Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Never forget. Never, never, never...

Where were you when they came down?

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

You might consider getting some trauma therapy.

Larry Kelley said...

Actually, dealing with snarky Cowardly, Anon, Nitwits like you IS my therapy.

Anonymous said...

...dealing with us? that's something else a therapist could help you with.

Anonymous said...

Larry, give it a rest.

Larry Kelley said...

Yeah, as in Rest In Peace.

Anonymous said...

Wow, those are amazing photos. I read they were released to the public, thanks for posting the link.

Anonymous said...

Larry, everybody knows about 9/11 and no one is going to forget it. It's like Pearl Harbor, but give it a rest on the ultra-flag waving. Your posts about 9/11 imply that somehow this is going to be forgotten which is untrue. It's a painful piece of history but it's history now. Better to focus on the present and capturing the bastards who did it, who mostly remain uncaught.

Larry Kelley said...

Just another benefit of the Freedom of Information Act.

Larry Kelley said...

Anon 10:35 AM

Why don't you do a survey of 13-year- olds and ask them about Pearl Harbor and, amazingly, 9/11 and see what you get for answers.

At least after yesterday's articles a few more of them would get the 9/11 part correct, but as for Pearl Harbor...

Anonymous said...

Forget what? That we were attacked by enemies? The average citizen doesn't need to remember this, that's what we have a military for. We aren't sitting on our rooftops with rifles. Unfortunately, our law enforcement and military aren't infallible, but it's not like the average citizen is fighting Al Queda. That's the job of our military and they remember that every day without your help.

Xenos said...

Just a pseud, here, not an anon or even an nitwit (I hope), but I have to agree with them above. There is no risk of people forgetting what happened.

The risk is that people will get some perspective over time, and notice that some authoritarians manipulated the public into supporting some truly foolish and anti-American policies.

In this case, 'never forget' means 'don't you DARE unbamboozle yourself!"

Larry Kelley said...

Anon: 11:38

The very recent Christmas Day bomber, who tried to blow up a CIVILIAN commercial airliner as it approached Detroit, was stopped by CIVILIANS.

The shoe bomber (only months after 9/11) was also stopped by civilians.

Al Qaeda (linked to both those attempts) likes to target civilians.

Pay attention.

Anonymous said...

And in both of those cases I doubt anyone would have bothered to stop them if not for 9/11. Who would have thought such things would happen next to us as we travel.
And I think the average citizen does need to remember, then we will also remember why we have a military.

Larry Kelley said...

Yes indeed, as early adopters of the blog know all too well, I'm a BIG fan of police, fire and military.

And Xenos must be somewhat new as I'm on record before the first bombs fell that I would NOT have gone into Iraq.

I would have put everything we had into Afghanistan and Pakistan to get the cowardly Son of a Bitch who knocked down those regal Towers.

Anonymous said...

He was stopped by CIVILIANS not because they were gazing at their navels thinking about 9/11. It was because they were paying attention to their surroundings. Big difference. You stance is just another version of holding candles and singing kumbahya as far as I can tell.

Larry Kelley said...

Yeah, as a matter of fact I did organize (along with Kevin Joy) a candlelight ceremony on the Amherst town common the night of 9/11/02.

Almost 3,000 Americans of all persuasions appeared to clutch a candle kindly donated by Yankee Candle, each one inscribed with the name of a victim, over 90% of whom were civilians.

As a martial artist the first thing I learned over 35 years ago was situational awareness. Try me sometime.

Anonymous said...

He didn't succeed because the bomb thankfully failed to go off. It wasn't like people caught him before he pulled the trigger.

Larry Kelley said...

Yeah, and it was not like TSA--you know, our knew-and-improved Federal Agency for transportation security-- kept him from getting on board in the first place.

Anonymous said...

"Almost 3,000 Americans of all persuasions appeared to clutch a candle kindly donated by Yankee Candle, each one inscribed with the name of a victim, over 90% of whom were civilians."

That was very fitting a decade ago. It was like a funeral and a funeral is designed to help deal with the trauma so you can put a death behind you. People have to move on even when it's a major tragedy.

Otherwise you become just another old fogie stuck in the past.

Larry Kelley said...

Yeah, gee, thanks for the brilliant analysis.

Glad Anons can't charge for their therapy.

Anonymous said...

I would have to agree that we need less candlelight vigils at this point and more focus on terrorism prevention. The problem with the TSA is that with all the money that has been spent they really haven't created a security system that's in any way comparable to what the israelis use for their airline.

Xenos said...

Larry -- I owe you an apology, then. The kitsch that centers on the attacks can be pretty pernicious, and is used to manipulate people into foolish actions, like the misadventure in Iraq. We ought never forget it, but we should remember to heal and to move forward. There are lots of atrocities that should never be forgotten.

Anonymous said...

We need less jingoistic flag waving and more analysis of why things happen. Otherwise they happen again.

Anonymous said...

You miss one of the key purposes of the TSA: it's
like the WPA of the 1930's, and so the "security" it
provides is not only for the traveling public, but also
for society at large, by offering meaningful (if menial)
employment for a rather large number of people - it's
another form of "social security" just like the "all volunteer military" has become. Think about it....