I think 9/11 brought out the very worst in Americans

[Rocknrule]

9/11 was a golden opportunity for us to rise up and lead the rest of the free world into a more positive and safer future. But perhaps the greatest tragedy of that day was the fact that the exact opposite occured. Our country was divided like it hasn't been since the Civil War. Our foreign policy essentially became "Whateva, I'll do what I want!" Americans turned against Americans, telling everyone with differing political views to leave the country and go to France, Iraq, or hell. Right-wing Christians got a renewed sense of empowerment and have acted increasingly hostile to anyone who doesn't believe in THEIR version of Christianity. Our government showed and still shows about as much regard for the Constitution as the average American shows about the role Windex plays in their everyday life.

We could've united and set an example for the world like we never have before. Instead, we said "fuck you" to the world and piss off a million more people every day. And, IMHO, this is the greatest tragedy of 9/11.

[JuniperLea]

1. I don't think it had anything to do with 9/11, but with...

the way "it" responded to it. (It=Bush)

We had no choice in the matter. "It" had a golden opportunity and blew it.

[Mandate My Ass]

11. You said it.

I saw a tremendous outpouring of love and selflessness in the initial aftermath of 9/11. Granted, most of it was for other Americans but the chimperor lost no time during that vulnerable aftermath saying we had to bomb the shit out of other people to keep this kind of thing from happening here again. He fanned the flames that "we" were the innocents and had to strike back at the evildoers.

I saw so much good turned ugly afterward that it still saddens me to this day.

[joemurphy]

2. Well, there's also 2,000+ soldiers dead and 10,000 maimed.

Also 100,000+ Iraqis dead. That's tragic too.

[spanone]

6. Much closer to 3000. Sadly.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. I think the oddest reaction is all of those Fundies shaking in

their boots. For people so certain they are being saved, they are awfully dependent upon their "things" here on earth!

[Individualist]

4. "we"??

WE ARE NOT THE PNAC CABAL.

[Rocknrule]

10. "We" meaning Americans in general

[lyonn]

5. Good observation

We are acting unilaterally throughout the world and at home. Diplomacy is not part of this admin. thinking. Diplomacy means that you respect, to some degree, the other party/side.

[Ron Green]

7. A real leader could have made all the difference.

A real leader could have said, "The communities of the world must work together to build peace and harmony, and the strongest of us must take the greatest risk in reaching out to the weak and dangerous."

But what we got was, "You're with us or against us," and that has created the world we now have.

[Burried News]

8. We have a lot of growing up to do but an awful lot of salesmen

don't seem to have that on their agenda. When does Christmas start this year - Labor Day?

[magellan]

9. BushCo has always excelled at playing to "the base"

And "the base" core of any human -- pride, vanity, arrogance, security -- is easily roused.

[Virginia Dare]

12. That is one of the great ironies of this whole situation...

It is Bushco that created and fueled this irrational paranoia that has overtaken this country, and now they're busting on the public for being paranoid racists? Give me a freakin' break.

[JuniperLea]

14. Could this be the first signs of Karma

coming back to bite "it" in the ass?


He made us paranoid, now that paranoia could undo him.

[cali]

13. A couple of years after 9/11

my 86 year old mother, who was in London during the blitz, and was one of the few women who worked for the OSS during WW2, said that she thought the American over reaction to 9/11 was dangerous. She said that Americans were indulging in insularity and an inability to recognize that terrible as 9/11 was, other countries have suffered worse. She went on to say that America is a nation of scab pickers.

[Jade Fox]

15. Yes, and it breaks my heart.....

I remember thinking on 9/11 that surely Americans will want to show we are better than those who murdered thousands, and we will proceed with a rational, peaceful, but firm response on all levels, and show the world how it's done.

I can hardly believe how naive I was.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

16. Though I'm Sure You'll Get Your Rah Rah's, I Disagree.

Many of us did act with nobility. Many of us did reach out. The majority of what you rage against was created by a select few, and followed by those who don't know better. What I saw on 9/11 and afterwards, was the beauty of americans, their resolve, their love, determination and passion. I saw Bushco exploit that and destroy it. But don't you dare blame us or characterize it as "WE", as I consider that to be utter horseshit. There were a few that were hostile after 9/11, but overall we were exemplory of the beauty that can be human kind. Bushco destroyed that beauty, Not Us.