Twenty Two Years Since It All Started

For years I haven’t discussed the 9/11 attacks on my blog. I was in front of the towers in a bus en route to midtown when the first plane hit. At that time, I was the most patriotic American alive, on board and gung ho about my government exacting revenge. The whole country was united, until the democrats opposed the wars to come and then the hatred of one another began.

Looking back on that era now, the Dems were right and George Bush and Cheney was as bad as they said they were. I didn’t believe it then — because how dare you! We had Muslims in our midst, attempting to build a mosque near the rubble of the towers and my tv and movie theatres told me that bomb towing terrorists hid inside mosques en route to blowing themselves up inside random subway stations.

No group of people were more persecuted at that time than Muslim Americans and it was 100% the government policy to make Americans feel this way. I was a young man in my 20s, sharp but also an idiot — unable to see the forest through the trees. I think I see it now, but unlike then, I’m mature enough to understand I may never see them exactly perfect and not to assume anything with conviction unless through experience.

Through my experience from then till now I’ve seen my government complete a pattern wholly intent on perpetuating more wars that do not serve our national interests. I’ve seen them destroy people who opposed this narrative and demonize nations who do not bend to their caprices.

In recent years I’ve seen them do incredibly divisive things and convert the crony but benign capitalistic society I grew up in to a tyrannical spiteful autocracy, converting the once peacenik Democratic Party into statist war mongers and the war hungry republicans into peaceniks.

There is a chasm very wide between what the people of America want and what the government is doing for and to them. I have no idea what follows next — but it seems to be spiraling down the path of peak individualism and turmoil against our institutions who’ve demonstrated bad faith against the people they govern.

I used to get angry on 9/11 Anniversaries because the government used this day as cover to fake patriotism and use it to rally people for their interests. Many innocent people died 22 years ago in a series of events that appear ridiculous with the benefit of some wisdom and research. They lied about how the buildings fell and the Pentagon, that much is clear. They seem to lie about every damned thing they talk about and the saddest part about the whole thing is no one is out there trying to speak for the people anymore, which is why so many gravitate towards Trump — because fuck you.