Anyone else here feel like 9/11 was poisoned?

[NewsCenter28]

The Omar controversy got me thinking about how I felt immediately after 9/11. One world united as one. But the Cleland attack disgrace, Bush using it to get re-elected, and to win the 2002 midterms, not to mention his illegal war in Iraq based on lies and the entire GOP blaming Democrats for 9/11 and trying to make all Democrats feel guilty for being Democrats, as if it was somehow our fault 9/11 happened, poisoned the well. I was ready to stand as one on 9/12, like all the Congress singing God Bless America on the Capitol steps the evening of 9/11 but being treated like shit for being a progressive post 9/12 made me extremely angry, made me view 9/11 as a partisan bludgeon, and largely made me devoid of emotion, other than extreme anger at what Bush did in response. Anyone else feel this way at all? Omar was right by the way. It really was some people doing some stuff.

[dhol82]

1. Nope. Don't agree.

It was not some people doing some stuff.
It was 16 Saudis, and 3 other guys, led by bin Laden in a holy war against the United States.
That’s what it was.
That it was corrupted in a zillion other ways is not my fault.

[Boxerfan]

2. America was poisoned

By the Russian Mob. Very successfully like they had help.

Thanks Republicans!

[sinkingfeeling]

3. I get what you're saying. We had a chance immediately afterward to

react with other than our usual response, but chose to inflame the Middle East, destroy more innocent people, and focus hatred on a religion we don't care to understand. I didn't get angry, just bitter. Haven't flown the American flag nor said the pledge since the Iraq invasion.
The chicken hawks convinced most of the country that our military can solve all problems. Led the way to IQ45.

[fescuerescue]

4. Personally I could have done without 9/11

It's kinda like saying that the well that 3,000 kids fell into?

Well it's poisoned now only because some politician put up a memorial sign and picked up a few votes.

[meadowlander]

5. It was a missed opportunity.

I was in New York on 9/11 and in Christchurch during the recent mosque shootings and the difference in reactions was absolutely 180 degrees different.

The response in the US jumped almost immediately to "who do we bomb and how quickly can we build an even taller tower to say fuck you to the bombers" and the response in NZ was almost immediately and entirely "how do we use this tragedy to reflect on our own daily actions and build a better, more inclusive and loving society".

If you haven't watched the full memorial service for the mosque shootings, I suggest it is well worth an hour and a half of your time to do so just to see and experience (for the first time in my life) what it looks like to have a government that lifts its citizens up and uses civic engagement to make us all better people than what we were before. Bonus points for a female PM and a society that has actually made an effort to come to terms with and make reparations for its colonial past.

9/11 was exploited to make people feel fear, to send them out buying things and to justify a war that was more about geopolitical positioning for the US oil and gas industry than it was about justice. It didn't have to be that way. And it's fine to recognize that and feel anger over it.