Some Would Rather Not Remember September 11th
By Aaron Goldstein (09/11/08)
The events that occurred seven years ago that resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 innocent civilians were so calamitous and beyond our previous collective experience that we would be inhuman if we did not commemorate them. Some of these commemorations will take the form of public ceremonies mourning those who were lost be it at a house of worship or some other common meeting place. Others will mark the occasion more privately whether through a moment of silence at the workplace or by lighting a candle at home. However Americans choose to remember September 11th we will remember.
But there are those amongst us who do not approve of such public displays of lament. Most will have the good sense to refrain from making such views known out of respect for those who were lost and their families. Still others will not be able to resist the temptation of hearing the sound of their own voice and all the pretensions contained therein.
One such example of this is Garrison Keillor. Last year, I had the opportunity to hear the host of A Prairie Home Companion give a talk at Northeastern University on the subject of cheerfulness. Keillor’s talk took place a few days after the sixth anniversary of the September 11th attacks:
We have now finished yet another commemoration of September the 11th. Another reading of the names of the dead of six years ago and solemn speeches and sermons and authors writing about how this event changed our world which will never again be the same. An odd way that we have with dealing with a disaster (sic). To walk in it over and over again is not how the British remembered the bombings of London and the blitzes. It’s not how our parents dealt with Pearl Harbor. They moved on. But we are fascinated by terror. ( http://fora.tv/2007/09/17/Garrison_Keillor_on_Life_Cheerfulness_and_Aging )
Where does one begin? Well, I must state that Keillor’s remarks have bothered me for nearly a year. What is it exactly that Keillor finds so egregiously offensive about public ceremonies lamenting those who were murdered on September 11th? If Keillor were Commissar would he bar such demonstrations of remembrance? Speaking of remembrance, if Keillor thinks the British didn’t lament the bombings of London and the blitzes, why is it that the British (and for that matter Canadians) still wear poppies every November? Isn’t December 7, 1941 remembered by the “Greatest Generation” as “a day that will live in infamy”? On September 11, 2001, Americans came to learn that Islamic fundamentalists hated us so much they were prepared to kill us on our own soil. How going to a ceremony honoring those who died on September 11th makes one fascinated by terror is simply beyond me.
What I do know is that Keillor views President Bush with contempt. Keillor refers to the 43rd President as “The Current Occupant.” In fact, he called upon Bush to be impeached back in March 2006 for “war crimes”. ( http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/03/01/keillor/ ) This should hardly come as a surprise; a celebrity who doesn’t like Bush and wants his head on a stick. Given that the Bush Presidency was defined by the September 11th attacks, Keillor does not want to give credence to events that put President Bush’s record in a positive light.
Not surprisingly, Keillor holds similarly contemptuous views about John McCain and Sarah Palin. Keillor observed about McCain, “(T)he Arizonan is the son of an admiral and was ushered into Annapolis though an indifferent student, much like the Current Occupant, both of them men who are very lucky that their fathers were born before they were.” ( http://www.salon.com/opinion/keillor/2008/08/06/mccain/ ) Interesting how Keillor managed to omit McCain’s Vietnam War service and time as a POW. In his most recent column on salon.com, Keillor describes Palin in this way, “She’s like the Current Occupant but with big hair.” ( http://www.salon.com/opinion/keillor/2008/09/10/palin/ ) Given what has been said about Palin over the past couple of weeks it’s a relatively tame observation.
Nevertheless, his lack of respect for conservatives and Republicans comes shining through. Of course, he is entitled to be lacking in respect of those with whom he disagrees. But I am in turn entitled to disagree with those lacking in respect of whom they disagree. Let Keillor object to the Right to his heart’s content. But I must put my foot down when he chastises Americans for wanting to remember those who died on September 11th. No need for him to take out his contempt on the rest of us. Still, one might ask why I am so bothered by Keillor’s point of view. After all, he is just another spoiled, self-indulgent half wit who lives in no small part on the largesse of the American taxpayer. So why pay him any heed at all?
I pay his words heed because their sentiment is similar to that of those who chide people for remembering the Holocaust. For as long as I can remember, I have come across sorts who demand to know why we are still mourning the deaths of six million Jews. “That happened a long time ago. Get over it. Move on,” are typical of the sort of sentiments I have encountered over the years from that school of thought. Honestly, I have never understood why some people get so worked up over remembrance of those who perished in the Holocaust. Do they simply dislike Jews and believe they had what was coming to them but will not say so in polite society? Or do they think that Holocaust remembrance puts Israel in a good light in the way that remembrance of September 11th puts President Bush in a good light? Or is it as simple as the belief these people simply aren’t worth giving a moment’s thought?
If Keillor’s contempt for President Bush is so strong that he cannot bring himself to remember those who died on September 11th then I pity him. If Keillor thinks those who died on September 11th simply aren’t worth the time or trouble of a moment of silence then he has my contempt. I and millions of Americans will remember those who died at the hands of al Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001. We will do so with or without the likes of Garrison Keillor.
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