4931
by
James Hufferd, Ph.D. Coordinator,
x—x—x—x
Myths
thrive on worlds of their own creation, where beliefs can persist in the face of
occurrences that seem to dispel them. – Jason
Sokol, There Goes My Everything,
White Southerners in the Age of Civil Rights, p.
63.
Imagine living in a
country so successful that it accounts for about half of the world’s production
of wealth and well-being on an annual basis, where the average citizen enjoys
three times the living standard of countries in Western Europe, which in turn
enjoy three times the standard of living of the Soviet Bloc countries, whose
soldiers, still fairly fresh from defeating cruel totalitarian regimes and their
deluded followers, are pictured giving candy to the children of defeated foes
turned into friends in occupied former enemy countries, and where brotherhood
and honest, peaceful intentions are lauded and universally believed in.
That was the image we
were given of our country, the U.S., over and over and over throughout the
1950s. And most foreigners were said to cherish that winsome propaganda image as
well. Such was (and for many, still is) their image of America. – home of the can-do-anything-always-good-
You don’t give up that
kind of self-congratulatory world view just because there are some alleged
problems with something that can’t begin to compete with the power and good
vibes of the overall pervading narrative. Because we’ve still got the biggest
economy, freest institutions, the strongest military, the best food, sports,
music, movies, religion, technology, medicine, and clearest view of everything
in the world – except when we don’t!
So, do you think most
Americans would rather watch another John Wayne movie and enjoy a good American
beer, or sit through a science lesson? Three guesses. People already know that
there are a lot of contradictions and exceptions, to everything! If the gods that run this
country… er, world did something wrong, or knew something we ourselves didn’t,
then, hey! Nobody’s perfect! “I
wouldn’t doubt that what you say may be true, but… well… life goes on, doesn’t
it?”
Have
you noticed that we don’t get outright denials very much anymore when we
confront people with facts about 9/11, but more like shrugs and polite coughs
and inattention? Well, that’s the new form of denial – denial that things could
be any different, or that something that happened on one day out of the last
4,931 would have any lasting significance now.
Americans know that
the world is closing in on them – just as you know it on a miraculously warm
Indian Summer day in late November. There’s global warming now breathing down
our neck, a perpetual dearth of money to do what we’d like to be able to do,
violence and evil hatred coming ever closer to our own doorstep, Internet
predators and lawlessness, war mongering and corruption at all levels,
government lying, corporate lying, legislation and pronouncements that don’t
make any sense, tainted food and drugs, polluted water and air, pipeline
promises and prophetic leaks, psycho kids, unrepentant racism and rampant
incivility, the slow, painful realization that Israel has made a stooge out of
us. “And you want to talk to me
about something you or I can’t do anything about because it happened exactly
4,931 days ago? I don’t think so, pal.”
There’s your
American.
“You’re either with us
or you’re with the terrorists.” That’s more like where we’re at collectively –
and even the powers-that-be are having trouble rallying support on that basis
for one more go these days.
As for the
perpetrators – 9/11 isn’t seen as a one-off, a single bad deed they can fess up
to. They cover up everything; it’s
their work, something they themselves might have to look up now, and discover
that it happened 4,931 days ago and struggle to recall the few unconnected
details that each of them may once have known. No big deal, to be
sure.
It’s almost all down
the memory hole. And what could possibly get Americans really interested in it
now? If a way was discovered to actually get the bastards, then, everybody would get on board! That’s what Americans are still waiting
for. That’s our
DNA.
3/12/15
