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Sunday, September 11, 2016

Renegade 911


Edit 3: Facebook has restored the original post and apologized. They are still looking into the details of what happened.

Edit 2: Comments on this post are now well over 200. If you want to see all of those comments, you have to go to the bottom of the page and click on “load more.” You may have to do this several times.

Edit: Addendum at the end of the post

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I made a Facebook post about 9-11.

It went viral.

It wasn’t even the first viral post I wrote this week, or the first to offend a certain segment of America.

And many people were offended.

Oh, yes, they were offended.

Those who beat their fleshy chests and wave the flag in righteous unending fury and bleat most bitterly about “Freedom” and “Liberty” and “Patriotism” were the most offended.

Because aren’t they always?

Aren’t they?

They attempted to hack my Facebook account.

When that didn’t work, they complained to Facebook in righteous anger, furiously waving their little flags.

Because that’s what you do when you love “Freedom” and “Liberty” and “Patriotism” -- not the real freedom and liberty and patriotism but the jack-booted goose-stepping version where everybody is lined up and made to salute the flag with a gun to the back of their necks.  The kind of “Freedom” that’s administered by serious men of pure Aryan descent with death’s heads and lightning bolts on their collars.

Eventually these patriots  succeeded in convincing Facebook’s idiot mechanical brain to remove my post for “violation of community standards,” even though nothing I wrote violates Facebook’s community standards in any way.

Now, I’m not particularly vexed by this.

First, because this is the risk you take when you post to Facebook. You don’t own it. You don’t control it. You are entirely at the mercy of poorly coded algorithms and the arbitrary judgement of some 20 year old Frappuccino swilling douchebeard somewhere in the bowels of the Facebook cloud.

Facebook’s interests aren’t yours, even if like me you make them piles of money by pulling in 130,000 people every day.  I knew this when I signed up. It irritates me, what they did pulling down my post because a bunch of fascist right-wingers got their delicate little Hitler Under-Roos all in a bunch, but I’m not in anyway surprised by the behavior of either party. It’s right there in the EULA.

Second,  Because the people who complained confirm everything I said about them.


And I’d be lying if I said that didn’t amuse me.


By getting my post pulled down they confirm everything I said.

They always do, these patriots, predictable as the next row of goose-stepping Nazis.

And what was it I said that was so terrible?

What was it I said that was deserving of censorship and death threats?

This:

You're expecting some kind of obligatory 9-11 post, aren't you?

Here it is, but you're not gonna like it.

15 years ago today 19 shitheads attacked America.

They killed 3000 of us.

And then ... America got its revenge for 9-11.

Yes we did. Many times over. We killed them. We killed them all. We killed their families. We killed their wives and their kids and all their neighbors. We killed whole nations that weren't even involved just to make goddamned sure. We bombed their cities into rubble. We burned down their countries.

They killed 3000 of us, we killed 300,000 of them or more.

8000 of us came home in body bags, but we got our revenge. Yes we did.

We're still here. They aren't.

We win. USA! USA! USA!

Right?

You goddamned right. We. Win.

Except...

Every year on this day we bathe in the blood of that day yet again. We watch the towers fall over and over. It's been 15 goddamned years, but we just can't get enough. We've just got to watch it again and again.

It's funny how we never show those videos of the bombs falling on Baghdad today. Or the dead in the streets of Afghanistan. We got our revenge, but we never talk about that today. No, we just sit and watch the towers fall yet again.

Somewhere out there on the bottom of the sea are the rotting remains of the evil son of bitch who masterminded the attack. It took a decade, but we hunted him down and put a bullet in his brain. Sure. We got him. Right? That's what we wanted. that's what our leaders promised us, 15 years ago today.

And today those howling the loudest for revenge shrug and say, well, yeah, that. That doesn't matter, because, um, yeah, the guy in the White House, um, see, well, he's not an American, he's the enemy see? He's not doing enough. So, whatever. What about that over there? And that? And...

Yeah.

15 years ago our leaders, left and right, stood on the steps of the Capitol and gave us their solemn promise to work together, to stand as one, for all Americans.

How'd that promise work out?

How much are their words worth? Today, 15 years later?

It's 15 years later and we're STILL afraid. We're still terrorized. Still wallowing in conspiracy theories and peering suspiciously out of our bunkers at our neighbors. Sure we won. Sure we did. We became a nation that tortures our enemies -- and our own citizens for that matter. We're a nation of warrantless wiretaps and rendition and we've gotten used to being strip searched in our own airports. And how is the world a better place for it all?

And now we're talking about more war, more blood.

But, yeah, we won. Sure. You bet.

Frankly, I have had enough of 9-11. Fuck 9-11. I'm not going to watch the shows. I'm not going to any of the memorials. I'm not going to the 9-11 sales at Wal-Mart. I don't want to hear about 9-11. I for damned sure am not interested in watching politicians of either party try to out 9-11 each other. I'm tired of this national 9-11 PTSD. I did my bit for revenge, I went to war, I'll remember the dead in my own time in my own way.

I'm not going to shed a damned tear today.

We got our revenge. Many times over, for whatever good it did us.

I'm going to go to a picnic and enjoy my day. Enjoy this victory we've won.

I suggest you do the same.

Horrible, yes?

How terrible that I should suggest we stop wallowing in this misery, that we stop allowing ourselves to be terrorized by men long dead.

Yes indeed, how terrible.

On Facebook, posts openly calling for the assassination of the president do not violate Facebook’s community standards.

Open racism doesn’t violate Facebook’s community standards.

Sexism and misogyny, homophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, bigotry of every stripe, none of these things violate Facebook’s community standards – or the community standards of supposed Christian Conservatives for that matter. 

Posts that directly call for armed insurrection, that call for militias and Sovereign Citizens to march on Washington and burn it to the ground, to hang the government from the nearest light poles,  don’t violate community standards.

You can use Facebook to organize Klan rallies and gather Neo-Nazis for Trump, to take over a bird sanctuary in Oregon or even to call down the wrath of your god upon everybody you hate.

You can openly call for the murder of a football player that you don’t think is patriotic enough.

All of these things are fine.

But don’t say you’re not going to celebrate 9-11.

_____

Addendum:  I can see that I’ve attracted a certain element and that I have to explain things that would be obvious to those of normal intellect. Very well: If you read the above piece and came away with the idea that I – a retired US military officer who was on active duty on September 11th, 2001 and who willingly served in the resulting war – that I am somehow saying that the US shouldn’t have responded to the 9-11 attack (or Pearl Harbor for that matter, because apparently you’re all reading off the same crib notes) then you are too goddamned stupid to comment here. So don’t bother. As previously noted, I don’t mind having enemies, but I do require they meet certain levels of reading comprehension and reasoning ability.  If you think that a measured response against an identified enemy is the same as invading a country that had nothing to do with 9-11, then you don’t qualify and your comments will not post. // Jim

476 comments:

  1. I read you post on Facebook before it got taken down. I agree with what you said. Thank you for your thoughts.

    Gary

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    1. they did win...eveytime im at an airport,every extra "homeland security"rule im forced to abide by ...continuous war all created by our reagans refusal to shut military bases in suadi arabia which is sacred ground to the terrorists or freedom fighters depending on the side your on.gee i wonder if petroleum interests had anything to do with it...dud

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    2. I wrote a blog about 911 today too. I didn't go quite as far as you did but the gist was the same. 911 turned us into cowards.

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    3. I've been on Facebook for a couple of years, very opinionated, offended family and friends, been threatened many times, and I have to say, I think this is the best post, for raw, brutal truth, that I have ever read. Keep on keepin' on, good sir!

