tp221.xml
Title
tp221.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-03-10
TomPaine Story: Story
Since 9/11
The fall of the World Trade Center in New York has been compared with the
attack on Pearl Harbor as a defining moment in the history of our nation.
""Everything's different now,"" was the adage of the moment. But is
everything really different? Pearl Harbor was an event that shattered our
isolationist illusions and made us realize that what goes on outside of our
borders matters, and can affect us. How has 9/11 altered our view of the
world?
It hasn't. Americans are still disinterested in anything that happens
abroad, unless of course you count the flag-wavers and gunboat patriots
whose only concern is which group of mud-people we get to bomb into
oblivion for the sake of revenge. This is no surprise, considering the
mindset of our current political leadership, the corporate oligarchy that
supports it, and the media toadies who act more like cheerleaders for them
both rather than journalists.
Our attitudes on freedoms here at home have certainly changed. ""Americans
need to watch what they say and watch what they do!"" thunders White House
spokesman Ari Fleischer. ""There ought to be limits to freedom,"" retorts
George W. Bush. What does it say about the American people that these
statements, even on the rare occasions when they are reported, have no
effect on us?
Perhaps we're asking the wrong question. Rather than asking how our
worldview has changed since 9/11, we should instead be asking how, since
then, has the rest of the world viewed us? How did we go from the
outpourings of grief and sympathy given to us worldwide to ""The US is now
a threat to the rest of the world"" [1] ?
Winston Churchill once asked the New World to save the Old. Will the Old
World be called upon to return the favor?
---------------------
[1] George Monbiot, The Logic Of Empire, The Guardian Tuesday August 6, 2002
The fall of the World Trade Center in New York has been compared with the
attack on Pearl Harbor as a defining moment in the history of our nation.
""Everything's different now,"" was the adage of the moment. But is
everything really different? Pearl Harbor was an event that shattered our
isolationist illusions and made us realize that what goes on outside of our
borders matters, and can affect us. How has 9/11 altered our view of the
world?
It hasn't. Americans are still disinterested in anything that happens
abroad, unless of course you count the flag-wavers and gunboat patriots
whose only concern is which group of mud-people we get to bomb into
oblivion for the sake of revenge. This is no surprise, considering the
mindset of our current political leadership, the corporate oligarchy that
supports it, and the media toadies who act more like cheerleaders for them
both rather than journalists.
Our attitudes on freedoms here at home have certainly changed. ""Americans
need to watch what they say and watch what they do!"" thunders White House
spokesman Ari Fleischer. ""There ought to be limits to freedom,"" retorts
George W. Bush. What does it say about the American people that these
statements, even on the rare occasions when they are reported, have no
effect on us?
Perhaps we're asking the wrong question. Rather than asking how our
worldview has changed since 9/11, we should instead be asking how, since
then, has the rest of the world viewed us? How did we go from the
outpourings of grief and sympathy given to us worldwide to ""The US is now
a threat to the rest of the world"" [1] ?
Winston Churchill once asked the New World to save the Old. Will the Old
World be called upon to return the favor?
---------------------
[1] George Monbiot, The Logic Of Empire, The Guardian Tuesday August 6, 2002
Collection
Citation
“tp221.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed October 7, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/735.