On the way to work this morning, my local country radio station dedicated their morning show to remembering 9/11. Every song they played was somehow geared towards making you remember (think Toby Keith “American Soldier”, Alan Jackson “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning”, Ray Charles “America the Beautiful”, and even Taps played on a bugle). All of the songs were cut with quotes from President Bush and other folks who spoke against the attacks on the WTC that day and rallied American patriotism to a frenzy.
Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this sort of thing. It’s good to remember past tragedies so that we can learn from them and move on. It’s good to remember those we have lost.
What I don’t understand is why 9/11 is so special.
The attacks of that day were heinous and tragic, there’s no arguing that point. But these events are not the only events of this nature that we have experienced in this country. So why are they the only events that are consistently and constantly remembered?
Why don’t we remember the WTC basement bombing from February 26, 1993 that killed 6 and injured more than 1,000 others?
Why don’t we remember the Oklahoma City bombing from April 19, 1995 that killed 168 people, injuring many more?
Why don’t we remember the Columbine High School massacre from April 20, 1999 that killed 13 people, injuring 25?
Why don’t we remember the sniper attacks in Washington, DC during October 2002 that killed 10 people and injured 3 others?
Why don’t we remember the Amish school shooting from October 2, 2006 that killed 5 girls, injuring 5 others?
Why don’t we remember the Virginia Tech massacre from April 16, 2007 that killed 32 and injured 25 others?
And these are only the high profile events that I can remember off the top of my head.
What makes the events of 9/11 so much more special than these events? Did the lives of those lost in the WTC have a higher value than the lives of those lost in these other “lesser” events?
No, you’re not un-American. You just know the difference between “remembering” and “dwelling on”.
You bring up an interesting point, though. I wonder if the families that suffered losses during those other events you listed feel marginalized because of the annual specials?
As far as “patriotism”, I find that word as irritating as “spiritual”. 9/11/01 didn’t create patriotism, it brought out fear. If it had brought out patriotism, then the Patriot Act would never have been passed.
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#1 holy crap it’s berlezebub! Hi again after all this time
#2 one reason it may be remembered it that out of the list it was the terrorist event in American soil that killed the most people and caused the most damage in one event. If we get a worse one, I e pect that one will be remembered also.
#3 I often feel like people would call be unamerican. We became a huge surveillance state after that day, which to me made us unamerican. We became an even bigger military state which again was unamerican to me. I expect us to dominate by economic superiority and be a leader in human rights. That is what I think it is to be American.
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