Monday, September 11, 2006

Lowered Expectations 2 - Blank Wall 1

According to a local TV station today is "a day the whole world will remember."

If we really wanted the whole world to remember we would say "September Eleventh", not "Nine Eleven". Do we know or care that the rest of the world might celebrate on November 9th.

But September 11 fits just so excellently into the U.S. political calendar; it's already a primary tool for manipulating our emotions and heightening our national desire for vengeance and revengeance.

Someday another attack, from the place we least expect, will start the cycle again. Want to start an office pool to guess the opening date of Gulf War Three?

ABC's The Path to 9/11 is getting a lot of notice for fictionalizing the pre-history of 9-11. The Power of Nightmares, a 3-part series from BBC would be a fine antidote.

Chapter One details the philosophical origins of our current religious & cultural war. Do you recognize these names: Sayed Qutb, infuriated by a coed church dance in 1949 Colorado, or Leo Strauss, who thought America ought to model itself after the TV show Gunsmoke? No, I never heard of them either.


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1 comment :

Addison said...

It doesn't have the instant gratification of viewing the streaming video at the Internet Archive, but The Power of Nightmares is listed on Netflix as being available someday.