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    4. I copied and pasted an attributed copy from one of your minions then I pasted on my FB page. I'm already in their bad graces for constantly filing for them to remove racist, sexist, murderous posts from the ultra right, all denied as meets "community standards!" I don't like this "community" and this is the final straw!

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    5. I copied and pasted an attributed copy from one of your minions then I pasted on my FB page. I'm already in their bad graces for constantly filing for them to remove racist, sexist, murderous posts from the ultra right, all denied as meets "community standards!" I don't like this "community" and this is the final straw!

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  2. I have the same feeling as you Jim i am so over 9-11

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    1. This the only route I've found to, hopefully, comment that: I so agree with Jim.

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    2. You can add my vote to this sentiment. I don't "celebrate" 9-11. We did what they expected us to do, overreact. Why don't we see any "My Pet Goat" footage anymore?

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    3. Jim thanks for your post. If anyone wants to put measure on War's effects, they can start with Nick Turse's "Kill anything that moves", re Vietnam. That shows why so many soldiers come back with PTSD. We need to reflect upon the total devastation of populations, not just our own, which are painful enough. BTW: Send me a PO Box if you want some great coffee beans, roasted in Northern Ca!

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    4. Totally agree. I was "over" 9/11 about three weeks later when I saw what the "patriots" were doing with it already.

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    5. Every year in school we watch the video, with some voiceover of some hero, and we have to watch the towers fall over and over and over again. Sometimes, in more than one period. To say I'm over watching a video that makes the soul cry is an understatement.
      -Rachel

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  3. Bravo!

    Dolores in Hollywood

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  4. beginning of post -- "offend", not "often"

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  5. In reading that people rip off your material as their own, Everyone knows a Ziggy, just like everyone knows a Jim Wright.

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  6. Thank you, Sir!
    Inge Mooney

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  7. .....let's hope this gets through...gonna keep sharing on FB JUST TO PISS OFF all the rethuglican grease trap dwelling maggots possible.

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  8. Thank you. I've been feeling exactly this way today. I will share your new post. As a matter of fact, I think I might just send the FB dweebs a little message, too. Enjoy your cookout!

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  9. I'm sorry that FB sucks so very much. I hope it's ok that I posted the original and this on my LJ (crediting copiously, naturally)
    http://missdiane.livejournal.com/1032602.html
    I wouldn't bother to point out the reposting since I'm no one in particular but it actually got up to the #6 post of the day at one point and I was gobsmacked.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. That is not easy to do, even as the ElJay has greatly diminished once the Russians got hold of it.

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  10. LOVE the underoos description. Dang near choked on my coffee when I read it! You really have a way with describing things and I love to read your posts. Carry on!

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    1. OMG! I had the same reaction, except I didn't choke on coffee... I spit my pepsi right out of my mouth, all over my screen! BEST description ever! lolol

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  11. Jim, How can I legally post this on my Facebook? I so agree with you!! The people that do all the breast beating and America first are the same ones that spit on us as we returned home. Yeah, I a Viet Nam vet, never boots on the ground, but airplanes on a flight deck. Frankly, I do not write as well as you do. I wish I did. Keep up the good work and thanks!

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    1. Thank you for your service. Yes, it may be late but I was 12 when the war ended.

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    2. Thank you for your service. It may be quite late but I was 12 when the war ended.

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  12. You are an original and I celebrate your free speech. Thank you.

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  13. Exactly. Thanks for fetching this post from the Facebook void and putting it where we can link to it.

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  14. Truth hurts, doesn't it, America? That's why we need to keep it out there, so you can get past that butthurt feeling and maybe think about it just a little bit. Well done, sir. By the by, one of my friends started a petition to have the post put back up again. Because you're right.

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    1. Where can I go to sign that petition?

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  15. I finally get to thank you , I'm outside the airlock but a long-term fan ,well done sir,well done

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  16. i'm Australian, i remember watching in horror but then pointing out that pretty much your chickens had come home to roost. You cant poke a tiger forever and expect it not to respond.
    i made comments, not on FB but on forums shared by Americans, i shouldnt have made comments, it was too soon, but i was prompted by a comment "this is what we have to endure for being the worlds police" - i've never forgotten...the worlds police...my comment was "nobody ever asked the US to be the worlds police...left that forum soon after.

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    1. How very sweet of you, Deborah -- particularly kind, too, to tell the uninvolved people in the Towers that they deserved to be roasted to death....

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    2. Not what she said at all. No one, and especially not Deborah, said the victims deserved to die, in any manner. Head back to grade school, you failed reading comprehension.

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    3. tess, Deborah said nothing of the sort. Her comments were about how the actions of the United States in the Middle East had unintended, and quite tragic, consequences. That's reality.

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  17. I just LOVE everything you write and the way you write it!

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  18. In the race to the top of Patriot Mountain, we often trample on the rights we pretend to care so much about. Your post was the only 911 post I agreed with today. Parts of it are uncomfortable for many people, as they should be. War, and it's many atrocities, should never become so censored that we are comfortable with everything about it. We need to take an honest look at the ugly parts of these events we have come to hold as sacred to our American narrative. The revisions are already being made to this piece of history. Thanks for the honesty, it's refreshing.

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  19. Facebook's algorithms for reporting posts - - - it blows goats. smh... Anyway, Jim, thanks for always fighting the good fight.

    (Hope you're enjoying FL. Just remember their cardinal driving rule: no one drives the speed limit, they all drive the temperature.)

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  20. My wife suggested I follow you on FaceBook, and I've yet to regret it. Your conviction, and your defence of the rights of others, should be respected and applauded. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

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  21. Thank you for saying the things I think, but somehow don't believe I have the right to say out loud. I wasn't in NYC, I didn't lose anyone, I didn't serve in the military. I am going to read this a few more times and practice talking about it with my husband. Our discourse has to change, and I have to stop closing my mouth.

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  22. The end result of the unholy convergence of clumsy algorithms and for profit media will be a droning chant of unassailable conformity. Whatever view is held by the most numerous and/or passionate and/or obsessive will prevail because access to expression will always be trumped by market share.

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    1. AKA The people who scream the loudest are the only ones that are heard...

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  23. Jim, here's a fellow you might have liked. Rick Rescorla. Ia Drang veteran, rescued most of Morgan Stanley's staff and then went up for more. The tower collapsed, his body was never found.
    His story can be found should you want to look. There's a book on his life. He was your kind. Best.

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    1. Rick Rescorla was a true hero of 9/11. He predicted both the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the 9/11 destruction. Because Morgan Stanley refused to move out of the WTC on his recommendation, he made all employees practice walking down the stairs four times a year. Morgan Stanley was the largest tenant of the WTC, but only lost a handful of employees not only because of that training, but because Rescorla ordered all employees to evacuate the South Tower when he saw the North Tower had been hit.

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    2. Morgan Stanley got very serious about security after the the WTC garage bombing. As a result of Mr. Rescorla's efforts, Morgan Stanley lost very few people. With Rick's death, they lost one of their very best

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  24. I just don't get FB's reasoning. I thought your post was thought-provoking and I must admit to having had similar thoughts about 9-11. I'm glad you posted here so it gets the exposure it deserves. Thanks again for your insight and I'm looking forward to you new public FB page so I can comment on your posts directly.

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    1. Don't understand FB? It's easy -- the people who admire tRump for "speaking his mind" and being anti-PC are all upset because we think they're a bunch of pansy wimps, and went crying to Zuckerfucker to make the naughty man stop being so mean to the. [rolling my eyes till i'm concerned they'll pop out]

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    2. If you insult the people of Mexico, Muslims, women, African Americans, the disabled, former pow's, and the list goes on and on...then you're "telling it like it is" and "not being politically correct". Point out that a Real American™ Trump supporter might be a racist or a bigot, and you better apologize fast.

