tp183.xml
Title
tp183.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
TomPaine Story: Story
What were the issues in the national news in the days leading up to 9/11?
The fact is I tuned out not long after the 2000 non-election. The feelings
of powerlessness and anger it engendered were overwhelming. My teeth would
grind every time I heard George W. Bush referred to as the ""President elect""
so I vowed not to look at the news again for four years.
I had employed the same strategy during the tenure of Bush the elder with
some success. After surviving eight years of Reagan, the extension of his
reign by proxy swamped my endurance and I determined to ignore the whole
thing. I stopped watching the nightly news and my mental outlook did
brighten a bit. I thought I could do it again this time. I was wrong.
Because, truthfully, even before 9/11, Bush the youngers thundering missteps
in governance (the tax cut, the repudiation of the Kyoto Accords), troubled
my deliberate inattention with a vague unease like the vestiges of a
nightmare. I said to myself, ""Of course there will be some damage but in
four years time we can begin to mend."" I was lying to myself. I was hoping
for the best.
Then the towers came rumbling down. And with them went whatever restraint
those-who-would-be-our-masters might have had about robbing and enslaving us
as rapidly and as completely as they can. The intent is so blatant that it
cannot even be masked behind a thick lacquer of patriotic rhetoric. There is
no ignoring it. But, it may be that their gleeful exploitation of 9/11 will
be their downfall. For now they have shown the world plainly what they are.
The agenda before 9/11 and the agenda after is the same really. The
difference is now I am fully awake to the consequences of waiting in silence
and letting these stupid, greedy, privileged thugs have their free and
unfettered way with it. I am only sorry it took me so long and I apologize
for my feebleness and my fear. Now I must speak. Now I must oppose.
Please, let millions of others awaken as well and do the same. It is our
only hope.
The fact is I tuned out not long after the 2000 non-election. The feelings
of powerlessness and anger it engendered were overwhelming. My teeth would
grind every time I heard George W. Bush referred to as the ""President elect""
so I vowed not to look at the news again for four years.
I had employed the same strategy during the tenure of Bush the elder with
some success. After surviving eight years of Reagan, the extension of his
reign by proxy swamped my endurance and I determined to ignore the whole
thing. I stopped watching the nightly news and my mental outlook did
brighten a bit. I thought I could do it again this time. I was wrong.
Because, truthfully, even before 9/11, Bush the youngers thundering missteps
in governance (the tax cut, the repudiation of the Kyoto Accords), troubled
my deliberate inattention with a vague unease like the vestiges of a
nightmare. I said to myself, ""Of course there will be some damage but in
four years time we can begin to mend."" I was lying to myself. I was hoping
for the best.
Then the towers came rumbling down. And with them went whatever restraint
those-who-would-be-our-masters might have had about robbing and enslaving us
as rapidly and as completely as they can. The intent is so blatant that it
cannot even be masked behind a thick lacquer of patriotic rhetoric. There is
no ignoring it. But, it may be that their gleeful exploitation of 9/11 will
be their downfall. For now they have shown the world plainly what they are.
The agenda before 9/11 and the agenda after is the same really. The
difference is now I am fully awake to the consequences of waiting in silence
and letting these stupid, greedy, privileged thugs have their free and
unfettered way with it. I am only sorry it took me so long and I apologize
for my feebleness and my fear. Now I must speak. Now I must oppose.
Please, let millions of others awaken as well and do the same. It is our
only hope.
Collection
Citation
“tp183.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed May 3, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/795.