Oliver Cromwell's Bones, Burning Korans, and What is Wrong With America, Today.
History has it that one of the first things Charles the II of England did after gaining the British throne was to order that the body of Oliver Cromwell be dug up. After that, Cromwell’s body was tried, and hung for regicide, among other crimes. Fact that Cromwell was dead already and way past punishment or pain seems to have been lost on King Charles.
It might have been emotionally satisfying to some small degree, but I sincerely doubt it was a lasting catharsis, or resolution. There is something weird about humans -- they can embark on a futile and meaningless path, knowing it will not sooth the hurt, but they will do it anyway. And that brings me to what is going on in America, lately. We have that crazy bigot in Florida, planning on burning Korans. We have people all over the country being upset that some Moslems want to build a cultural center in Tribeca. We have, it seems, quite a bit of free floating, if not directed fear and hate in the air. That is not good.
And now I move into the difficult territory; 9/11. Before I say word one about that event, specifically, I say as a current and at that time resident of the NYC Area, I know that there are thousands of people who were touched more deeply than myself. I call them the real survivors. Then there are people like me -- locals who lived through it, but we did not lose near enough or experience it close enough to really rate as a classic survivor. Then there is everyone else. (Please assume I mean all real survivors, when I say survivors.)
I make the distinction between people who saw it on TV and those who saw it live. It you only experienced it as a TV event? You are entitled to an opinion. Personally, I won’t put much value in it. However, I am ever mindful that there are real survivors out there, and my heart will always go out to them, and be with them. I can never know the depth of the feelings of the real survivors. It would be ignorant and presumptions of me to even pretend that, for a moment.
So I am clearly not talking to the real survivors, or my fellow Greater NYC people, but “everyone else” when I say, get over it. Don’t forget, but get over the emotionality, and stop with the sure-to-be unsatisfying demagoguery and hate mongering.
Yes, the nation was attacked. Yes, we lost something as a nation, as a society, in that we lost a basically artificial sense of security (and it really was, those of us who know World History well enough know that’s true.) I do not want to act like that is not important. False senses of security can be comforting in the short run. Like most residents of the NYC Area, I was oddly comforted by the sight and sound of fighter jets doing patrols over the city and surrounding area, just after the attack, even if intellectually I knew damn well that it was only closing the barn door after the horses had run off. And I understood it was an enormous waste of fuel and money. But it was comforting. Point is, after a while the brain should kick in, and people should be able to think with their heads again, particularly those who really did not lose anything tangible or real.
So let’s review the past 9 years. We had the short and unsatisfactory initial attack on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda (and are still stuck in ops there, but that is another story.) But there really wasn’t all that much to blow up in Afghanistan. But what about Iraq? So the powers that be decided to use every trick the fictional Don Draper and the real David Olgivy would have used, to shift the nation’s anger and fear and hate over to Saddam Hussein. And that marginally worked, insofar as enough support for that misadventure was ginned up to support the initial mission.
According to the latest polling, Americans no longer think it was worth it, by 2 to 1. Of course the question is, if America was properly informed about what it was likely to end up costing in lives, limbs, and treasure, would they have supported the “Shock and Awe,” campaign? Being the cynic I am (and one of the nay sayers from way back) I have to say, that enough people still might have supported the Invasion of Iraq, if they had a better understating of the cost. After all, they dug up Cromwell’s corpse, right? Personally, as a purely emotional matter, I could in theory say I wish we could dig up Ronnie Reagan and put him on trial for high crimes and misdemeanors. But my intellectual faculties would prevent me from actually endorsing such a ridiculous thing.
