Tuesday 6 September 2011

9/11^10

This is morning in America. Ten years on as the anniversary of the attacks approaches, and I have to wonder if all the devotion to security theatre, terrorism has become a rather specious subject, methods and efforts vilified by a marked absence.
Marshalling armies for such a pageant has not left an abundance of resources for calling together militias for other causes that have been eroding during the past decade. What happens in the within the American sphere of influence is far from all gloom and grime and there are still much charity and vision coming from there, but from the periscope of living abroad and what pushes the news, it seems like a national will has been lost and edited away like it was never there to begin with. Potential for earning a livelihood is anemic, the disparity of wealth has spread, citizens in terms of values and priorities have never been more polarized and desperate for demagoguery, communities are at odds with one another, infrastructure is crumbling and little has been invested for the future. Maybe the legacy of 11. September is not in heightened security, mistrust, loss of privacy but rather in the demotivation of reactionaries, always struggling to respond--irrespective of scope or scale, instead of building that is enduring and comprehensive. Very serious people in very serious forums, not lampoons or satires, are spouting off all sorts of causes to rally around that really defy belief: security theatre has expanded to all sorts of absurdities that Americans can be bothered to heed. That's another morning in America.