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  25. Well, I agree with you and made similar comments to my wife and friends yesterday. Was there still angst about Pearl Harbor in 1956? JFK's assassination in 1978?

    Keep the faith!

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  26. Jim, may I link to this on my Facebook?

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  27. Let's see if FB pulls down my link to this on Stonekettle!

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  28. I'm reposting, Jim, copied from above. We'll see how long it stays up. Don't ever stop. :D

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  29. I began to think the 9/11 annual commemorations were like modern Germany commemorating the Reichstag fire. They don't do it.

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  30. Thank you, Jim, for persevering in the face of the crap! You give us all hope.

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  31. REMEMBER RELIVE RETRAUMATIZE REVENGE REVENGE REVENGE 'MURICA

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  32. Well said. We seem to find moral outrage in so many of the wrong places these days.

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  33. No need to actually post this. There's a typo in the 3rd sentence. "The first to often a certain..." "Often" probably is meant to be "offend". Awesome writing, as usual, otherwise. :)

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  34. I appreciate your views. Keep writing.

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  35. Twice today and still love it. When the hell you gonna friend me? It 2 years now.

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  36. I agree. I like all other Americans remember the gut-wrenching images and live feed as the attacks transpired that day. I'll never forget. I have friends who lost loved ones and know they must feel unimaginable pain every 9/11. That being said, I knew that today I'd wake up and give my silent thoughts to all that were impacted by the 9/11 attacks but I would not post anything about that day other sending love to specific friends who lost loved ones. I want my energies to going towards peace, tolerance, love and acceptance in order to combat all agendas of religious extremists.

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  37. Thank you for reposting here. When I read this on FB this morning, I couldn't have agreed more and you very eloquently - and strongly - stated what we've been saying here at home the last few days. I look forward to reading more of your thoughts here.

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  38. Well said, Jim. Both now and before. I want to apologize for mindlessly posting a link to one of those very same liberal cesspools when your original post went down. :/ I've donated as penance, and I'll say 5 Hail Jims. Thanks for all you write, and all you do.

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  39. Douchebeard is genius!

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  40. Thank you for being real and a voice for the silent, rational, majority.

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  41. Good essay Jim. Weren't most of those 19 shitheads from Saudi Arabia? So how did the USA actually get revenge on any of the attackers and their families? Agree with what you say otherwise as others were attacked with little or no connection to the actual event.

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    1. Heather Park-AlbertsonSeptember 11, 2016 at 8:22 PM

      I think several co-conspirators were hunted down and imprisoned. I don't believe we did anything to their family members except where witting complicity could be proven, though being imprisoned for investigation and asset-freezing is enough. Interestingly, I've never found any followup on the Saudis who *were* found to have wittingly supported al Qaeda. The 9/11 Commission Report cleared the Saudi government and senior government officials, but apparently did identify many Saudi citizens who gave AQ its money. I think the government of Saudi Arabia owes us a followup on that, but I'm not holding my breath.

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  42. Thank you for expressing what I am too afraid to say to the rest of the world.

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  43. Yesterday, I was mulling over thoughts very similar to your original post. That post was spot on. This one is too. I encountered the same kind of reaction on Memorial Day when I wrote that I didn't want people to "thank me for my service." I don't have a large enough audience to have enough people gang up to have my posts pulled. Still, I encountered the same type of cowardly jingoists calling me unamerican, a traitor, and a list of other epithets. Why? For the same reason they attacked you. They are afraid to face what they and their ilk have wrought. Afraid to own up to the chaos, destruction, and death done by and for them. Afraid to take a moment to examine what they have become and what they have done. So afraid that they'll attack and cyber-lynch anyone who holds a mirror up to even one of their blackened facets.

    I look forward to reading much more of what you write. Don't let the jingoist bastards grind you down.

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  44. FB has really ratched down the censorhsip in the last week since the Dakota Access Pipeline Water Protectors got coverage. Now you can't tag people without being put in FB jail for "overusing" the feature.

    So - since FB has heartburn - I'm up for giving them a bit more. I'll send you another donation. Fuck Fascistbook.

    Semper Fi.

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  45. September 11, 2001 showed the best and the worst of Americans. Every year on September 11, we continue to demonstrate the best and the worst we can be as a nation. This year in particular we have shown that we care more for show than substance, for noise than content and for the appearance of intelligence than knowledge. The same people that put up signs "Bomb them to hell and let God sort them out" now scream that not showing obeisance to symbols is also deserving of a death sentence. How did America ever inspire the acts of bravery and hope? On September 11, 2001, I spent the day like most people, shocked and grieving. And frightened. I was away from my home on a business project and would have to fly to get back there. Over the next two days, I watched as genuinely brave people worked to find survivors. I watched the construction workers march to the site and demand to be allowed to cut the rebar so that it wouldn't spring back on the rescuers. I watched the cadaver dogs and their handlers work to the point of collapse and then work some more. And I listened to the people who wanted even more death, who wanted to become the bringers of death just as surely as the fanatics that flew the planes into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and the ground. I realized that if we, if I, didn't work to define patriotism, others would fashion it in their way, with jingoism and fascism. I believe that we are better than this grotesque noise that has become America. But maybe we aren't. Maybe we have become exactly what we sound like, proudly ignorant, unthinking, wanting only to watch the a circus act. I just can't tell anymore.

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  46. Thanks, Jim. When I started seeing the "never forget" posts on Facebook today, I had such mixed feelings and I didn't know why. You have expressed it beautifully. How many people have we killed, how many 9-11s have we perpetrated on other countries? I am not sympathizing with the terrorists who flew those planes into the towers; they were shitheads. But we are supposed to be better than they are.

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  47. Excellent piece. I agree wholeheartedly.

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  48. Jim, I've been following you on Facebook for some time now and you have yet to disappoint me with your writings. That's not to say that I've always agreed with all of your viewpoints but most of them, yeah. And those that I didn't? Well, you made me think a little and gave me a different perspective. For that, I thank you. Refreshing change of pace from the constant stream of crap on FB. ~ Jean Marie

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  49. As usual, you are 100% right. To paraphrase poorly: You chooses you medium and you takeses you chances. If the medium doesn't suit, then that's the chance you take. I applaud you for taking the chance though. As imperfect a medium as FB is, it gets more places. I "liked" your post, but didn't share it. Now that it's violated FB rules, I've shared an image of it, because fuck 'em.

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  50. I'm not American, so take my comment for what it's worth. I find the hyper-patriotism so many Americans display rather disturbing. I'm Canadian and I love my country, but I don't need it to be the best or the greatest or the biggest, I'm okay with it just being Canada. I spent Memorial Day with a group of American friends, who all spoke of every family member they had who'd been in the military in one fashion or another. There were tears and this reverence that sort of bordered on worship- I get it, but I don't in some respects. My dad was in the Canadian military, I mentioned this and they all looked at me blankly like it didn't matter because it wasn't American military. There is a feeling sometimes with American hyper-patriots that they care for no opinions but their own and no country but their own. That they'd get rid of every single person on the planet whose opinions and policies run contrary to theirs. I saw a few American friends (right wingers) post today about how they are no safer than they were then. Of course they went on to blame Obama. Yet 9/11 did not happen on his watch as we all know. I find it bizarre, how so little is based in fact or the real risks they actually face- gun control anyone? The kind of patriotism you talk about here, Jim is, indeed, reminiscent of some very frightening regimes of the past. And we all know how those ended up.

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  51. Thanks for this post Jim. I've been sick of the 9/11 parade of sorrows for a while, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Sick for the families who lost people in combat, sick for the people who died in other countries, sick for the lies we were told, the loss of civil liberties. Sick for what has happened to our own people's minds. It's a symbol that has been used to obliterate what it meant to be an American. Thanks again. G

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  52. No matter what they say, you're still "wright". Eagerly awaiting my next installment.

