The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    stillidealistic's picture

    I Don't Feel Connected To This America

    By stillidealistic on Sun, 09/12/2010 - 2:39am |

    I stayed away from the 9/11 coverage today, well, now yesterday. The mosque controversy has left me feeling disgusted, and I just didn't want any part of it. But I did see a few pictures on the front page at TPM a few minutes ago. The hateful people at the rally...the ignorant signs...I just don't feel connected to this America.

    I mean it wasn't supposed to be a celebration, so it's not like they spoiled the fun or anything like that. But they spoiled something.

    I wanted to remember the day with some sort of sense that we had been viciously attacked that day for no reason. I wanted to feel like an innocent victim. Like my country had been attacked without provocation.

    But somehow in the nine years since the attack, our behavior as a country, has diminished my ability to feel like we are on the moral high ground here. Somehow, instead of feeling innocent, I just feel dirty...and I can't really explain why.

    Does anyone understand what I'm trying (extremely ineptly) to say? Can someone help me put words to these things I'm feeling?

     

    *cross posted at TPM and Once Upon A TPM

    Comments

    Sure.  Losing one's sense of innocence about one's group hurts.  It takes psychological energy and is unpleasant to modify or reconstruct the previous narrative that has one's group occuping the high ground. 

    Good to "see" you here.

     

     


    by AmericanDreamer on Sun, 09/12/2010 - 11:13am

    There are terrible people in this world who say theyworship THE CHRIST.

    There are wonderful people in this world who say they worship THE CHRIST.

     

    There are terrible people in this world who say theyworship ALLAH.

    There are wonderful people in this world who say they worship ALLAH.

     

    We can only counter the cries of the wicked.

     


    by Richard Day on Sun, 09/12/2010 - 4:24pm

    Hi stilli Smile,

    Yeah I was one of the millions who stared at the TV constantly for a solid two weeks after 9/11. The whole country in shock. I am with you when you say this is not the America we knew. We realized 9/11 was perpetrated by a handful of loonies, yet the right has managed to convince a good part of the country over these last 9 years that it is an "us" vs. "them" argument. It really isn't very hard to do, especially when the right set one religion against the other.

    Sam Harris once said that 9/11 was the day when 19 pious men showed our pious country just how beneficial religious certainty can be.

    Certainly a sad slide for our country. How can we possibly tout that America is the "home of the free" with a straight face. I am embarrassed for our country.


    by mageduley on Sun, 09/12/2010 - 5:59pm