RIGHT?

 It's been a few days since 9/11. People have posted things on Facebook, had conversations, said prayers, participated in moments of silence, and remembered in their own ways. Not just Americans either. A lot of people around the world were shocked at the reality that if it can happen in NEW YORK CITY, surely it can happen anywhere. 2977 civilians, mostly American, tragically lost their lives that day. The world mourned in 2001, and those victims have been mourned every year at this time since the WTC attacks. Millions of people vowed never to forget. 

 I was 34 in 2002 when it happened and there are many things I have not forgotten about the terrorist attack on the Trade Center. There are also many things I have not forgotten about what life was like before 9/11. This article briefly talks about the 4 changes that may have been the biggest, not just in America, but all around the world. Give it a read. Watch the vids. It'll give you some perspective on just how momentous an occasion 9/11 really was, in case you have forgotten a little bit.  

 Category 1 in the article, "Forever Wars," reminds us that Afghanistan was invaded less than a month after 9/11 and as a result of it. The purpose of the invasion was the dismantling of Al Qaida and the Taliban government harbouring it in Afghanistan. Just under 20 years, it has been America's longest and most costly war. Since the recent withdrawal, most have heard of the 2 trillion or more that was spent on the war, but the far more tragic and far-reaching cost has been human lives. According to this AP article, US soldiers - 2448, US contractors - 3846, Afghan military/police - 66,000, other soldiers - 1144, Afghan civilians - 47,245, Taliban and other opposition - 51,191, aid workers - 444, journalists - 72, for a total of 172,390 lives. 121,199 excluding the 51,191 that represent the terrorists in this "War on Terror." 

 It's impossible for me, and for anybody in my opinion, to truly grasp the gravity, the suffering, the loss, the varying emotions, the COST each one of those lives has had on the US, Afghanistan and the entire world. Al Qaida is not gone and the Taliban is back in control of the government of Afghanistan, but the "War on Terror" continues all over the world. It seems like it might continue forever. 

 It could be argued that the the greater tragedy of the forever war on terror that began with 911 has been in the lives of survivors, as the above article describes. Not only from Afghanistan but Iraq and all over the world. And not just soldiers with PTSD and brain injuries, but in some way, the war against terrorism that was ramped up on Sept. 12, 2001, has affected almost all of us. Most of us have been impacted in many ways. 

 The article goes on to describe changes in American immigration and deportation laws and in the videos you can listen to regular people admitting that the events of 9/11 changed their ideas and their trust of people from areas and ethnicities associated with the attacks. In the article, airport security is the 3rd major change listed. Good Lord, even de-privatization, something notoriously hated by Republicans, was a sacrifice they agreed to in this area! Now the government run TSA is in charge. Since 9/11, scans, body pat downs and shoe removal is complained about, but can you imagine what it's like - to this day - for Arabs or East Indians with the appearance of Arabs and East Indians, trying to have an uneventful flight? It's hard to say without being blunt: discrimination, racial profiling, anti-Muslim sentiment, and what we so erroneously call "racism," has absolutely increased since 9/11. 

 And the fourth of the big changes listed was that of "big surveillance." This would probably have increased with or without 9/11, but there is little doubt the way was cleared and the scope was widened by the attacks. 

 Think about all of this and how hard it has been for all of us. Few can say they've remained unaffected by the events of and the reaction to 9/11. Few have not been impacted by major changes and few have not had to make sacrifices. There's really no way we can forget 9/11 even if we try. Yet even for those who consider the entire 20 years in Afghanistan to have been futile, the Iraq operations to be criminal, the immigration standards to be immoral, the deportations to be cruel, the airport security to be excessive, the surveillance to be invasive, and the suffering to be harsh, we all agree that it was necessary. Right? If you refuse to take your hat off and be silent at a baseball game on Sept. 11th, why, you're an asshole! Right? If you don't like people's Facebook posts on 9/11 saying, "Never forget," and if you don't feel saddened by the tragic loss of lives and suffering of those most immediately affected by 9/11 and the resulting war on terror, you are absolutely heartless! Right? 

