tp64.xml
Title
tp64.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-02-28
TomPaine Story: Story
"""Towards a More Perfect Union""","
What did WE see when WE opened our eyes? What have WE learned? Can WE salvage anything? Wait -- who are WE? Are WE the government that reacted to violence with a show of technically superior, but no less barbaric and indiscriminate, violence? Are WE the dear friend, who denies that WE are about to embark on another war of commercial conquest? Are WE the cab drivers who honk to the fasting demonstrators outside the U.N., the Arabic and Indian and Paki cabbies, in sympathy with the plight of the Iraqi people? ( WE can't be the demonstrators; there are less of them than the cabbies.) Are WE the newspaper readers, glancing nervously at page 1 before jumping to the movie or sports pages? Are WE the pilgrims to Ground Zero who lay roses for American strangers, while cursing at strangers on the highway? Are WE those who dread the idea of walking a mile in someone else's 2nd hand shoes? Are WE the families of 9/11's victims, who understand the devastation of pointless murder, and wish it on no one? Are WE the national press, the eminent social critics that even Jefferson loathed for their effectiveness, now turned to a gang of armchair Atillas, lusting for foreign blood, never having known what it is like to live day to day with no hope because the future is written and the only way to even attempt to unwrite it is to blow oneself to bits in a supermarket filled with the ""enemy""? Are WE the people who built an atomic bomb in 2 years, but seem utterly incapable of building an engine that does not run on fossil fuels? If all the oil in the world dried up tomorrow, would WE Yankee ingenuity types need even 6 months to come up w/a substitute? Are WE still WE the People?
What did WE see when WE opened our eyes? What have WE learned? Can WE salvage anything? Wait -- who are WE? Are WE the government that reacted to violence with a show of technically superior, but no less barbaric and indiscriminate, violence? Are WE the dear friend, who denies that WE are about to embark on another war of commercial conquest? Are WE the cab drivers who honk to the fasting demonstrators outside the U.N., the Arabic and Indian and Paki cabbies, in sympathy with the plight of the Iraqi people? ( WE can't be the demonstrators; there are less of them than the cabbies.) Are WE the newspaper readers, glancing nervously at page 1 before jumping to the movie or sports pages? Are WE the pilgrims to Ground Zero who lay roses for American strangers, while cursing at strangers on the highway? Are WE those who dread the idea of walking a mile in someone else's 2nd hand shoes? Are WE the families of 9/11's victims, who understand the devastation of pointless murder, and wish it on no one? Are WE the national press, the eminent social critics that even Jefferson loathed for their effectiveness, now turned to a gang of armchair Atillas, lusting for foreign blood, never having known what it is like to live day to day with no hope because the future is written and the only way to even attempt to unwrite it is to blow oneself to bits in a supermarket filled with the ""enemy""? Are WE the people who built an atomic bomb in 2 years, but seem utterly incapable of building an engine that does not run on fossil fuels? If all the oil in the world dried up tomorrow, would WE Yankee ingenuity types need even 6 months to come up w/a substitute? Are WE still WE the People?
Collection
Citation
“tp64.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed October 7, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/739.