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  53. I posted a copy of your post being sure to give you full credit and supplied a link to Stonekettle... so far, Facebook has not deleted it.
    Keep offering up your perspective Jim... it makes people uncomfortable and that is generally a good thing.

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  54. I can't imagine how discouraging it is. However, your writing strikes such a chord that it DOES go viral and you have many, many avid readers. It is BECAUSE you are standing your ground and telling the truth. The rabid nationalism is the biggest threat to this country. We have to be long, loud and clear in speaking up against it. You have given me hope that there are many people who feel like I do. I kind of think that you should search down each and every person who reposted your article without your consent and ask them for you cut of the money in the comment section of each persons reposting. I would shame them and embarrass them.

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  55. I copied your facebook post to my page and added this:

    So Jim Wright from Stonekettle Station had a post deleted from Facebook because it didn't meet "community standards". So a 25 year Navy Veteran, a decorated officer, who might have some actually meaningful perspective, has been silenced while every single day I see people on Facebook calling for the deaths of the President and Hillary, of Blacks, Mexicans, Iraquis, Arabians, basically anyone who isn't White. And even if they're White, if they are not the "right" religion, or political party, or sexuality, or support the right College Football team, then they need to die too. Sure, some of the posts are snark and sarcasm, but some are deadly serious and go to show how much unfounded, unreasoning hatred there is out there. This shit needs to stop.

    I used to say that all of the major leaps in civilization came from advancements in communication and transportation. We got a huge communication leap with the internet (transportation, not so much. I'm still waiting on my flying car or teleporter). Now we can easily and cheaply have group meetings with people worldwide. We can talk to those of other cultures and learn from them and experience new ideas.
    But do we? No.
    At first, yes we did, but then we had an incident that turned us into Nationalistic Isolationists. When that happened, all our amazing communication potential was turned to forming cliques, and seeking out only like-minded people. So the only cultures experienced were just concentrated versions of what we already had. We didn't look for new ideas, but instead looked for people who would reinforce the beliefs we already had. So now, instead of a few families in each town who are White Supremacists, Anti-Gay, Anti-Women, Sean Hannity and Glen Beck listeners, or Religiously Over-Fundamentalists (who are often all of the above), or any other hate group, they meet on Facebook and become huge, vocal groups with the power of numbers.
    And the tunnel vision got tighter, and the hatred grew exponentially.

    These people need to be stopped. Actually, stopped is the wrong word. De-programmed is more accurate. I believe that anyone and everyone has the right to say or feel what they believe. You don't like Blacks, or Whites, or Gays, or Star Wars Fans? You can say so all you want. But give me an actual reason you don't like them (hint: you won't be able to). Don't say you don't like Gays because of the Bible, or don't like Blacks because you've seen the news of riots in Ferguson. Those are Bullshit excuses that just don't hold up. If you hate a complete group of people, especially if it includes people you've never met, it's because that's the way you were programmed. Maybe from your parents, maybe from your church, maybe from Rush Limbaugh, maybe from your elementary school friend who got it from his parents or church.
    I've made this point before, that De-programming is difficult. Try convincing someone who is devoutly religious that Gays are not an abomination, when his pastor/priest/minister, who he believes is speaking for God, is telling him every Sunday that they are. Try telling the parents of a soldier killed in Iraq that not every Muslim is an enemy.

    Or better yet, try telling Iraqui and Afghan civillians that not every American wants them dead.

    This blanket hatred has got to stop.

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  56. Jim, i hadn't seen this post on Facebook today, until seeing that it'd been axed. Thanks for reposting it here, because it's a critical piece of this entire shitshow that's gone heretofore unsaid.

    I was having this exact conversation with my wife earlier today, in which I commented that I was tired of the grief porn, and that today's annual reminder of who to hate and vilify while cowering in fear was getting ridiculous.

    "Never Forget"? As if any one of us who remember that day don't have many more names added to the List of the Dead since then. "Never Forget" the - as you said - hundreds of thousands of dead brown people to satiate the American bloodlust for revenge and war and let's not forget the great profit potential.

    They want us to Never Forget 9-11, and all evidence today suggest the only thing we've really forgotten in the decade and a half since is, well... America.

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  57. Your writing is always top notch. You say what I think but with better language and more colorful euphemisms.

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  58. It sickens me that in "the Land of the Free" that this kind of censorship continues to happen, but I applaud your persistence. We need this kind of honest discourse to change things around here, and even if it changes nothing, we have right on our side.

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  59. Thank you Jim. I read this this morning, and have consciously avoided all the 9/11 stuff today.

    I'm a follower, not a friend, so I don't get to comment on your posts. But I share them.

    Semper fi, man.

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  60. THIS ROCKS. REPOSTED LINK ON FACEBOOK. GOING TO POST ON TWITTER.

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  61. I shared this on my FB page. And quoted you re: the comments about racism, murdeing the President etc. as the into. Timing it to see how long it lasts!
    Thank you for your voice of reason.

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  62. I too have copied this, and will keep sharing it, Jim. Thank you for all that you write, Sir.

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  63. I follow you on Facebook, even though I can't comment to you there. You have hit two home runs this week, both with which I couldn't agree more.

    The hell of it is, I didn't shed a tear on 9/11/01 either.

    2996 people lost their lives that day. And that was a tragedy....then. But then we had to use it as an excuse to go to war with a country that had nothing to do with that day...Iraq...a year and a half later. We killed...directly....more than 100,000 Iraqis with our ordinance. We caused the deaths of millions by destroying their infrastructure. When you compare the numbers, who, really were the bad guys? Which was worse?

    Clearly we were; ours was worse. Unless you're a nationalist hatemonger who thinks the only lives that have value are white American lives, that is. Never mind the fact that we sacrificed the lives of more than 4,500 of our sons and daughters to that useless war over imaginary WMD, or that we diminished the lives of another 100,000 of our sons and daughters by many years of war and occupation, wounds, lost limbs, PTSD, destroying marriages and robbing children of the affections and attentions of their moms or dads for years on end. If you want to mourn, mourn that.

    Like you, Jim, I won't shed a single tear over 9/11. But I shed many tears over that massive loss of life and livelihood that we caused for the sake of forcing democracy on those who didn't want it, or for the sake of cheap oil, or worse, to avenge Georgie's daddy.

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  64. I JUST POSTED THIS ON MY BLOG AS WELL...

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  65. I think you should go fuck yourself, Jim. But, that's just me. Other's mileage may vary.

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  66. I've actually had very similar thoughts leading up to today. Well, they weren't as thoughtful or articulate, but they we're heartfelt and for the same reasons.

    In addition to the now annual, stomach churning, endless video loops of that day, that are surely being played right now, I found myself angrily remembering those stupid flag "lapel" pins. And, more to the point, how EVERYONE MUST WEAR THEM ALWAYS. Because, you know, TREASON!! otherwise.

    Anyway, you've spelled out the utter hypocrisy of Facebook exceptionally well, and I salute you, sir. Thank you for your service to the country, and sorry it was necessary due to the idiot machinations of the Bush family, and the idiots who keep trying to vote for them. -Al

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  67. I agree totally. I have heard and witnessed the most grotesque "free speech" over the last decade only to see those same folks get all up in a tizzy about a football player or Mr Wright telling it the way it is

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  68. Thank you for this it is how I feel. I can't comment on FB. Love your take on what's going on.
    Big fan.
    Bigger fan other Shopkat. So happy she is on the mend!

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  69. I dunno, maybe they didn't like the word fuck. Fuckin' unbelievable.

