9/11 Memorials
It is rather incredible now that after only six years, the events of 9/11/01 seem so distant. The images from that day are still there in the back of my mind, but subsequent events have made the term itself more of a bludgeon to use as justification for US Presidential policy than as a memorial to its victims.
That twisting, that politicization, that branding of the term, and the excessive and continuing use of it to support domestic programs like warrantless wiretapping, and a whole host of international policies like the War in Iraq, Ethiopia’s invasion (and continuing occupation) of Somalia, and belligerence (and possible war) against Iran, means that 9/11 is now linked to these highly contentious policies and not to the victims of the event itself.
It’s like a song or movie idea that starts doing well and then gets milked for all its worth and ultimately beaten to death by overexposure. The shock, horror, and grief of that day have transmuted into apathy and complacency. Hopefully, Americans will one day be able to turn the focus back to those who were victimized on that day, and not everything it’s been used as justification for. (Something like this is a great idea.)
As for a Canadian memorial, we had a rather large terror bombing carried out in this country that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of our citizens. I think we should try to properly memorialize those victims before we go about trying to honour victims of a foreign attack.
