blasphemy below; you have been warned.
Sep. 11th, 2002 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dchenesOK, hold onto something; I'm going to rant.
I hate September 11. I hate hearing it, saying it, typing it, reading it. I want it to be 26 years or so from now so that maybe EVERYBODY, not just me, will be sick of having it pounded into their consciousness, and the idiot we have "running the country" will be relegated to the realm of "Whose stupid idea was he?" I want everybody to be as sick of hearing about it as I am. I want the media to get a clue and stop relating trivial things like the amount of dandruff produced annually by the citizens of this country to last September.
I want airport security that works. I want to stop hearing about how the airport security made a nursing mother drink her own milk to prove it wasn't poison, and yet they let somebody with a gun on board a plane. I want to stop hearing from my sister how every time she flies anywhere, she has to take her bra off so they can prove she isn't carrying a bomb. At the same time, I want to be able to fly without having to keep my photo ID accessible just so I can prove to the same people twice in fifteen minutes that I am who I say I am.
I want to stop reading articles about how we're on "heightened security alert." Come on, now, do you really think there's anybody in this country (or most others) over the age of 3 who doesn't know what happened last September, or is dumb enough to try something today? I want somebody to realize that telling us to beware of everything and yet go about our normal lives is not only contradictory, it's impossible. If you know something's going to happen, warn us. If you don't know, don't. Never mind all this "we're on heightened security alert because we heard that something might happen somewhere sometime in the future" stuff. It makes people paranoid, and then if something does happen in five years or so, the paranoia-mongers will say "See? We were right!" and by that time we'll have so many colors in the terror-alert scale that we'll all have to live in the hardware store paint chip section trying to figure out if Eggshell Finish Sunshine Yellow is more dangerous than Flat Finish Sunshine Yellow.
I want to stop hearing about the multi-million dollar donations given to the families of the people who lost somebody. Know what? There are people in this country who need the money more. These are the same people who needed it before last September; the people who are working multiple jobs at under $10 an hour just to keep their children housed and fed. I REALLY want to stop hearing about the families who get this money and then sue because they think they should have gotten more. That just makes me sick.
I don't necessarily want things to be the way they were before all this happened. I just want cooler heads to prevail, and in my opinion, they haven't yet.
There. I feel better.
I hate September 11. I hate hearing it, saying it, typing it, reading it. I want it to be 26 years or so from now so that maybe EVERYBODY, not just me, will be sick of having it pounded into their consciousness, and the idiot we have "running the country" will be relegated to the realm of "Whose stupid idea was he?" I want everybody to be as sick of hearing about it as I am. I want the media to get a clue and stop relating trivial things like the amount of dandruff produced annually by the citizens of this country to last September.
I want airport security that works. I want to stop hearing about how the airport security made a nursing mother drink her own milk to prove it wasn't poison, and yet they let somebody with a gun on board a plane. I want to stop hearing from my sister how every time she flies anywhere, she has to take her bra off so they can prove she isn't carrying a bomb. At the same time, I want to be able to fly without having to keep my photo ID accessible just so I can prove to the same people twice in fifteen minutes that I am who I say I am.
I want to stop reading articles about how we're on "heightened security alert." Come on, now, do you really think there's anybody in this country (or most others) over the age of 3 who doesn't know what happened last September, or is dumb enough to try something today? I want somebody to realize that telling us to beware of everything and yet go about our normal lives is not only contradictory, it's impossible. If you know something's going to happen, warn us. If you don't know, don't. Never mind all this "we're on heightened security alert because we heard that something might happen somewhere sometime in the future" stuff. It makes people paranoid, and then if something does happen in five years or so, the paranoia-mongers will say "See? We were right!" and by that time we'll have so many colors in the terror-alert scale that we'll all have to live in the hardware store paint chip section trying to figure out if Eggshell Finish Sunshine Yellow is more dangerous than Flat Finish Sunshine Yellow.
I want to stop hearing about the multi-million dollar donations given to the families of the people who lost somebody. Know what? There are people in this country who need the money more. These are the same people who needed it before last September; the people who are working multiple jobs at under $10 an hour just to keep their children housed and fed. I REALLY want to stop hearing about the families who get this money and then sue because they think they should have gotten more. That just makes me sick.
I don't necessarily want things to be the way they were before all this happened. I just want cooler heads to prevail, and in my opinion, they haven't yet.
There. I feel better.
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Independent Thought == blasphemy
Date: 2002-09-17 09:23 am (UTC)I agree.
You'd think this was the first time something horrible happened on the planet.
I think the reason it's being drilled into us by the media so much is because it was a New York Landmark. Notice how much longer this has stayed in the media than Oklahoma City did.
I'm sick of all the "Touching story" 9-11 e-mail forwards I keep getting. We have an idiot at work who forwards EVERYTHING she receives, usually to most of the office.
I'm sick of all the American Flags everywhere. Nothing against the flag, but I have a very low opinion of "It's fashionable to be patriotic" style Patriotism.
I'm sick of the single loon in the office who keeps saying it's terrible that a movie called "The Two Towers" is coming out in November, and that they're just trying to grab media attention by using the title.
I do NOT want to hear another conversation about how Sept 11 should be a national holiday.
I'm also sick of the head of lettuce we have for a president. I am still angry that all the worthwhile candidates were eliminated in the primaries, leaving us with two people who just don't have what it takes to be president. I think it's fitting it was so close the supreme court had to pick the president.
I can't believe that eyelash curlers are on the list of forbidden items. I don't use them, but how the hell can you use one to take over a plane?
I agree with you that it seems like the only hurting people the media wants to recognize are the ones who were harmed in the terrorist attacks. Forget the homeless, forget the poor and everyone else who needed help on Sept 10, 2001. Instead, focus on the widow of the stock broker who made seven figures in 2001 and left a trust fund for his children.
</Rant>