Accountability, not celebration

[muck_a_luck]

Nobody else will ever buy into this, but here goes.

The "remembrance" of September 11 is mostly about cynical political posturing. This is a free country with incredible freedom of movement and freedom of anonymity. It would take a lot for me to give that freedom up. I truly don't believe that a careful cell could necessarily be prevented from acts of terror, without a massive change to the structure of our lives and society. Therefore, I don't want to point too many fingers at ANY politician for "letting" it happen on his watch. That said, I do think that decision and policy makers should be held accountable for poor policies, poor decisions, and appropriate/inappropriate reactions to the crimes of September 11.

I think, outside New York City, we should ignore September 11.

I don't want this to become some sort of national holiday of overblown, mostly fake grief and hyper-patriotism.

Yes, there is real grief here. Many, many innocents lost their lives in a horrible crime against the United States.

No, we should not forget what happened. The guilty should be punished for these multiple acts of mass murder, these terrible war crimes.

But for most of us, who knew no one in this tragedy, after several years, the grief will be ritual grief. I hate that as one of the most fake parts of "holidays." If I don't feel it, I don't want to have to pretend to feel it.

September 11 is, or will very, very soon become, an excuse to hate others and to make ourselves feel like victims in a world were we have a better life than almost anyone else on the planet, with more food, more power, better health care, better education, better everything.

And to top it off, making a holiday of September 11, even a holiday of grief and hatred, glorifies the act of the demons that carried out the crime. We are raising them up. Saying that by committing a monstrous crime, you can earn a day devoted to you and your actions. We will all bow down and worship your crime for a day.

I think it is despicible.

Leave the real mourning to the real victims.

Hold those accountable who should be held accountable.

Pursue the criminals.

Do not make this a "day to live in infamy."