Moving On

Rather than indulge in today's 9/11 mediapalooza, I am reposting this entry...

In their issue which poses the question 'What If 9/11 Never Happened?', New York magazine also has an article on the grief culture that has consumed America since the attacks (the "age of terror" the main article calls it). It definitely spoke to something I've been thinking about about for a while... namely, as I mentioned in my entry yesterday about refocusing the war on terror, that it's time to stop letting said war dominate American life and politics. Our leaders and relevant agencies (FBI/CIA/NSA/Military) will still be dealing with the terrorist threat and tracking down plots on a daily basis- and have been for over a decade- but the country as whole needs to finally move on.

That may sound harsh to some, but eventually the grieving process does come to an end. Five years later, it's definitely past time. We always remember those we lost, but we move on. To allow one singular event- no matter how powerful- to dictate the policies and lifestyles of a nation like ours is simply irrational. If a psychiatrist was diagnosing America and its behavior post-9/11, he'd definitely recommend we be medicated. A "national neurosis, a perpetual childhood," the article calls it. In addition, as the article notes, this grief culture plays into the hands of our enemies by making us appear weak and fragile... two words one would not normally associate with this country. We have let the terrorists win by legitimizing their power and winning their PR war for them.

This stalled, perpetual grieving culture can be blamed on the two parties most responsible for enabling it-- firstly, the politicians, namely the Bush administration whose political survival depends on the 'daddy state' they created to hide their foreign and domestic failures. Secondly at fault is the media, who love the sexy excitement that can be exploited from terror stories. We have the power to force them to stop this charade by moving on ourselves. We have to. So many important issues- namely the entire domestic agenda of the United States (job creation, healthcare, minimum wage, rebuilding New Orleans, immigration, etc)- have been on pause for the last five years. We can finally tackle those issues while keeping our eye on the terrorism ball, if we learn to put the latter in its proper context.

We shouldn't forget the lessons of that day, but it's time to be America again.

Let's move on.