I know I am back at home and in striking distance of the Internets again. But this is not a good day to be writing anything much.
I could blog about It, and gouge out a fingernail’s grip on a Juggernaut already top-heavy with mourners, snipers, jeerers, whiners, snarkers, weeping, the bereaved, the traumatised, the attention-greedy, the angry, the outraged, the accusers, the accused, heroes, villains, the heart-broken and the mind-broken. I’d feel grubby and in any case I have nothing to add beyond shouting ‘Madrid! Mumbai! Iraqi civilians! Afghanistan! For fuck’s sake!’. As a response, it lacks, well, everything. You could always visit this Daily Kos diary entry and comments if you liked - a more meaningful version of ‘oh for fuck’s sake’ if I ever saw one.
I could not mention It and scribble something jolly about Writer’s Block and related trivia and then spend the next 48 hours fretting about the state of my morals.
I could shut up.
By all means, please don’t shut up. I’m sick of the flag-waving, and I’m glad that more and more people are pointing out that hey, the U.S. is not special in this.
I would add London, Beslan, Chechnya, Moscow, and Bali to your depressing list of recent atrocities and blood-letting.
Left by Natalia on September 11th, 2006
Oh and Israel and Lebanon, duh. And… Well, you get the picture. Millions of people are suffering.
Left by Natalia on September 11th, 2006
I doubt the fifth year anniversary of the 11th of March in Madrid will end up with such media coverage … after all, only 300 died. And they died in Spain, not in the land of the free, home of the brave, etc.
Mostly it was kids on their way to school and people just like you and me on their way to work …
Big difference I can see is that Spain knows how to grieve , more privately than publicly with the TV cameras all around. Their way of expressing public grief was the very day of the bombings, they took to the streets, millions of people in every city and town and village. They went out into the streets and marched in silent protest.
There were no public marches in New York on the 11th of September - people were afraid and were staying at home.
And yet the US and UK newspapers referred to the Spanish as cowards because they chose to get rid of a president who lied through his fucking teeth … saying they were ‘playing into the hands of the terrorists’ by ousting that piece of slime. The very president who ignored the fact that 95% of Spaniards were against the illegal war in Iraq and went ahead anyhow.
And this same president stood up after the Madrid bombings and publicly said they had nothing to do with Al Quaeda, they were certainly connected to ETA. Lies, lies and more lies.
And incredibly insulting lies to boot - every Spaniard knew that ETA does not operate in this manner.
Did the Spanish public give a flying fuck as to how they would be seen globally by finally ousting this liar? No, they went with the one who months before had been promising the removal of troops from Iraq - many people have this very strange idea that Zapatero just came up with that as a last minute promise but it had been a part of his manifesto all along. In fact, it isn’t even legal to introduce last minute stuff like this …
And I sat here reading all this bullshit in the US and UK press about how the Spanish were cowards and giving in to terrorism … made my blood boil. Still does, when I think about it. Which your post reminded me of …
Sorry about the rant - I guess it still angers me. And the US is making a huge fucking deal about the fifth anniversary of 9-11 and milking it for all the political publicity they can squeeze out of it. Frankly, it makes me sick.
Left by azahar on September 11th, 2006
Rant away, Az. Points that need to be made and made repeatedly. I always had thought the Spanish both brave and intelligent when they refused to allow their bereavement to be used as a tool for war-mongering.
(Blogging tip 364: Be brief and provocative enought to get your visitors to write your posts for you, more eloquently than you could, with added righteous (in a good way) indignation and a better moral high-ground to stand on).
Left by Reed on September 11th, 2006
I chose to go with the option of not mentioning it and blogging about something inconsequential, as I know that I couldn’t add anything useful or new to the issue. Like others, I get cross when the media tries to pretend that 11th September and 7th July are the worst atrocities ever, ever, ever. Yes, they were terrible, but we English-speakers are not alone in suffering at the hands of violent men and women.
And for pity’s sake, how can you have a ‘war on terror’? It’s obviously nonsense. I think I shall go and have a war on jealousy now…
Left by Singing Librarian on September 11th, 2006
“I get cross when the media tries to pretend that 11th September and 7th July are the worst atrocities ever”
You forgot 11 March.
But yes, quite, even when you consider how many people die in road accidents over a couple of long weekend holidays … or all those who died when Concorde crashed, or any such disaster.
Does the fact that TERRORISTS did it make it worse than British Rail fucking up that time at Paddington? I almost think it should be the reverse.
We also forget that in many parts of the world this sort of shit is going on every single bloody day … but hey - upset our western sense of comfort and safety and it makes front page news. Haven’t seen much front page news about the slaughter of African refugees lately … have you?
Left by azahar on September 11th, 2006
Sorry … did it again.
I’ll get me coat …
Left by azahar on September 11th, 2006
You go girl. You said it better than I could, and I could not agree more. The big news of the day in this household is that I got a new computer desk. Moved a lot of furniture around, cleaned, and
FINALLY! It rained, a long beautiful meaningful rain shower.
Left by healingmagichands on September 12th, 2006
Don’t forget the Philippines. The terrorism there never gets reported. I heard of some Australians recently who went to make a film in Mindanao and were outraged to find themselves in a war zone. “Nobody told us about it!” Yes, the people caught up in that violence are mostly Filipinos, so why should it make the news?
And don’t even get me started on “The War on Terror”. The war on what?! At the very least I wish George Bush etc would realise that terror is an abstract noun and is not synonymous with the word “terrorism”.
I spent September 11th in a fug of disorganisation, to the extent I missed George Bush’s performance on the news. Lucky me.
Left by Helen on September 12th, 2006
It’s a pissing contest really, though isn’t it? An absolutely irrisistable one, but nevertheless, jolly depressing. I see your 300 dead and raise you 1,000, sort of thing. I think ‘for fuck’s sake’ pretty much covers it.
Left by Sol on September 13th, 2006
You have much more self-restraint than I have, but then I have never been able to resist the need to say “I told you so”.
Left by AB on September 17th, 2006
Hi,
I found your blog via google by accident and have to admit that youve a really interesting blog
Just saved your feed in my reader, have a nice day
Left by Florian on January 29th, 2007