< 9/11 has become an Excuse >

[rayheinrich]

  < 9/11 has become an Excuse >

          9/11 -
          all that's left
          is an excuse

    an excuse to get votes
    an excuse to make profit
    an excuse to limit civil rights
    an excuse for armchair patriotism

    an excuse for war
    an excuse to kill civilians with drones
    an excuse for xenophobia
    an excuse to live in fear

                - - -

[RiverNotch]

Well--
Huh.

---

I remember that day -- I remember my parents being devastated, and I think my aunts and uncles and grandparents were there, being devastated along with them, as the towers fell on the television, as the reporter stood shocked. There was no crying, though: it all felt too distant, however close our country is to the US in terms of politics, culture, corruptions -- and I imagined our walls were the falling towers, and I hummed a few songs, and played a bit more, until I learned to grow up.

[just mercedes]

Ouch.

[rayheinrich]

I've added a small list of excuses:

       Sep 11th -
       all that's left
       is an excuse

an excuse to get votes
an excuse to make profit
an excuse to limit civil rights
an excuse for armchair patriotism

an excuse for war
an excuse to kill civilians with drones
an excuse for xenophobia
an excuse to live in fear

[billy]

may god have mercy on your soul, i take it you're not a republican no no, you're a texan so the odds are me being wrong.

to the poem.

i have to agree with it to a point. and i'm guessing that is the point. that some use our fears for their own ends. twould make a great discussion point. i like the poem a lot.

[rayheinrich]

may god have mercy on your soul, i take it you're not a republican no no, you're a texan so the odds are me being wrong.

to the poem.

i have to agree with it to a point. and i'm guessing that is the point. that some use our fears for their own ends. twould make a great discussion point. i like the poem a lot.

Yes, I'm a Texan; but no, I'm not a republican/conservative. I'm a socialist, but I usually
tone it down to "liberal democrat" -- not that my neighbors think there's any difference.

My neighbors, mostly republicans, are good people, they treat me right. They're mostly honest, well-meaning
people who've been tricked into working against their best interests, been convinced that rich people
somehow give a damn about them. As my dad, a long-time liberal democrat, union supporter, and tireless
campaign worker used to say: "Republicans: The party of the rich and the gullible."

And yes, that is the point of the poem.
And yes, it would make a great discussion topic; only I can't bear to think about it anymore.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I commented the below under Mark's 9/11 poem, but I thought I'd include it under mine because it addresses the topic:

What upsets me is how quickly 9/11 was turned into a commodity. Not just the media preying on
survivors, but all the people who saw in it an excellent opportunity to advance their agendas.

Do you think writing a poem about it is taking advantage of it?
Knowing that people -- well, at least those over 25 -- will be more likely to read it?

Considering the evil of the act has been outstripped by the opportunists, I've come to
think -- as terrible as it might sound -- that it is best to let it pass into history.

[billy]

i think it's fair to write any poem.

i suppose there's a reason to remember 9/11 poem out there
while it's not the holocaust, i think to forget would be to rub out the wrong deeds done in the name of whatever.

[rayheinrich]

i think it's fair to write any poem.

i suppose there's a reason to remember 9/11 poem out there
while it's not the holocaust, i think to forget would be to rub out the wrong deeds done in the name of whatever.

And yet:

Sonnet 55

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.

[srijantje]

my first reaction was,aren't there any locks on those cockpits?

[shemthepenman]

"i was on holiday in spain on 9/11. it seems distasteful now, but i wasn't to know at the time. I didn't plan it; the holiday, i mean, not the attacks.  
i was walking around there on 9/11, the 9th of novemember - reclaim the calendar, we invented those dates! i was walking around there on the 9th of novemeber, 9/11, and i went into a little spanish bar; and on television there was all this film of buildings on fire and things falling down and people running around screaming. and i said to the barman 'where's that?' - in spanish 'donde esta?'. and he said 'Nueva York'; and i thought, 'oh, it's in columbia or somewhere, it doesn't matter'. then i watched for a bit longer, and realised it was new york, where english speaking people live, therefore, a terrible news worthy tragedy." - stewart lee

[Obadiah Grey]

And, it was a rather good excuse for war !