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  70. I agree with you 100% on everything that you have said. I've posted many of the same things myself and have been told everything ranging from that I am blind to I should leave the country, to I should kill myself or be killed. Those wonderful sentiments were delivered to me by patriot members of the Cult of Trump whom they worship as the Grand Poobah of the Sub-Anthropoidal Horses Ass.

    What mostly affects me is how unashamed they are to publicly say those things adjacent to their real names, pictures, and bios revealing where they live. There is no shame or embarrassment on their part. Indeed, it is as if they have finally found their family, in the same way we have been told why youths and children join gangs.

    They don't recognize true liberty, true patriotism, or true freedom. They want lock-step order, sameness, and for everyone to follow their straight and narrow-minded pathway. If you don't they will make you the enemy in your own country.

    We are living in a terrible time.

    I am with you all the way.

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  71. Bravo! Your additional comments are also insightful and brilliant!

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  72. Canadian here. My friends and I have been fans (some are even minions!) for a while, and everything you said is 100% accurate. I've had to endure posts about justified racism, justified homophobia and justified misogyny, but if you report these? "Ooh. Have you tried reaching out to the OP to tell them it upset you? Here. Have some herbal tea." Yet your true words about the real cost of 9/11 "Offend community standards". Well, we all know whose community, and it sure ain't ours.
    Keep up the great work, Jim.

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  73. Just another reason why I've never had a Facebook account and never will.

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  74. thank you. i have always found it kind o ghoulish to "celebrate" 9-11.. most well intentioned people don't want to forget but they don't feel the same when it comes to the havoc we wreak. remember, yes... but, it needs to serve as a reminder what ill-conceived war can do...destabilize. war should be our LAST resort. thank you. for once, a 9-11 post i can stand behind.

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  75. Thanks for this post, Jim. I cringed when the "War on Terrorism" was declared because I saw it as a blank check for American aggression. Wars on ideas and beliefs don't work out well, take the bottomless pit of the 'War on Drugs,' as an example, or our mislabeling Vietnam's fight for national determination as a war against communism. When we are asked to 'Remember' an event we, historically have been led to remember a political construct that rationalizes our behavior, whether torture, racist internment, or annexing some islands.
    Remember the Maine?

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  76. Strangely, to me, I kindasorta agree with you, but I'm just thinking that you lost your focus ... if you ever really had it ... but now maybe have regained ... or finally attained ... it.
    I always did get your point, I just never liked it, or Colin Kaepernick's delivery of his. That's ok, isn't it?
    Lately, I'm thinking that if he'd just "taken a knee", like any smart QB occasionally does, rather than sitting on his million dollar ass, many of us might've actually given him some respect, regardless of our disagreement.
    Agree or not, all you did was fuel the fire by totally ignoring our heartfelt pain.
    Just in case it matters, I'm a white, 68 year old Vietnam veteran, and I'd return to war tomorrow to defend Mr. Kaepernick's right to do exactly what he did, and your right to misrepresent it, regardless of how offended I may be by it.
    Btw, I'm only "Anonymous" because I'm just not as techno-intelligent as you are ... but you already knew that, didn't you? I'd be happy to "expose myself" if you'd allow FB id's.

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  77. We are losing the ability to be great. It takes the great qualities of life to be great

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  78. I've posted a link to this on my FB page. Also posted the FB memory of a post I made a few years ago. All I have to say about 9/11. From the Book of Common Prayer
    6. For our Enemies

    O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love
    our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth:
    deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in
    your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you,
    through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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  79. Reposting the Stonekettle link. They took down my share of your fb post, but didn't tell me why. We'll see what happens. Also sent them a terse note regarding their stupidity. Arses.

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  80. Been following you for quite some time and love your work. Thank you for saying what I could not. Bless you for speaking the truth.

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  81. Because your fb won't allow me to post comments I'm glad I have an opportunity here. I read everything you write, whether it's about your cats or politics. I have yet to find anything I disagree with. Thank you for keeping it real, and for putting into words thoughts that many of us think but don't know how to express. Please, never stop.

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  82. The first task of leadership is to define reality. Lead on!

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  83. Excellent and right on. Bombastic and wonderful. Thank you yet again, Mr. Wright.

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  84. Got to this through a friends FB post. I don't know you or your politics, except what you've said here, but I've thought the same for years. 9/11 gave the US fraudulent causus belli for years, and it's a goddam farce.

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  85. You perfectly articulated everything I feel about today. Thank you, Sir.

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  86. I shared your first FB post and it disappeared from my timeline. I later shared another person's repost of your post-- he properly attributed to you -- with commentary of my own, because my phone didn't want to cut and paste.. It's currently still there. I'll share this link too. Thank you for writing this. My FB feed is overrun with uber-patriotic 9-11 "tributes". Yours was the only one that said what I feel.

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  87. Thanks for saying it Jim. We are so obsessed with tragedy porn. I do mourn for us on 9/11, but I mourn more for the people we were in the weeks that followed, than the fearful divisive country we have become in the years after.

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  88. I don't understand why they pulled it down. You said what I've thought for a long time. I feel like utter chicken shit for not reposting it this morning but I've pretty much gone mute on fb because I am chicken shit. Unless it's kittens. I'm sorry this happened, I look forward to reading your posts. Thank you.

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  89. It's well known in the anti-harassment community that a coordinated effort to mobilize large groups of FB users to make identical complaints (that's the coordinated part) about a post will cause FB's automated system to pull it for "violation of community standards".

    This tactic has been used by fairly frequently by various Alt-Right groups in an attempt to silence or harass certain users / bloggers / writers.

    Unfortunately, there's not much that can be done. FB administrators only get involved if the person who had the post pulled files an appeal... and even then the admin's first reaction is to decide the situation is not something FB wants to deal with, so they leave the decision stand.

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    1. I also thought it might be a group effort to censor; the hypocrisy is simultaneously infuriating and amusing. Thanks for the explanation.

      Delete
  90. What I posted today was a rendition of Jon Stewart's Daily Show return after 9/11/01. I have always found it the most hopeful of what most everyone said at the time. (Unfortunately I also picked one with cheesy background music and that started with showing the towers getting hit.)

    However, I completely agree with what you said in your post (I came too late to read it before it was pulled, but I did read the reposting in the thread).

    Yes, it is time to move on already. Not "getting over it" has placed us where we are today - with the possibility of a moron getting elected president and the more qualified candidate getting sick on the campaign trail with pneumonia and being being demonized for running for president while "obviously" being at death's door.

    The wrong people are running the narrative with no one getting enough press time to put those ideas down to the level they deserve. The "liberal media" for the sake of ratings is selling us all down the river.

    #TFP

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  91. Bravo Mr. Wright. I was able to read your post on Facebook before it was removed. Well done sir. I am glad you put it here as well.

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  92. I've shared this on my Facebook page, which can only be seen by my friends. I'm certain none of them would complain to Facebook about it, so if it disappears, THEN we will know something more than some individuals with later security than mine having "fiends" who've complained.

    Being a mere follower and thus unable to comment on Facebook, I'd appreciate the honor of being your friend so that I might do so in the future. We have three friends in common.

    Big fan!

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  93. Jim, you are probably one of the few people who could have said this and said this so eloquently.

    I got into a little Facebook scuffle myself today talking about Kaepernick. One of the commentators was a rabid self-styled conservative who was just looking for an argument.

    I think since Desert Storm citizens have been groomed to love the military unquestioningly to prevent "another Vietnam." 'Memba that? Subsequently, having any criticism of foreign policy not condoned by the Right or suggesting the true virtues of liberty and freedom and soon you're labeled a "liberal" and a hater of our country.

    This individual's distant family served in both WW2 and Vietnam and of course, that give him--and him alone--province of what is and what should be American.

