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9/11 won’t ever stop being a date

Seventh anniversary of the event, and while I don’t think we ever want to forget it, it’s still clear that some people really have to start remembering it in different ways. Yes, I’m looking at the Republicans who peppered their convention with 9/11 imagery, in an apparent attempt to show how tough they still are.

John Scalzi has a quiet little thread on the commemoration, where he simply says: “It brought us together.” I added the following comment:

I think everyone should remember that it brought the whole world together with you, for a while at least.

It’s hard to remember now, after all the bullshit the world’s been put through (from all sides), and all the downright xenophobic shit that the party in power has used to stay there, that the whole world was on America’s side on that day (recall the leading French newspaper — “We are all Americans today”).

All we seem to hear about is anti-Americanism around the world now, but there’s also a core appeal that most of us see in America as well. And we saw it on that day.

The tragedy is that for most people it didnt — couldn’t — last. And the world will change for the better if we can bring that back.

(From Australia… mostly, usually, a friend.)

In a US election year, this event has probably got more exploitation than usual, but at the same time, there’s enough smart people to balance out the crap I think. Hope that holds for other events this year.

An addendum: There’s no real conclusion I can draw from this little observation… but tonight, Letterman was meant to be on Channel Ten at 11.20pm, with the guest being Barack Obama. I was looking forward to this. Instead, we got the old 9/11 doco from the French brothers. It was a good piece of work, but not something I feel the need to relive religiously every year. Letterman isn’t on until 1am now. There’s some kind of irony here — wallowing in the tragic past and ignoring the (hopefully) brighter future…

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