Most of then involve the role of the American government in al of this. In the last column, I wrote about how these terrorists are trained by none other than the CIA at that funky terrorist training school that they have down in Central America and all that. These facts are being widely reported, as opposed to 1991, when it wasn't well known that Saddam Hussein had also been trained by the USA when he was an ally of America in the days when Iran was the main bad guy of the Middle East. Facts like the one that involved America giving the Taliban government of Afghanistan 48 million dollars because they said that they'd use it to help stamp out the menace of drugs are being widely reported. Many people are seeing these things, and using that as reasons to not go so blindly whole hog with the war shit. Another reason is what is going to happen in the aftermath of al of this, mainly what American society will go back to once this problem is resolved, no matter how that happens.
The thing about all of this is that it really is an inside job when you look at it. The way in which it was carried out proves that. It was a very selective strike carried out against a particular segment of the population. The lives that have been taken are ones that American society puts a greater value on than others. If these assaults had been carried out against prisons or housing projects, it would still be a catastrophe, but for how long? We have everyone saying that they'll never forget this and all that shit. Would they be saying that if the victims had been prisoners, lifers, death row dudes, etc.? What about welfare cases from the projects? Would they be mourned as much as the others are being mourned now? At this point in time, the answer would be yes. But would that answer stay the same as time went on? Probably not. If the victims had been forgotten members of society, they would only be remembered now for the circumstances surrounding their deaths, and then go right back to being forgotten. With the victims mainly being businesspeople and military employees, they are seen as people that had more value to American life than the forgotten ones do. They had jobs, paid taxes, etc. They lived in neighborhoods that people could relate to, not in some hellish project or in a prison somewhere. This made their deaths much more poignant to the American people, and the terrorists knew that when they planned this shit. That's the main problem here.
Right now, all Americans are being told to unite as one to join in the battle thrust upon us. All the frenzy with the flags and the candles is there to illustrate that point. It was the same back in 1991. As you may remember, that was quite a short war. The stated objective was achieved in a short time, and the whole thing was wrapped up quite easily and in short order as far as wars go. Then the rejoicing started and all Americans were told that they were indeed one united people, and that this was why there was so much success. The parties raged for awhile, then they faded away and we went back to American society as usual. The soldiers went back to their homes. For many of them, that meant going back to some fuckin' housing project or ghetto somewhere. No matter where they went back to, they returning vets had physical and psychological problems galore. They went back to American society, and that society went back to business as usual. Suddenly, we weren't one united people anymore. The people that lived in the ghetto were still there, just like before the war. Many of the returning vets couldn't get jobs and shit due to the problems that they incurred during their service. Was that united American society there for them? No fuckin' way. All the divisions that existed in society before the war were still there. The government's precious war On Drugs was escalated, and it caught many of the returned Gulf war vets in its traps. Lots of these vets got the honor of being sent to prison as thanks for what they did for America. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. The gulf between the two in America got larger and larger. Suddenly, this spirit of togetherness degenerated into the War on Drugs, and the usual capitalist shit of getting as much as you can however you can get it. Now, the American people were set against one another once again as they had been in the past. The spirit of the flag waving and the singing of patriotic hymns was gone. The terrorists saw this and exploited it to the max. They infiltrated American society in any way that they could, and exploited everything that they possibly could to the extreme and that ultimately led to the acts of the 11th.
Now those acts have brought us full circle again, and we are in another period of frenzied flag-waving and patriotic fervor. All are being told to sing the proper patriotic hymns and unite in this new cause. Will this unification result in anything being different once the problem's all over? Many in America are looking at this as part of their response to this situation, and asking that same question. Not only that, but what will blind obedience to the President and his boys and whatever they come up with be this time? That's another problem here. Bush is screaming war, but war on whom? This was not an act perpetrated by any specific country, but by very rich, evil, and megalomaniacal individuals. This is a lot harder to go to war against than a country that is a specific place on the map somewhere. Bloodlust will only beget more bloodlust in this situation. Many people will inevitably be killed in this shit, and will it change American society any, or will it be like it was after the Gulf War? Will these current servicemen come back to an undeclared war on the citizens by the very American government that they risked their lives for and then become victims of this other war instead? Will Americans stay united as one for all times now, or will they go back to what they once were? These are the types of questions that those that are opposed to the "kill 'em all" mentality are asking. Many of these people saw what went down in America after the Gulf War, and Vietnam as well in some cases, and they don't want to have to go through something so horrible as that again and have things stay the same here on the homefront after it's all over.
These are very unpopular things to think and say in many American's minds now. Those of us that are saying anything other than "support Bush and any warlike horseshit that he may do no matter what" are not being too well received in many circles right about now. That's what makes it so important that these things are said. Most Americans cannot begin to fathom the mindset that created these acts. One of the main things that made it possible for this shit to flourish like it did is the fact that information flow was tightly controlled and that only one point of view was ever given to many people. Those that are seen as supporting this are almost always not really that. They support something different, something that they were told that was something other than the truth or reality. They were told that what was going down was something else than what it really was, something far less sinister and destructive and all that. When the West hears that jihad "holy war" shit, they automatically think of acts like those from the 11th. To most of those that this shit is preached to, it is presented in a fashion that involves a war of the spirit and will and all that shit. They think that it's al about just showing the infidels and the non-believers the error of their ways, and the greatness of Islam and all that. There are untold millions of followers of Islam, and those that perpetrate these kind of acts are just a small fraction of one percent of them, as are all those that ever train to do this shit as well. Most of the adherents are just simple folks that are dependent on the Holy Men of Islam to tell them what's up, for they have no other way of getting their information. The fact that the information that they do get is so tightly controlled by the clerics that are working with the terrorists is part of the reason that they"put up" with this shit from their people. If the Americans do not permit other points of view to be expressed about these events, they are no better than the terrorists that planned this shit in the first place. That is why there needs to be free discourse now more than ever. The people need to have a free line of communication between themselves and their leaders now so that they don't go and do something that will actually look just as bad as what happened on the 11th. Americans need to remember that the whole world is watching them to see how they will react to all of this. If they come across to the rest of the world like the stereotype that Americans are now using against Muslims, nothing will be accomplished except the continuation of the negative cycle that has brought us to this situation. The airing of different viewpoints is the only way to keep this from happening. This will not come from the mainstream media though. They will do just what they've been doing, all this breathless hysteria and shit, for they feel that is their job in all of this. That leaves the job of dissenting viewpoints to mediums other than the mainstream ones. Fortunately, we are in the Information Age, and that makes it easy for anyone to have access to some form of media, like the computer, for example. That makes opposing views much easier to air than ever before in a situation like this, and much easier for the public to access as well. This was not ever the case before, not even in 1991. That is why the public has a more diverse opinion about this situation that others like it from the past. That is the greatest hope that this situation can be resolved in some way without it spiraling into something far worse. It is being said that this is a situation unparalleled in American history, maybe the outcome and how it is brought about can be made into something different that the stereotype ways of the past that never solved anything and brought us to this point to begin with.