And that gets us back to the Koran burners, and Mosque site arsonists, and Park 51 haters. Again, people. And I repeat, I don’t mean the real survivors, or my fellow Greater New Yorkers. I mean you people who would have a hard time finding the 42nd Street Branch of the NY Public Library without a map, never mind Park 51 (took me a good five to ten minutes to find it on foot, just by my own memory’s navigation data, from Chambers Street, last week.) None of that nonsense is going to restore the country/world to the way it was on 9/10/2001. You are never, ever going to get that false sense of security and invulnerability back. Those days are gone. No matter how angry and hateful you get, nor how loud and resentful you can be, that America is every bit as gone as the America of “Father Knows Best,” and, ”The Donna Reed Show.” And that America was nearly as fictional as the Hollywood shows. Yes, we lived in a world that seemed like it was real. But a lot of the rest of the world was a scary place where there were many more and much more scary people. And yes, they have found us and have hurt us. So we really need to concentrate on the actual bad guys, not merely different looking or sounding, or praying guys, maybe?
And I know that there are more things driving fear, and that leads to easy hate, here in America. We have a much sucking economy (I refer back to digging up Ronnie Reagan’s bones, as he is one of the chief architects of our economic troubles.) Despite the fact that Fox News, and other Right Wing voices deny what is basic Sociology 101 fodder (that like groups will demonize if not attack non like groups merely for the sense of security it brings,) there has been a serious bump in that kind of, “Us against Them,” thinking in America. That “theory” is a fact of social science. And it is a fact that people are lashing out against “others,” in America, in an alarmingly growing rate. Denying that is the same as denying reality. And it is happening on racial and ethnic and religious grounds. (If you can find someone who is different on all three points, you win the Trifecta in the Hatred Derby!)
I had hoped by the time I got most of my thoughts down, I would have figured out a tidy if not witty conclusion. It’s not working out that way. But I guess if I have to say something to end this, I might as well say, don’t get me wrong, America. I am not saying your ‘emotions’ are not genuine. But I am saying, get over it. A genuine emotion could very well be no more factual than a genuine delusion. It feels real, but from the objective point of view, it’s clearly not supported in fact. So please America. Stop with the hate mongering and fear whoring. All that nonsense is every bit as futile as digging up the dead guy, putting him on trial, and then hanging the previously dead body on the gallows.
I wish I could honestly say America is smarter and better than that. But I repeat what I said above, about knowing history. And I know that America has to constantly work at being smarter and better. So let’s quit screwing around and get to it.
It might have been emotionally satisfying to some small degree, but I sincerely doubt it was a lasting catharsis, or resolution. There is something weird about humans -- they can embark on a futile and meaningless path, knowing it will not sooth the hurt, but they will do it anyway. And that brings me to what is going on in America, lately. We have that crazy bigot in Florida, planning on burning Korans. We have people all over the country being upset that some Moslems want to build a cultural center in Tribeca. We have, it seems, quite a bit of free floating, if not directed fear and hate in the air. That is not good.
And now I move into the difficult territory; 9/11. Before I say word one about that event, specifically, I say as a current and at that time resident of the NYC Area, I know that there are thousands of people who were touched more deeply than myself. I call them the real survivors. Then there are people like me -- locals who lived through it, but we did not lose near enough or experience it close enough to really rate as a classic survivor. Then there is everyone else. (Please assume I mean all real survivors, when I say survivors.)
I make the distinction between people who saw it on TV and those who saw it live. It you only experienced it as a TV event? You are entitled to an opinion. Personally, I won’t put much value in it. However, I am ever mindful that there are real survivors out there, and my heart will always go out to them, and be with them. I can never know the depth of the feelings of the real survivors. It would be ignorant and presumptions of me to even pretend that, for a moment.
So I am clearly not talking to the real survivors, or my fellow Greater NYC people, but “everyone else” when I say, get over it. Don’t forget, but get over the emotionality, and stop with the sure-to-be unsatisfying demagoguery and hate mongering.
Yes, the nation was attacked. Yes, we lost something as a nation, as a society, in that we lost a basically artificial sense of security (and it really was, those of us who know World History well enough know that’s true.) I do not want to act like that is not important. False senses of security can be comforting in the short run. Like most residents of the NYC Area, I was oddly comforted by the sight and sound of fighter jets doing patrols over the city and surrounding area, just after the attack, even if intellectually I knew damn well that it was only closing the barn door after the horses had run off. And I understood it was an enormous waste of fuel and money. But it was comforting. Point is, after a while the brain should kick in, and people should be able to think with their heads again, particularly those who really did not lose anything tangible or real.
