Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Fear and loathing in september

As another September 11 passes, i can't help but feel a bit annoyed. To be honest, i'm not sure who i'm annoyed at. Possibly its the media for constantly bringing up "that day". Perhaps its with the people interviewed who seemed to have made it their life's purpose to be interviewed every September 11.

Yes, i do believe that the date marks a terrible tragedy. And no i don't think the family or friends can just "get over it". But it would be nice if they'd move on. Mourning the dead every year is respectful, obsessing over them for an entire month is emotionally and physically unhealthy.

Perhaps i'm being too harsh on the public. Perhaps it is the fault of the media that this day seems to continue to live on and on and on. Perhaps it is their tasteless attempt at boosting rating by re-hashing a world horror. (after all mass death moves papers and gets people watching) If only they let the day be just a day, maybe the people would feel they could move on. Perhaps....perhaps.

Either way i'm annoyed that a date that used to commemorate birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and family get-to-gethers is now the constant reminder that we live in a world run by fear. Is this really what we want this day to represent? Is this really what we want for the future?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I see Sep 11 as more of a remembrance day more than anything. But its like any terrible event that happens, its burnt into the history books.
I don't necessarily get annoyed at the day, more the stupid and dopey conspiracies that people make up to say that they fell because the president wanted them to...

Litigious Mind said...

I used to feel the way you feel, but at the same time, it is easy to forget what really happened that day. Planes didn't just fly into the buildings, the buildings didn't just fall. Almost 3,000 people died. Personally, it's taken six years for that to really sink me for me. For September 11 to mean more than just an event. I still think of Pearl Harbor every December 7th, and that was 66 years ago.

Anonymous said...

If I didn't read your blog I wouldn't have thought about it. Yesterday was just another day to me. I guess that just shows how much I don't care. Yes, it was a horrible tragedy but it shouldn't be "celebrated" the way it is. I'm not saying it should be forgotten because history is doomed to repeat if we forget the past.

I also want to congratulate you on saying "September 11" instead of "9/11". Because, to my recollection, nothing major happened on the 9th of November.
(Just poking fun at the silly way Americans write dates. Ignore me, I'm Kiwi)

kris said...

Nick: the frustrating thing to me is that lots of terrible things happen all over the world. Not every one of them is rememebered in the media like September 11. A personal remberence day is great! a media frenzy is pathetic

Litigious Mind: WOW! you also observe December 7?? i don't know anyone in my age bracket (bar you) who does. i'm really impressed! Remembering events that are that far in the past are easily forgotten. i commend your desire to hold it dear.

Ben: i will not ignore the kiwi. THey are just too funny to do that to! I suppose the reason i notice september 11 is because i obsess with the evening news. and then i get a massive amount of myspaz bulletins telling me to "remember 9/11" so i get annoy...but apparently its just me, so maybe i'll keep it to myself next time

clare said...

i get annoyed too. but more because this sort of thing happens all over the place and it dosent get anny attention unless it happens in america. all through the Bali bombings whish was like a year and a month later, all we still heard about was september 11.
And now bringing it up all the time is like saying here is an excuse for bush to invade a sovriegn nation against the un. excuse my rant, its been a long day and the news is annoying.

Anonymous said...

I happened to be down at Parliament House watching Question Time last Tuesday. In one of his "answers" John Howard referred to the fact that it was September 11. Up till that point I had managed not to notice.

Actually, I was pleasantly surprised by the brevity of the Prime Minister's mention of 11/9 (I refuse to succumb to Americanisms). He simply mentioned it in passing, and then no more was said about it by either side of the house.

This, it seemed, was healthy. The level to which the mass media has obsessed over the incidents of September 11 (2001) has consistently sickened me ever since that date.