and said go! Go!
This picture was taken a few minutes later. The moment of unfolding horror captured. It is
probably the most famous Jersey City picture of 9-11, was used to promote fund
raisers and other events, for a while there back in the early 00’s, it was
nearly ominous round these parts.
More than one person commented how today feels exactly like
that morning, weather-wise. A beautiful late summer morning. And like thatmorning, today I went to the gym and was thinking about the new Bob Dylan album
(review forthcoming), which was due to be released today, this Tuesday, the
release day for new everything, but which I bought at Rebel Records in the
village on Friday. And like that morning, in the horizon was a tower – the 9 11
memorial, still under construction but finally filling in that long empty space
in our sky.
11 years of bloody water under the bridge since then, two
wars whose conclusions are far from satisfactory but yet good are not absent
from either conclusion. Bin Laden has been killed, Al Qeda significantly
vanquished and instead of sending in thousands of troops, we use drones, which
have been effective and why the civilian casualties are a horror, those numbers
are far less than the civilian casualties of the Bush II era wars. I don’t want
to get into the drone debate, I’m just expressing an observation. No war at all
is preferred but I’m unconvinced how realistic that option is. Also, I believe
that the terrorists who hide in civilian populations, and those who enable them
to seek refuge there, bear certainly some blame for the causalities, something
the anti-drone proponents never mention.
I don’t see how intellectually you can both oppose the Bush II era wars
and the current drone strategy; the only decision is which one you find more
preferable.
Our country is still polarized. The roots are deep, but it
sure seem to heat up during the Clinton years and the Monica Lewinsky affair
and the Republicans scorched earth impeachment drive. Man, what a waste of time
– Whitewater for goodness sake – and it always worth reminding the cries of “No
War For Monica” by the republicans when Clinton ordered a missile attack
retaliation. This partisan bitterness deepened with the Bush V. Gore supreme
court stop the vote count decision and then any question about the Weapons of
Mass Destruction became a sign of unpatriotic behavior. The right has a way of
one-upmanship when squelching the left. You could see the echo of the Clinton resentment
throughout the drive to war with Iraq through the more recent economic and
healthcare policy battles and stalemates and of course, no being played in our
current presidential election. This debate had nothing to do with 9-11 even
when 9-11 is mentioned – 9-11 was the instigating incident of the Iraq invasion
and yet Romney ridicules Obama for the
Bin Laden mission, but no one is questioning Bush officials about their
dealings with Pakistan, who were giving him sanctuary and continue to provide
havens for Osama and other operatives. Today in the times there was an
editorial in the times about how the Bush was warned throughout 2001 about Bin
Laden, something they’ve previously denied. About a year ago there was news
about all this testimony by Bush and Cheney for the 9-11 Commission about Saudi
involvement that was didactic from the final report. There are unanswered questions about Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan, what really happened
in Tora Bora – Fare height 9-11 just scratched the surface – but we
ignore these question in a bipartisan country now focused once again on the
horse race of elections than the soundness of policy. Or bring up these points
and soon you hear the real loonies, 9-11 was an inside job crew of jerks.
I’m sick of 9-11 just like you. So much turmoil was caused
by those plans, and it set off a chain of events that were both good and bad,
still being felt… Libya, Syria, Egyp… will those uprisings lead to more freedom
and quality of life for those citizens.
Israel is now adamant about not giving back Palestinian terror ties, Palestinians
refuse to give up the right of return which is why they refuse to recognize Israel,
war with Iran over nuclear weapons seems inevitable and no matter how many
American lives or how much of our treasure we spend, we still get played by
both sides who know our election cycle fervor, how influential money can be and
where sound bites rule the day. Can you really think of a sound bite that will
solve the Mid-East crisis, which is really a series of connected troubles; greed
and power politics are interwoven with racial and religious biases, it’s
complex and the solutions must be comprehensive and sound bites are just
another way to evade solution.
But it was always thus and that’s why 19 men gave their
lives to kill 3,000 people who simply went to work that day.
9-11 was also a local Jersey City event, we were on the
front lines and it dominated our lives for weeks, all we could talk or think
about. By default, residents are divided
between who lived here before and who lived here after. Not that there is animosity
but the gentrification sped up around 2003 and more people moved here and most
of them were gen-yers, and white (a smaller percent were Asian), which visibly
changed the population. 9-11 was the end of the 90s for everybody, and having
lived in Jersey City for two decades now, the second decade was different
demographically than the first; so was the country and our culture and Jersey
City is far from isolated from those influences as well and 9-11, at least implicitly,
seems a dividing line. Not a cause or an effect, but it was such a monumental
moment that it has become a convenient means to distinguish one mini,
contemporary epoch from another.
We were more unified after 9-11. People are more polite,
strangers talk to each other more, in general we, as a people, are little more courteous
to each other than we used to be. There’s been a noticeable increase in mutual
consideration. It started at 9-11 and gradually diminished for sure but it’s
never disappeared completely. In addition, generation Y seems more polite than
baby boomers or generation x, maybe they’re more sober more often and perhaps
them mood enhancing prescriptions have had this beneficial outcome. So, while
we may not be as unified, Jersey City is a little bit better place to get along
in.
Sure it’s more expensive, work is harder to find, incomes
aren’t growing any but that’s also the national scenario. There manners and considerations though, that
seemed to occur with 9-11 and seems a lingering effect, in the New York area –
as a general, unsubstantiated statement, there are less assholes and the
assholes aren’t as big.
For lack of a better word – fellowship – was evident with
Occupy Wall Street last year. Now, this movement has faded, is in need of re-energization,
and some intellectual direction has been almost entirely abducted by the loony
left and one-issue fanatics who are intent on their own agenda but uninterested
in offering ideas of how to implement the sweeping economic change this country
requires – but I would argue the comradely that was in evidence a year ago
fueling OWS was a direct result of the initial reactions to 9-11, before so
many of those feelings were exploited by Bush II to justify the Iraq invasion.
Patriotism has various manifestation; most go beyond knowing
the words to the Star Spangled Banner or saluting the flag or voting for the
cross, fetus and Reagenomics.
No answers are easy, few are even clarified. We need to do
more. But when I think of those towers that are gone, the lives lost, the
bitterness and anger over some of our government’s actions and the apprehension
over the rest, I remember something else too. We’re a little bit nicer to each
than we used to be. Getting that to be more of a national trend, translating
that into legislation and regulation and sound policy and not just individual
phenomena remains a challenge.
Yes, we’re nicer to each other but our politicians are not.
That’s the contradiction, and unfortunately our politicians – especially on the
right – do not reflect the reality on the ground. And, those leaders control
police force, so protestors and activist have their rights ignored. In state, municipal
and of course Law enforcement is just following orders and it is obvious that OWS
protestors, other activists, including unions, are unfairly and unjustly repressed,
by law enforcement, often under the cover of new disturbing the peace
regulations.
America has always been about contradictions.
9-11 gave us a deeper understanding – an understanding that
is also non-verbal and subconscious – of the first three words of our constitution.
We The People.
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