tp201.xml
Title
tp201.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-03-10
TomPaine Story: Story
Toward A More Perfect Union: Lessons Learned - Or Not - Since 9/11
Good things can come from terrible acts, but 9/11 has made the union less perfect.
For a time there was a heartening compassion for 9/11 victims. It didn't generalize.
Mass interest in specific aspects of foreign affairs improved a
little, but that interest centers largely on making war against
countries that may not merit invasion. There is little interest in
obtaining an international consensus on making war before
doing it.
Tolerance of diversity has diminished. American chauvinism
has become louder and more offensive. Arab men have been
detained for long periods without due process, beaten up by
bigots, thrown off planes, and stigmatized in many other ways. Government agencies and public media have encouraged the population to report ""suspicious""--read Arab-looking--people and their actions. Mass media have compliantly toed the government line, providing a narrow spectrum of opinion centering around the rightwing government's views.
The Bush administration has used 9/11 as a pretext to enact
measures that increase the flow of money from the population
and the public purse to very wealthy individuals and corporations.
More ominously, the Bush administration has declared an unending "war on terrorism" which, without apparent awareness that they are following George Orwell's ""1984"" almost to the letter, they treat as a licence to militarize the country, propose internment camps, and dismantle both civil rights protections and many government programs basic to any decent social contract.
The two big political parties are owned subsidiaries of large corporations and other wealthy contributors who are getting the government they purchased--not democratic, not fair, not wise, not just.
The union has become frightening to live in, and nothing on its
political horizon promises to improve it.
Good things can come from terrible acts, but 9/11 has made the union less perfect.
For a time there was a heartening compassion for 9/11 victims. It didn't generalize.
Mass interest in specific aspects of foreign affairs improved a
little, but that interest centers largely on making war against
countries that may not merit invasion. There is little interest in
obtaining an international consensus on making war before
doing it.
Tolerance of diversity has diminished. American chauvinism
has become louder and more offensive. Arab men have been
detained for long periods without due process, beaten up by
bigots, thrown off planes, and stigmatized in many other ways. Government agencies and public media have encouraged the population to report ""suspicious""--read Arab-looking--people and their actions. Mass media have compliantly toed the government line, providing a narrow spectrum of opinion centering around the rightwing government's views.
The Bush administration has used 9/11 as a pretext to enact
measures that increase the flow of money from the population
and the public purse to very wealthy individuals and corporations.
More ominously, the Bush administration has declared an unending "war on terrorism" which, without apparent awareness that they are following George Orwell's ""1984"" almost to the letter, they treat as a licence to militarize the country, propose internment camps, and dismantle both civil rights protections and many government programs basic to any decent social contract.
The two big political parties are owned subsidiaries of large corporations and other wealthy contributors who are getting the government they purchased--not democratic, not fair, not wise, not just.
The union has become frightening to live in, and nothing on its
political horizon promises to improve it.
Collection
Citation
“tp201.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed October 7, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/717.