 I'm not going to disagree here! This might look like I am going to. That's not my intent. While there are plenty of mitigating details and conspiracies that have emerged since 9/11, the act of terrorism might even make me angrier and more heart-wrenchingly saddened every successive year. I hate terrorism. I wish it could be reasoned away and/or fought diplomatically, but I understand that sometimes force is warranted. Right?

 Not just forcing people to take off shoes at airports, or have their internet surveilled, but physical, deadly, military force is sometimes warranted. I'm assuming most people would agree with me since very few, if any would protest the moments of silence at the baseball games. I'm not saying it's not an American's right to do so, but I haven't seen anyone do it yet. Think about why. Reduce it to the bare minimum. Break it down. Why? It's because foreign invaders came into the US and killed 2977 innocent people. That's what it boils down to. This is what warranted all the voluntary suffering and loss of freedoms Americans virtually unanimously agreed to and still support today. 

 NOW you might know where I'm going with this. While the above is not yet accurate, it might as well be. It won't be long anyway. It's neck and neck. On the day I am typing this, over 662,000 Americans have been killed by another foreign invader. That's certainly many more than the 9/11 attacks, Iraq and Afghanistan combined! It's like a world war! Americans know the invader's identity and they know how to defend themselves against it. I'm talking about Covid 19 and every 2 days it kills more Americans than were killed in the 9/11 bombings. 1500 people dying every day!!! That's GOTTA stir in the hearts of Americans, the same kind of defiant sacrifice that allowed them to endure the hardships and personal freedom restrictions that 9/11 led to... RIGHT? Joe Biden has declared war on Covid 19! And the president, who has certainly mounted a counter-offensive against the deadly invading force every bit as aggressive and tough as George Jr's "War on Terror" if not, even moreso, should be receiving the kind of praise and hero-worship that was piled on Dubyuh during his retaliation against the terrorists back in the day... RIGHT??? 

 Well, that would just not be in keeping with the absolutism, the infallible contrarian political stance of the true, modern day Republican. I'm not talking about those who still apply thought to their political views, I mean the knee-jerk jerks who need nothing but an idea, opinion or action from the enemy to completely devote themselves to the opposite. If ever you had any doubt that this was the attitude of a great many Republicans, including many in positions of power within the party, not just the electorate, surely this issue has got to wash all that doubt away! Ivermectin? THAT'S dedication!

 And these are not the kind of people who, even if they disagree, would take off caps and silently go along with the crowd at the ballgame either. They are proud and boisterous in their vacuous defiance. Some Republican senators as well as media sycophantic to the Republican cause are calling Biden's vaccine mandates "a power grab," "(a) blatantly unlawful overreach," "one of the most heinous displays we've ever seen from a president," "the closest thing we've gotten to a dictator yet," "naked authoritarianism," even saying they'll "fight them to the gates of hell!" As Seth Meyers says, they're just "crime-adjacent weirdos pandering non-stop to the ugliest instincts of their base to stay relevant." 

This despite the obvious parallel (shown in the vid) of his worship, the hairpiece head of the party, when he stated in relation to ordering people back to work despite the pandemic and the lack of a vaccine, that the president has "the ultimate authority" and that's the way it's gotta be. There is not a doubt in anyone's mind that every good GOPer would re-agree with Cheeseface if he said the exact thing again... as president. And they'd go right along with every bill he signed and agency, board or commission he created to establish the infrastructure of a police state. But with Biden as president, this does not apply. 

 There are elections upcoming in both Canada and the US. Party politics has become just as absurd in Canada as it is in the US, don't kid yourself. They want you to vote based on us vs. them, not based on platforms, which, let's face it, are only lightly tacked together so they can be more easily ripped down after the election anyway, win or lose. And I'm not just talking about the Republicans or their equivalent in Canada, the Conservative Party. Both the Democrats and the Liberals do the same. False promises, pandering to private interests, accepting bribes (or as we call them today, lobbying), selling our legal system to the corporate rulers of the countries, it's total corruption. And they're not hiding it any more. 

 BUT... if I were to suggest that the vote is absolutely ludicrous because of the quadrennial farce politics has become, I'd be that asshole at the ballgame with the hat still on, refusing to be silent, maybe even saying, "9/11 was a fake!" RIGHT?