911 Pornography

I avoided radio and the idiot's lantern (TV) today.  For me, there would be no pleasure or learning to come from listening and watching the broadcast networks. These absurd propaganda generators are engaged in grotesque competition to achieve the nadir in mawkish, dribbling and self-righteous ejaculations of piety, faux empathy and jingoistic dick-wagging.  I would feel only anger bordering on rage to suffer splatters of rhetorical vomitus from the likes of George Bush, Dick Cheney and their ilk. They are little men of little character who ignored solid, accurate warnings of the attack and once they occured hastened to extract maximum political and ideological benefit from a day of shock, sorrow and tragic loss.

Equally, I have no wish to revisit the craven failings of North American media as they became complicit in turning the American people into a tribe of bed-wetting children convinced that the evil "Moozlims" might kill them in their beds.  Worse, they became cheerleaders for the Iraq adventure, an ill-conceived campaign which killed twice as many young Americans as did the Twin Tower attacks when there was no logical reason for doing it.  They went along with Draconian assaults on freedom and privacy.  They approved of the theatre of the absurd airport security measures that plague us still. And they never championed truth.

The successful attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon were classic terrorist activities.  Their purpose was to terrify the populace, incite massive, ill-considered reaction and invite the Muslim population in the US to rise up in revolt.  On the first two counts, they achieved splendid success.  On the third, their failure was complete.  American Muslims, secular, many of them were Americans first and foremost and wanted no part of military Jihad aimed at their country of birth or choice.  Still do not, despite the repeated insults they have suffered since at the hands of profoundly stupid, vicious people.

Terrorism succeeds when those attacked agree to be terrorized, shit their collective pants, buy canned goods and emergency radios for their hidey holes in their suburban basements and attend to the frothing nonsense delivered by witless media and ignorant pundits.  Bin Laden won the day.  On this day of national breast beating you will hear no admission of this lamentable fact.  Beyond that, Bin Laden accelerated the rapid decline of the American Empire.  On this 10th Anniversary consider;

• America ranks behind dozens of countries in educational achievement.
• It is unable to provide adequate health care for millions (around 47 million) citizens.
• Its effective unemployment rate is over 16%
• Its production in both manufacturing and service sectors has been delegated to low wage countries.
• All of the current Presidential wannabes believe that the world was created "as is" 6,500 years ago, Jesus was friends with dinosaurs, The Flintstones is a documentary, global warming is a lie promulgated by atheistic scientists trying to cadge grant money from "hard workin', tax payin' patriotic Murricans", taxation is an evil when applied to the rich like us, and the poor should not have the right to vote because they are moochers and not producers.
• Young American veterans of unnecessary wars are lionized by rich, fat old creeps who artfully avoided military service for lack of courage.  These same veterans are suffering, unemployed, in trouble with the law, committing suicide and languishing in mental hospitals at rates far above the national average.  The rich, fat old creeps declare that it would be imprudent to spend money on them because "...we have this deficit problem...".  Of course.

Is this decline in economic, moral and social terms?

What, exactly are Americans celebrating on this, the 10th anniversary of the 911 tragedy?

Beats me.