9/11 birthday

I wrote this in a response to a question on Fluther about what to do for someone whose birthday is on 9/11: "What is the appropriate way to handle a birthday on September 11?"

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The person should sit in shame in a darkened room, apologizing to everyone for being born on this holy day. Then the guests should pelt him or her with stones, chanting "9/11!" "9/11!" "9/11!" until their voices give out.

Then everyone can sit down and have a good cry.

Damn. When did Americans become such wimps? How did one day manage to turn America from the beacon of freedom for the world into a torturing, privacy-violating, Constitution-shredding bunch of idiots who will apparently do anything as long as the magic words "9/11" are invoked?

9/11 was bad, yes. But it wasn't as if New York City was nuked, or something. Thousands died, not tens or hundreds of thousands. Does that mean it wasn't bad? Hell no! But other nations have suffered far worse calamities without making such a damned fetish out of it.

It's a birthday party. Have a piece of cake, sing, give some presents. Lighten up!

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Too harsh?

Not being able to leave well enough alone, I then added the following:

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I know! Why not turn it into a theme for the party? You could even make it a party game! Have the birthday cake baked in the shape of the World Trade Center. Then have one of the guests crash a toy airplane into the cake, ruining it. The rest of the guests then pick out some other guest (but never the one who was actually responsible for the crash), and blame him or her for the whole thing.

That person puts on an Arab-style sheet, and then everyone at the party beats the living crap out of him or her...and his or her entire family, as well. Take all their money while you're at it. It's perfectly okay to beat up casual bystanders in the general melee, as long as you never hurt the person who actually destroyed the cake. Anyone who fails to show enough enthusiasm for beating up the designated villian should also be beaten.

Then everyone left standing can call themselves "heroes" and feel really good about themselves. Hurray!

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I seem to have a wicked sense of humor today.

Update: The Fluther moderators deleted my second post. So I deleted Fluther from my links. I don't think I'll be returning there.

Update 2: Why do some sites make it so hard to delete your account? Fluther doesn't have the option, so I had to write to the site owners to request that my account be cancelled. Pity, but I really have no patience left for people without a sense of humor.

9/11 birthday

I wrote this in a response to a question on Fluther about what to do for someone whose birthday is on 9/11: "What is the appropriate way to handle a birthday on September 11?"

---

The person should sit in shame in a darkened room, apologizing to everyone for being born on this holy day. Then the guests should pelt him or her with stones, chanting "9/11!" "9/11!" "9/11!" until their voices give out.

Then everyone can sit down and have a good cry.

Damn. When did Americans become such wimps? How did one day manage to turn America from the beacon of freedom for the world into a torturing, privacy-violating, Constitution-shredding bunch of idiots who will apparently do anything as long as the magic words "9/11" are invoked?

9/11 was bad, yes. But it wasn't as if New York City was nuked, or something. Thousands died, not tens or hundreds of thousands. Does that mean it wasn't bad? Hell no! But other nations have suffered far worse calamities without making such a damned fetish out of it.

It's a birthday party. Have a piece of cake, sing, give some presents. Lighten up!

---

Too harsh?

Not being able to leave well enough alone, I then added the following:

---

I know! Why not turn it into a theme for the party? You could even make it a party game! Have the birthday cake baked in the shape of the World Trade Center. Then have one of the guests crash a toy airplane into the cake, ruining it. The rest of the guests then pick out some other guest (but never the one who was actually responsible for the crash), and blame him or her for the whole thing.

That person puts on an Arab-style sheet, and then everyone at the party beats the living crap out of him or her...and his or her entire family, as well. Take all their money while you're at it. It's perfectly okay to beat up casual bystanders in the general melee, as long as you never hurt the person who actually destroyed the cake. Anyone who fails to show enough enthusiasm for beating up the designated villian should also be beaten.

Then everyone left standing can call themselves "heroes" and feel really good about themselves. Hurray!

---

I seem to have a wicked sense of humor today.

Update: The Fluther moderators deleted my second post. So I deleted Fluther from my links. I don't think I'll be returning there.

Update 2: Why do some sites make it so hard to delete your account? Fluther doesn't have the option, so I had to write to the site owners to request that my account be cancelled. Pity, but I really have no patience left for people without a sense of humor.

9/11, I hope for the last time

Sorry to be going on about this, but the topic is really bothering me.

You see, I can't accept that it is somehow disrespectful to the people who died on 9/11 to note that their deaths are being exploited in a power-grab, and to justify torture. It bothers me that so many people insist on interpreting any comment about 9/11 and torture as somehow belittling or mocking those who died.

If anything, the claim that the discussion of torture somehow insults 9/11 victims is itself an utter exploitation of their deaths. Because it assumes that they chose to die in order to make torture an acceptable part of American policy - or that somehow, their deaths justified torture and made it a good thing. In which case, they'd hardly be the sort of people worth mourning - and as that isn't true, it's a grotesque insult to their memories. One which is all too often being made by their own relatives!

If anyone I loved had died in 9/11, I damned well would object like hell to their memory being used to shut up anyone who objected to the torture policies - policies which have been explicitly justified by the deaths on 9/11.

This is taking all decency, all logic, and standing them on their head. And huge numbers of Americans swallow it, hook, line, and sinker.

It bothers the hell out of me.

9/11, I hope for the last time

Sorry to be going on about this, but the topic is really bothering me.

You see, I can't accept that it is somehow disrespectful to the people who died on 9/11 to note that their deaths are being exploited in a power-grab, and to justify torture. It bothers me that so many people insist on interpreting any comment about 9/11 and torture as somehow belittling or mocking those who died.

If anything, the claim that the discussion of torture somehow insults 9/11 victims is itself an utter exploitation of their deaths. Because it assumes that they chose to die in order to make torture an acceptable part of American policy - or that somehow, their deaths justified torture and made it a good thing. In which case, they'd hardly be the sort of people worth mourning - and as that isn't true, it's a grotesque insult to their memories. One which is all too often being made by their own relatives!

If anyone I loved had died in 9/11, I damned well would object like hell to their memory being used to shut up anyone who objected to the torture policies - policies which have been explicitly justified by the deaths on 9/11.

This is taking all decency, all logic, and standing them on their head. And huge numbers of Americans swallow it, hook, line, and sinker.

It bothers the hell out of me.