    I can't say I'm keen on Hillary, but these types need to be kept from power.

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  94. I have something to say to those you so aptly describe as "those who beat their fleshy chests and wave the flag in righteous unending fury".

    Would you (the chest beating patriots) be as zealous if only 1500 people were killed? Would you still have been willing to attack anyone and anything that may have had a hand in it? What it were only 500 people? Would you feel just as angered at the atrocity? What about 100? 20? What if only 20 people had been killed in that attack? Yes? What if it were 20 little kids? 20 little kids from say...Sandy Hook? Where was your patriotic outrage then? Oh, right. It was only 20 little kids (and 6 grownups) and the perpetrator was an American…with 2nd Amendment rights. I guess that’s okay then. Move along. Nothing to be seen here.

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    1. I feel the same..revenge is easier to justify if the enemy is "Other"...hard when it's someone just like you.

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    2. If there was a like button on here, I'd like this response about 10,000 times.

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  95. We have three Facebook friends in common, and while I've been following you for some time, I'm unable to comment on your Facebook posts because we're not friends.

    I prefer Facebook and hope you don't leave over the perception they are censoring you. I'm fairly certain posts are only removed if someone's "friend" complains. I seriously doubt anyone I know would be offended by it, so if my share is removed...then we'll know something is up.

    Please friend me! Big fan!

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  96. My husband, retired Naval Officer, and I share your views. Thank you for having the courage to voice them. It's time this purportedly "Christian Nation" starts acting like one. (I shared your post on FB and credited you)

    Honor the dead by not creating more enemies, terrorists and innocent casualties in their names.

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  97. I was one of those people who posted your words from a site that I did not know at the time stole your words. Though I attributed you and have placed this Stonekettle post on my wall to clarify, please allow me to apologize. What you said is too important to be summarily dismissed like how FB has done. Thank you and I for one will keep reading and sharing your powerful insight and perspective.

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  98. As a fellow veteran, I fully agree with you. It's time to stop wallowing in self-pity every September 11th and to stop letting people work us up into a furor against Arabs, Muslims and anyone who is "the other." We need to remember what happened, but we also need to remember that it led us into a lot of mistakes when we acted on emotions and anger. We passed a "Patriot Act" that was anything but patriotic, we sent a lot of young men to war, and a lot of them died. We had our revenge, and then some, and we also caused a lot of unnecessary harm that will take generations to undo.

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  99. Still an atheist (no one is my ghod) but your writing ROCKS!!! We have radically different experiences, but I am in agreement with your essays most of the time.

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  100. Hope you enjoyed your picnic. I've been saying for quite some time that we've become very good at being victims. 9-11 is the holy holiday of our victim-hood. Thank you for saying what I believe in a much better way than I could ever say it. John

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  101. Thank you. I reposted you latest FB post minus the link and told people if they wanted to read it to come here. What you said has needed to be said for 15 years. I am so sick and tired and offended by the lunkheads who want everyone in this country in lock step and shouting sig heil. enough already.

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  102. Thank you, Jim. I, too, am weary of the annual picking of the national scab. We have become a much uglier, more divided society since that day, and I'm tired of it - not that I know how to fix it.
    Karen Lea Siegel (wife of Don Siegel - you're friended to him on Facebook)

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    1. Actually, I realize now that you're not friended to Don - you're friend to Lyriel de la Foret, and Michelle Owings-Christian, both of whom are friends of mine. Anyway - just so you know where this particular connection traces to.

      Delete
  103. I just posted a diary at Daily Kos about your posting, here: http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/11/1569107/-Jim-Wright-Writes-Truth-Facebook-Takes-It-Down?_=2016-09-11T17:29:48.646-07:00. I hope you don't mind, if you do, I will take it down. I post as anonymous because for security reasons, I don't trust having a google account. But what you said means a lot to me and I think it will mean a lot to the people there too.

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  104. Even better the second time around. Thanks for saying what a lot of us are thinking.

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  105. I appreciate your writing and how you seem to speak for me when I know I could never find the words. The comments here and on Facebook are encouraging that we are not alone.

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  106. I haven't posted anything on my blog since Dec 2013, but I am posting a link to this post because even if there is only one more person that sees it, it makes my effort worthwhile.

    Good one, Jim!

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  107. Half my FB friends and I are posting links to this post. Let's see how fast they take those down ...

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  108. I read your post this morning and totally agree with you, except for the families of those who died. I don't blame them for wanting to do something to recognize this day. Losing a loved one in any way is hard.
    But for the rest of us, I say enough is enough.

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  109. Well done my brother. You reflect my feeling to a tee. Your writing skills are well refined. Keep up the good work.

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  110. U.S.Uncut has now shared your post, plus a link to this page, with attribution. http://usuncut.com/news/im-veteran-heres-im-not-going-shed-damned-tear-today/

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  111. Thank you for saying this on FB; thank you for reposting it here. More people agree with you than you may realize.

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  112. Jim, thank you. Thank you for the honesty, thank you for your service and thank you for writing. Long ago I stopped posting anything about 9/11 for the reasons you gave here today. I broke that rule today for your post because it was the only post that was honest about 9/11. On 9/11/2001 I was the Manager of Flight Attendant Training for a major airline and as you can probably figure out, it was a very, very rough day. Thank you for speaking truth.

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  113. Chief,

    Altho I don't work for or speak for Facebook, I think you're attributing to a person what is most probably a bot. I would expect that the "community standard bot" works like this...

    A particular post gets enough complaints it's removed. If people create a Streisand effect, it may ping on a live person's radar... Maybe today, but it's Sunday so more likely tomorrow. They go "yup. That's obnoxious" or "assholes played us again. We really have to fix that." I really don't think any person actually looks at most community standard removes.

    Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. Or badly designed bots.

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  114. Great post! So sorry it got yanked. I do watch the memorials because most of them talk about the people lost on that day, people we should never forget. People who were killed doing nothing but going to work and living their life.

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  115. Like Jerry Critter, I no longer blog, but I'm thrilled that you are still listed on my blog roll. Best of all, now I can tell you what I think. I had shared this fantastic piece on my FB page, but of course it bit the dust when the powers that be struck it from the annals of free speech. You are much more laid back than I would be but I guess that beats getting 86'd for a month of Sundays.

    This piece resonates with me. 300,000 men, women and children killed over a 15 year period adds up to 20,000 people a year - or nearly 55 people per day. That's a whole lot of wasted energy on hate, violence and revenge. Thank you for saying what needs to be said.

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  116. I'm glad I got to read your post even though FB took it down. A friend posted a link here.

    I always get a little depressed thinking about the Towers and the Pentagon and the field in PA that day. The people we lost. The people we became. The frantic flag waving and how everyone felt like they had to put an American flag on their car or other people would look at you as if you were a problem. Buying those yellow ribbon things even though the money was never going to benefit anyone other than the sellers.

    What depresses me most, though, through everything we've done, in vengeance or in grief for those who died, is the feeling that nothing has really changed and that we really haven't learned anything.

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  117. 9-11-01 is history. It happened. The loss has been mourned and avenged. Time to close this sad chapter of American history, and high time to abandon the reason for Arab hostility. It might be simplistic but America's support for the religio-fascist state of Israel is a source of suffering we inflict upon ourselves as well as peoples of the Levant.

    Terrorism is a crime and should be handled as such. They should get no publicity beyond the news cycle and international police should be in charge of investigation. Identified terrorists can have a dead or alive wanted poster issued for them but police action should be continued and the bottom line is to hold public trials on the guilty and responsible.

