Skip to main content

In the Shadow of No Towers

By


It seems Americans will never let go of 911, as they have never forgotten the Iran hostage crisis on 1980.  There are any number of posts on facebook, each trying to capture a more poignant moment than the one before.  At least, the rage finally appears to have subsided.  The memorial, which opened last year on the tenth anniversary, seems to have eased some anxieties.  But, I really don't get the feeling most Americans have come to term with the horrific event, at least not in any meaningful way.

You hear the Republicans calling for even more national defense, and Muslims remain the principal target of Tea Party rants, like this one in Arizona.  Many candidates went so far as to make Sharia law a campaign issue, with more than 20 states considering anti-Sharia legislation.  I would think they would be more worried about the increased call for Biblical law.

We seem a nation riddled by our own doubts, prejudices and fears, which is what Art Spiegelman took aim at in his large format book, In the Shadow of No Towers.  Odd, when you consider the firepower we have, not to mention the economic might.  Yet, an insecurity complex persists, which I suppose is why 911 will resonate for many years to come.  We are not immune to terrorist violence, and no laws or no walls is going to make us any less vulnerable.  As Ron Paul said to a less than receptive crowd, we should live by the Golden Rule.

Comments

  1. TripplerSeptember 11, 2012 at 5:45 PM

    "live by the Golden Rule"


    So many right wingers say this is a Christian nation. If true, then they should do as Jesus demanded when he said "make peace with ALL men".

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

By
  Welcome to this month's reading group selection.  David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908.  At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades.  Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society.  I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran.  Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro
228 comments
Read more

Dylan in America

By
Whoever it was in 1969 who named the very first Bob Dylan bootleg album “Great White Wonder” may have had a mischievous streak. There are any number of ways you can interpret the title — most boringly, the cover was blank, like the Beatles’ “White Album” — but I like to see a sly allusion to “Moby-Dick.” In the seven years since the release of his first commercial record, Dylan had become the white whale of 20th-century popular song, a wild, unconquerable and often baffling force of musical nature who drove fans and critics Ahab-mad in their efforts to spear him, lash him to the hull and render him merely comprehensible. --- Bruce Handy, NYTimes ____________________________________________ I figured we can start fresh with Bob Dylan.  Couldn't resist this photo of him striking a Woody Guthrie pose.  Looks like only yesterday.  Here is a link to the comments building up to this reading group.
182 comments
Read more

Team of Rivals Reading Group

By
''Team of Rivals" is also an America ''coming-of-age" saga. Lincoln, Seward, Chase et al. are sketched as being part of a ''restless generation," born when Founding Fathers occupied the White House and the Louisiana Purchase netted nearly 530 million new acres to be explored. The Western Expansion motto of this burgeoning generation, in fact, was cleverly captured in two lines of Stephen Vincent Benet's verse: ''The stream uncrossed, the promise still untried / The metal sleeping in the mountainside." None of the protagonists in ''Team of Rivals" hailed from the Deep South or Great Plains. _______________________________ From a review by Douglas Brinkley, 2005
293 comments
Read more