Sound Of Silence Tribute to 9/11 by Paul Simon
No one has forgotten the holocaust No one has forgotten 911.
No one could forget, even if they wanted to.
Because references to these are all over the place, repeating over the media, repeating over the internet, repeating, repeating, repeating.
I am constantly being reminded of my utter futility, failure, lack of any real power, lack of any real significance every time.
I was not born during the holocaust and most likely couldn't have done anything about it even if I was.
No one could.
It happened.
People suffered and died horribly. Surviving relatives and friends grieved, and some never got over it, because they could never forget, and couldn't even get on with their lives.
Half a century later, it's a different setting and different method, but it happened again. 911. Innocent people died because of some sadistic egomaniac fanatic's damn sick agenda.
Once again, I didn't see it coming.
No one could, at least, not in time to take measures to prevent it.
Once again, I among so many others could do nothing but watch as people mourned.
Since then, we have been constantly reminded of it.
Switching TV channels, somebody does a documentary on Ground Zero. Switch channels on a different night and there's another show, this time with some liberal teenage jerk who goes on an anti-war rant because the characters were talking about 911 and america at war.
Go on the internet, and some spam says "Bin Laden was captured! Click this link to see the video!" long before the capture and death of Bin Laden took place. of course I did not click the link, but could've wrung the neck of the sick twist who thought it was cool to use a human tragedy to perpetuate a hoax possibly full of maleware and viruses.
Infomercials advertising commemorative coins and such with depictions of the twin towers.
Replays of the scenes throughout the years.
Internet discussions. Worse, re-shares/memes.
The thing about the internet is some 9/11 stories are true, and others are not. Still others have a blend of truth and fiction.
People wanting to see pictures of Bin Laden's dead body. That's sick in my opinion. Isn't it enough to know the terrorist is dead? Must people revel in the sight of a dead body? The terrorist is dead. Let's be relieved about that without getting morbidly creepy.
Ludicrous conspiracy theories, some claiming he was dead years ago, others claiming he is really not dead, or that he was killed back in the Bush era. The so-called 'truther' movement blaming George Bush for the whole thing, and the tea party and birther nuts claiming that Obama wasn't willing to kill Bin Laden and had somebody else killed instead. Those claiming he is not dead are liberal "truthers" who wish to believe their own wild conspiracy theories about conservatives trying to bring down America. Even if Bin Laden had been killed during the Bush era, they would have made the same claim the far-right are making now about Obama. That Bush killed some other dude instead of Bin Laden just to look good.
It's just mad and I do not subscribe to any of these wild suppositions. They are just mud-slinging, partisan bull on meth.
Bin Laden died May 2, 2011, end of story.
Numerous virals, some true, some false, some with mixtures of truth and falsehoods about 911 and anyone involved.
This amazing story" apparently from a passenger, "This little known story" from a flight attendant "This touching story that will leave you never the same again" and it's supposedly about 9/11 or has some connection to it.
over and over, again and again.
"Take a Gander at This Amazing, Yet Little Known, 9-11 Story ..."
No kidding, a re-share going around in late 2015 and early 2016 opened with that exact phrase.
It employs a few tricks to get the re-share centre of the brain kickstarted.
1.Amazing? Well, that depends on whether or not it is actually true, and actually amazing. Word overkill. The word "random" has become so overused among teenagers and young adults that their "randomness" is no longer random. The word "amazing" has become such an overused word in the adult vocabulary that chances are good the story probably isn't actually amazing. Even if it is true, and actually amazing on first read, it gets less amazing when it's re-shared a zillion times.
But if something has "AMAZING" plastered on it somewhere, people are likely to swallow the bait and re-share. Everybody wants to be amazed, and to amaze others, and what easier way to do that than re-share a meme?
2. Little known, my foot. That story is as much a meme as any other. Do a Google search and you find it re-shared all over the place.
It has gone so viral (meme) that it ended up on Snopes.
Okay, it is a true story. But calling the outpouring of aid to humanity in trouble as "amazing" and "little known" is really depressing. Are we so out of touch with one another that kindness and the ability to reach out and help is actually an amazing act now?
Maybe this particular story happened to be one I actually didn't read all the way through.
That's fine. I don't need or want to.
It's a meme.
I hate memes.
I hate how their vocabulary manipulates so many people into re-sharing them like the flu.
Then the clincher in this case, 9/11, of course!
Lies shouldn't be spread about 911, but true stories shouldn't be devalued by being turned into memes either.
And dang it all, what does it even have to do with me?
No, I don't want to stop and think about 9/11 any more. I do not want to have my emotions yanked to tears of sadness or awestruckedness over some story supposedly connected with 9/11. I do not want internet re-shares trying to make me scared or enraged over a story supposedly connected with 9/11.
I've had it. I'm through. I just don't care any more. At least, not when some re-share meme blast pollutes my screen telling me about some story or other that's supposedly so amazing or so little-known, which is actually a psych trick to get people RE-SHARING IT LIKE MAD!
Stop trying to yank my emotions this way and that. Start showing me you actually give a dang about me instead, with real communications and no re-shares going around on social media or email.
Comment on my posts if you're not going to debate that is. Give me a call. Invite me as a friend somewhere you want to go, or something you think I might enjoy since it's something you know you and I have it in common. Ask me over for a visit? Ask me when you'd like to come visit me. Whatever. Don't just contact me when a pianist is needed, and especially not as a last resort. I hate being used and not thought about for the rest of the time as much as anyone else does.
Maybe if I felt more cared about by online friends, I'd start to feel more caring too, and then act accordingly.
But for now, I'm all 911ed out.
Don't worry, no one will forget 911; no one can forget 911.
I do commemorate but in my own way, on the date, and that is all I can do and all anyone should reasonably expect of the next person.
None of the flag-waving will bring the souls back who lost their lives on 9/11. If that's what you want to do on the aniversary, it is fine for you, it is your choice. But life does and should go on - it has been a decade and a half, and people cannot be expected to wave American flags forever. Do that, and the waving eventually becomes meaningless, and then the feelings will fade. People will ask "What are we still doing this for?"
I will remember on the aniversery of 9/11, as will anyone in the world who heard of it and was living at the time. Those too young to remember, or who were not even born yet when it happen can consider themselves lucky. They were spared all the varying degrees of suffering Bin Laden caused.
But they will remember it a little differently, through passed down stories and text books just as I learned about WWII and the holocaust atrocities.
In the mean time, every time people suffer and die, it is a tragedy, and there are always new ones occurring everyday. Why are so many of them forgotten?
Their own friends and families remember them, but the rest of the world seems to forget.
Why?
I cannot answer that except to theorize that perhaps it is because no one of us is anywhere near strong enough to carry such a heavy burden of sorrow.
So please, don't tell me to never forget 9/11. You have my word, I won't. But please do not assume I have forgotten just because my life goes on.
Being told to wave a flag and be super proud because America survived a terrorist attack that killed so many people just goes against me.
9/11/2001 is not about patriotism, it is about humanity at its absolute worst, and at its absolute best. It is about a sick group of fanatics, and the innocent lives they took, and it is about the survivors and loved ones rallying together in mourning and compassion and special unbreakable bonds that all too sadly only human tragedies seem to facilitate.
So let's commemorate on the day in our own way, and then let us go on living, because that is all we can do.