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  118. Thank you so much for this Jim. You have expressed the feelings on the event better than many of us could. I would also like to apologize for posting a link to the US Uncut post even though I attributed it to you; I thought it was an important enough essay to warrant exposure. I have since removed it and sent my minute number of followers here. Thank you again for voicing the uncomfortable.

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  119. I posted this yesterday. It hasn't gone over well. They were so focused on ck that they missed the whole fucking point. "The people who are most offended by Kaepernick's actions are the people who complain most about people being offended for no reason."

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  120. You claim, with a flourish at the end, that Americans, in some way, "celebrate" this event?

    Of course we do.

    Do you really think that's some sort of revelation? Perhaps it is to you, so let me explain.

    Here's how, and why

    Of COURSE we are going to "celebrate" 9/11, the same way we celebrate VE Day and VJ Day.

    Not in spite of the knowledge that we bombed, slaughtered, ground under our heels and otherwise obliterated those who perpetrated the acts which invoked our wrath, our "righteous anger", as FDR called it...

    But BECAUSE of those things. Unprovoked, over-confident bullies decided to poke the fat, rich kid; America, the "dinosaur" of the West.

    And we rolled over, almost in our sleep, and fucking crushed them.

    If anything, we were TOO merciful. Eight thousand of our own dead?

    Fuck that noise.

    We could have nuked Kabul into the Stone Age, nuked Medina as a warning and said "Mecca's next if you don't straighten up and fly right", called Moscow and said "Don't bitch or we'll bomb you, too", and reduced the shithole hiding places of those punkass bitches to radioactive glass.

    But we didn't, and more's the pity for it.

    You see, what you don't get, probably because of the disgracefully poor historical education your essay implies, is that Americans really are violent, bloodthirsty, unilateral, and slightly crazy party animals, who just want to have a good life. And we can't figure out why the rest of the world doesn't understand that we've been showing them a better way to live for 250 years, and yet they STILL want to stay slaves.

    But we figure "Hey, if you WANT to be miserable, whatever, your choice...
    "But don't think that gives you the right to rain on OUR parade."

    Americans will go anywhere, kill anyone, commit any atrocity, despoil any shrine and, along the way, obliterate Italian Fascism, German Nazism, Japanese Militarism, Asshole-of-the-Month Communism and Psychotically Perverted Islam, and all they need to do all those things is...

    A reason.

    And those fools in the Taliban GAVE us over 3,500 reasons.

    When the rest of the world figures that out, and stops giving us reasons to gleefully destroy any upstart punk country with more bombs than Disney's Summer movie schedule, then everyone can get along fine.

    So yes, we celebrate 9/11; the rescue heroes, the unanimity it created, the boost in flag sales, but mostly we celebrate the aftermath, wherein we demonstrated that even if we can't win a conventional war against an unconventional foe, even if we topple a regime that just pissed us off earlier in the decade and seemed like it _might_ be guilty of _something_, we only do this when we are provoked.

    But once we are provoked, we will blow up their shit until we get bored, and it takes us YEARS to get bored with blowing up shit that belongs to fools who provoke us.

    So, bravo to the proof 9/11 gave the world - once again, as it seems the world is full of countries and editorial writers still too thick to understand - that it's much smarter to take our money and food and entertainment and culture and shut... the hell... up.

    If they don't want anything to do with us, fine; they can go away and do their thing.

    But they shouldn't don't pretend for a second that they are remotely in our league when it comes to wanton destruction.

    Those who do are in for a rude awakening.

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  121. I share your feelings, I just don't have the guts to put it out there like you did. So, thank you for your courage. Thank you for your service. And, thank you for reminding me that I need to stop letting the majority decide who I am.

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  122. Speaking truthfully and honestly about our national reaction to the events of 9/11 will not win you many new friends especially if you call into rememberence the men women and children of Iraq, Afghanistan ,Syria and a growing number of locations in the Middle East , innocents, who have lost their lives violently by way of our persuit of revenge. I have read Mr. Wrights column for several years now and this is the first time that I have responded to it in writing, I believe that he has spoken the truth based on knowledge personal experience and a very deep sence of patriotism for which I am greatful. In addition I find it disturbing mighty disturbing that the Facebook folks would see fit to take down stone kettle station based on the 9/11 thoughts Mr. Wright posted there

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  123. I wonder what form the monument will take and who we will kill after the first nuclear weapon is detonated on US soil by a non-State actor?

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  124. I had shared your original post in a debate group I visit on Facebook before it was removed. My share was also removed, leaving me fuming and confused.
    In the same group, I have seen videos of beheadings posted, but your opinion piece was deleted.
    Thank you, Jim, for saying what many of ys are thinking. It is posts such as yours that keep me sane, that let me and many others know we're not alone in our reasoning. Don't let the bastards bring you down.

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  125. I had shared your original post in a debate group I visit on Facebook before it was removed. My share was also removed, leaving me fuming and confused.
    In the same group, I have seen videos of beheadings posted, but your opinion piece was deleted.
    Thank you, Jim, for saying what many of ys are thinking. It is posts such as yours that keep me sane, that let me and many others know we're not alone in our reasoning. Don't let the bastards bring you down.

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  126. I did get to see your post, and I'm glad, and I agree with everything that you said. I hope you decide to go ahead with the business page because there are many of us out there who love your writing, and who came along too late in the game to become FB friends.
    If I remember 9-11 in any way, it's by watching Man on A Wire, the documentary about the tightrope walker Philippe Petite, who walked between the towers in 1974. As a former New Yorker who visited the towers many times, I'd rather remember them at their best.
    To this day, I can't bear to look at the constant replays of 9-11.

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  127. Your post echoed my thoughts, although way more eloquently stated. Thanks for voicing your observations and thoughts.

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  128. It was nice to know, reading your FB post before it got snatched, that I wasn't alone in feeling that way. Stating the same cost me a couple of friends today, but I don't consider it a loss. Thank you, so much.

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  129. I am so conflicted. There are no answers, only conflicts - globally and in my own mind. I am so conflicted.

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  130. The whole thing is ridiculous (the taking the post down, not the post itself) and I hope FB sees the errors of its ways. I have never figured out just what I'm supposed to "never forget" on 9-11. That innocent people died horrifically due to 19 evil people and bad decisions made for decades prior by our government officials? That we invaded a country that had nothing to do with 9-11 and killed and killed and killed some more? I admire the first responders and those civilians who acted bravely and/or survived, but surely this annual tragedy theater cannot be healing for them? It does nothing for the dead and may prove detrimental to us as a nation, long-term. I found your piece to be pithy, direct and moving. Thank you for sharing it (again).

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  131. There is something truly pathetic in the kind of collective narcissism that permits citizens of the most powerful nation on the planet to forever revel in their victimhood of a single incident, with no recognition of -- and damn little serious reflection about -- its own contributions to the event.

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  132. I agree that those who most loudly complain about their freedom being curtailed are the ones most likely to curtail it in others (the ultra left wing aren't much better, to be honest), I agree that far too many people are dead in the countries we bombed, and far too many servicemen and women didn't come home. But I disagree with your disdain for the day, itself. Innocent people here died, too. The dads at work, the moms at work, the firefighters who tried to save them. It's not necessary to shit all over their memories--negate the event altogether-- in order to paint a larger picture of the aftermath.

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  133. I have read much of your blog. I don't always agree, but I learn about what you think (and how you think) from all your writing.
    Your comments on the "anniversary" (I am hesitant about using that word to describe it) of 9/11/2001 are cogent and well within the scope of reason. Would that I could write as well... (Sorry about the ellipsis; I don't see any other way of ending that thought.)
    I am disappointed in the small-mindedness of those who flagged your post on FB, and I am glad I got to read it.

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  134. I figured you'd end up posting your FB post here when it was taken down by FB. I'll bet that none of the people who demanded your post be taken down weren't anywhere near related to those who were killed 15 years ago, but that's my speculation.