So let’s review the past 9 years. We had the short and unsatisfactory initial attack on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda (and are still stuck in ops there, but that is another story.) But there really wasn’t all that much to blow up in Afghanistan. But what about Iraq? So the powers that be decided to use every trick the fictional Don Draper and the real David Olgivy would have used, to shift the nation’s anger and fear and hate over to Saddam Hussein. And that marginally worked, insofar as enough support for that misadventure was ginned up to support the initial mission.
According to the latest polling, Americans no longer think it was worth it, by 2 to 1. Of course the question is, if America was properly informed about what it was likely to end up costing in lives, limbs, and treasure, would they have supported the “Shock and Awe,” campaign? Being the cynic I am (and one of the nay sayers from way back) I have to say, that enough people still might have supported the Invasion of Iraq, if they had a better understating of the cost. After all, they dug up Cromwell’s corpse, right? Personally, as a purely emotional matter, I could in theory say I wish we could dig up Ronnie Reagan and put him on trial for high crimes and misdemeanors. But my intellectual faculties would prevent me from actually endorsing such a ridiculous thing.
And that gets us back to the Koran burners, and Mosque site arsonists, and Park 51 haters. Again, people. And I repeat, I don’t mean the real survivors, or my fellow Greater New Yorkers. I mean you people who would have a hard time finding the 42nd Street Branch of the NY Public Library without a map, never mind Park 51 (took me a good five to ten minutes to find it on foot, just by my own memory’s navigation data, from Chambers Street, last week.) None of that nonsense is going to restore the country/world to the way it was on 9/10/2001. You are never, ever going to get that false sense of security and invulnerability back. Those days are gone. No matter how angry and hateful you get, nor how loud and resentful you can be, that America is every bit as gone as the America of “Father Knows Best,” and, ”The Donna Reed Show.” And that America was nearly as fictional as the Hollywood shows. Yes, we lived in a world that seemed like it was real. But a lot of the rest of the world was a scary place where there were many more and much more scary people. And yes, they have found us and have hurt us. So we really need to concentrate on the actual bad guys, not merely different looking or sounding, or praying guys, maybe?
And I know that there are more things driving fear, and that leads to easy hate, here in America. We have a much sucking economy (I refer back to digging up Ronnie Reagan’s bones, as he is one of the chief architects of our economic troubles.) Despite the fact that Fox News, and other Right Wing voices deny what is basic Sociology 101 fodder (that like groups will demonize if not attack non like groups merely for the sense of security it brings,) there has been a serious bump in that kind of, “Us against Them,” thinking in America. That “theory” is a fact of social science. And it is a fact that people are lashing out against “others,” in America, in an alarmingly growing rate. Denying that is the same as denying reality. And it is happening on racial and ethnic and religious grounds. (If you can find someone who is different on all three points, you win the Trifecta in the Hatred Derby!)
I had hoped by the time I got most of my thoughts down, I would have figured out a tidy if not witty conclusion. It’s not working out that way. But I guess if I have to say something to end this, I might as well say, don’t get me wrong, America. I am not saying your ‘emotions’ are not genuine. But I am saying, get over it. A genuine emotion could very well be no more factual than a genuine delusion. It feels real, but from the objective point of view, it’s clearly not supported in fact. So please America. Stop with the hate mongering and fear whoring. All that nonsense is every bit as futile as digging up the dead guy, putting him on trial, and then hanging the previously dead body on the gallows.
I wish I could honestly say America is smarter and better than that. But I repeat what I said above, about knowing history. And I know that America has to constantly work at being smarter and better. So let’s quit screwing around and get to it.
posted by Abstentus at 12:52 PM
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