tp59.xml
Title
tp59.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-02-28
TomPaine Story: Story
Lesson Learned?
Recent history is full of lessons about the standing of the U.S. in the
world, about the state of democracy globally and the effects of U.S. foreign policy: I think it is important to see 9/11 as one element in a continuum of political acts perpetrated by one race or nation on another, and not to single it out as unprecedented because it happened here and to U.S. citizens. International terrorism has been a fact of life since nations first formed, and, clearly, has become the symbol of outrage and defiance of the weak against the strong. Certainly, the symbolism of the 9/11 attacks on 'world trade' and 'the military' is lost on no one. The lesson to be gained from this ruthless act might be embedded in the everday meaning of its targets.
Over the past 20 years the humanitarian aid that has always poured out of the United States to global victims of war, famine and disease has been overshadowed by the export of ""free trade."" This particular shibboleth masks the decline in the economies of those nations 'free' to experience foreign loans, investment and privatization in exchange for the lower incomes and lower quality of life required to finance their participation in this brave new world. The 20th century has also seen the wielding of the ""big stick"" foreign policy, which ran the gamut from the vanquishing of German aggression to the illegal bombing of Cambodia, and the prospect of an unprovoked invasion of Iraq. Once again, thanks for the good work, but the thing that lingers is the bitterness of having to live with injustice in any form.
Is there a lesson in the ashes? Every single time.
Recent history is full of lessons about the standing of the U.S. in the
world, about the state of democracy globally and the effects of U.S. foreign policy: I think it is important to see 9/11 as one element in a continuum of political acts perpetrated by one race or nation on another, and not to single it out as unprecedented because it happened here and to U.S. citizens. International terrorism has been a fact of life since nations first formed, and, clearly, has become the symbol of outrage and defiance of the weak against the strong. Certainly, the symbolism of the 9/11 attacks on 'world trade' and 'the military' is lost on no one. The lesson to be gained from this ruthless act might be embedded in the everday meaning of its targets.
Over the past 20 years the humanitarian aid that has always poured out of the United States to global victims of war, famine and disease has been overshadowed by the export of ""free trade."" This particular shibboleth masks the decline in the economies of those nations 'free' to experience foreign loans, investment and privatization in exchange for the lower incomes and lower quality of life required to finance their participation in this brave new world. The 20th century has also seen the wielding of the ""big stick"" foreign policy, which ran the gamut from the vanquishing of German aggression to the illegal bombing of Cambodia, and the prospect of an unprovoked invasion of Iraq. Once again, thanks for the good work, but the thing that lingers is the bitterness of having to live with injustice in any form.
Is there a lesson in the ashes? Every single time.
Collection
Citation
“tp59.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed May 19, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/773.