    Pab Sungenis had an excellent posting for The New Adventures of Queen Victoria comic today (9/11), which I shared. I too am exhausted with having the US government having to prove that we have military balls at the least provocation. Thank you for writing.

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  135. Everyone remembers Pearl Harbor every year - well sort of. Over 2800 Americans died on December 7, 1941, and every anniversary, some appointed dignitary of some sort (sometimes even the President - whoever he is or has been) goes to Hawaii, lays a wreath at some monument with a dwindling number of WWI veterans and the press moves on. There are no grand concerts, no huge headlines of bombed ships and planes of dead soldiers and sailors on the decks of ships. It was so long ago now. I suspect, eventually, the 9/11 deaths will become less and less significant, just like the JFK assassination which merits a rerun documentary or two every year in November. Americans have short memories after several decades pass. Amazing how many can't remember Hitler and his rise to power and how close Trump's rise to power has been following in the same footsteps; and that Hitler, too, was elected in a democratically run election. We are selective in our memorials - and our memories. When the next attack comes, as it surely will someday, 9/11 will recede into the watercolor images of history long past, and there will be new memorials every year for yet another atrocity committed on American citizens because we weren't paying attention. Too bad we don't have a memorial each year for the 11,000 plus innocent people whose lives are taken every year by some gun wielding nut job or because some parent was careless and left a gun out for a toddler, or some child was shot by accident in the crossfire between gang related shootings. We have met the enemy and it is us.

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  136. Thanks for the great piece. Your insights may offend some, but there is such food for thought here that I can't frankly understand why.

    I'm sending along monetary support as I've never given back to you for the writing I've so come to value. We're also having Gazpacho for dinner, something that will never again be just a cold soup. Thanks for that.

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  137. Not celebrating the loss of thousands here or afar. But rather Remembering the sorrow and anguish felt that day as I held my grandson in my arms.

    I was in Vancouver and my mother called at 5:30 am that morning to alert us to the news. And here was I, sending out a dozen flight attendant résumés around the world. I didn't even want to fly home. But did - thinking whatever happened, would inevitably happen. In Canada we are vastly unprepared for such terrorism.

    I would appreciate your permission with acknowledgements to you on Facebook. A few will appreciate the entire essay however most only read a meager portion before they are enraged beyond reason. And it's just those kinds a partial readers that riot for what they don't entirely comprehend.

    Thanks for having such a interactive brain.

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  138. There's Irving Berlin's (G"d Bless) America, and there's Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" America. Thanks for standing up for the latter.

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  139. Jim, I remember being disgusted the first time I went to an event on the beach and seeing a huge inflatable slide made to look as if the Titanic was sinking so that children could slide down the deck. 1,517 people lost their lives in what is still considered one of the worst peacetime disasters at sea.

    In 75 years or so, we may have a "ride" of the Twin Towers. Because these people don't care about death tolls. All they know is that someone doesn't love America.

    Terrorists hate America. Bad! Football player hates America. Bad!

    "The Confederacy is okay 'cause they saw something wrong with the United States and figured rebellion and war were the way to fix it. That football guy is jest disrespectin' our flag. That's different. 'Murica!"

    Everyone is still talking about Kaepernick did, but not "why" he did it. That simply proves his (and your) point. People willing to turn a blind eye to America's faults aren't patriots. They're sheep. Sheep with no shepherd.

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    Replies
    1. They have a shepherd, his family name is Drumpf.

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    2. Sorry. I accidentally submitted this twice. The second time was un-anonymously.

      Delete
  140. I marked the date by going to the pool and chatting with my friends. Winning.

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  141. Every time I see someone posting a screen cap or recap of what you posted, I share it. I will continue to share them as long as they pass through my feed. I am so sick of those nationalist pricks and their embarrassing lack of understanding of what real freedom is.

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  142. I read it on FB before the whine asses got it removed. Read it to my hubby and he and I both were nodding. As Canadians we are removed from it, but as humans we felt it through our whole bodies.
    Thank you for your blunt honesty, as an Army brat I appreciate that much more than sugar coated BS.

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  143. I shared the post too, Chief, and it was taken down. I feel like I was censored, too. I shared because the message was so spot on.

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  144. Keep on telling the truth, brother!

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  145. Some can't handle the truth and are determined that no one else should even have a chance to hear the truth.

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  146. And Rudy Giuliani took to the morning airwaves again today to declare that he stands by his original 9/11 promise that we would not allow these cowardly terrorists to change the way we live. WTF? Where has he been living for the past 15 years?

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  147. Thank you. Important truths, well stated.

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  148. France left the decision of how to rebuild the Normandy coast to each town. Saint Laurent Sur Mere choose to keep their coast as a place of quiet and solitude. Americans know it as the location of the DDay monument. Just a few miles away, the town of Arromanches was rebuilt to bring back the sounds of children's laughter. They built a merry go round, ice cream stands, cafes, and shops. They decided the best way to honor the dead was with life. Both towns mourned their dead, honored their rescuers, and moved on with their day to day lives, not as victims, but as survivors. America must do the same.

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  149. On September 11, 2001 my 42-year-old next-door neighbor never came home from the North Tower, leaving a wife and four kids.

    I'm not much of a flag-waver but, in his memory, I shoved one of those ubiquitous, 5x7" American flag decals (this one showed up with an eBay purchase!) between my rear deck back-up light and rear window... didn't APPLY it, just stuck it in the space between the light and the window.

    The DAY the fucking PNAC oil warriors launched their most excellent "shock and awe" spectacular on the innocent citizens of Baghdad (AFTER dropping the ball at Tora Bora, giving bin Laden another DECADE to gloat... until OBAMA brought him to justice!), I pulled that flag decal and consigned it to the garbage.

    I applaud your treatise, with one reservation... I believe it's intellectually possible (and consistent) to both empathize with the families — and celebrate the lives — of the innocents lost on that day and ALSO hold to account the UNPUNISHED WAR CRIMINALS who abused the tragedy to "justify" blowing up THE ENTIRE MIDEAST!

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  150. Jim, I remember being disgusted the first time I went to an event on the beach and seeing a huge inflatable slide made to look as if the Titanic was sinking so that children could slide down the deck. 1,517 people lost their lives in what is still considered one of the worst peacetime disasters at sea.

    In 75 years or so, we may have a "ride" of the Twin Towers. Because these "patriots" don't care about death tolls. All they know is that someone doesn't love America.

    Terrorists hate America. Bad! Football player hates America. Bad!

    "The Confederacy is okay 'cause they saw something wrong with the United States and figured rebellion and war were the way to fix it. That football guy is jest disrespectin' our flag. That's different. 'Murica!"

    Everyone is still talking about Kaepernick did, but not "why" he did it. That simply proves his (and your) point. People willing to turn a blind eye to America's faults aren't patriots. They're sheep. Sheep with no shepherd.

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  151. As long as you keep putting your thoughts into your eloquent words, with a few spins we may not have considered, we will follow your postings. Here, FB or wherever. The "Deep South" moments are amusing and the adventures of ShopKat warm our hearts, but it's the posts like these that cause us to think, actually THINK about what we post and say to others. Thank you for all that you write sir. Wherever you write it.

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  152. To one of the few patriots left in this country. Thank you for saying what needed to be said even if most choose not to hear it.

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  153. It's not even that we got revenge. We didn't get revenge at all -- our "revenge" just created ISIS, an even bigger monster.

    All we got were wealthier oil and military-industrial complex shareholders, blindly patriotic citizens, and thousands of dead veterans -- mostly to suicide.

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  154. They crossed the line. Was going to do this anyway, but time to donate to your Patreon.

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