Not that I should be surprised but even 9 years later, it was still impossible to escape talk of 9/11 today. I'm not insensitive to the fact that it was a tragic event that still means a lot to many people. I sometimes wonder if I'm strange because I don't share the same feelings with people about this day. I'm not saying I'm a conspiracy theorist or that I sympathize with the killers behind the plot. The truth is, I was in no way directly affected by the attacks. I was lucky to not have lost any family or friends and my day to day life was not altered in any way. There is actually a small piece of me that is thankful we were only attacked once. In countries all over the world people young and old wake up every morning in fear of what could happen to them as soon as they step out of their front door. We live in a great country that does it's absolute best to keep all of us safe.
While I may not share the same feelings of sadness that this day evokes, I do have feelings of frustration and anger. They are not directed at those behind the attacks but rather at those who capitalized on the deaths of nearly 3,000 innocent people. I get angry at the people/companies that began selling flags you can attach to your car, those ribbon magnets and the repackaged Lee Greenwood CD's. They created a product and told the public that it would make them more patriotic if they purchased it. They used those deaths to make millions upon millions of dollars yet they somehow fail to see a problem with it.
Lee Greenwood is one of my favorite examples. He had a moderate country hit in 1984 with his song "God Bless The USA." It never cracked the pop charts and at that time country was not as widely accepted as it is now. What does that mean? It means that no one heard or cared about that song in 1984 when it came out. Then in 2001, terrorists attack this country and his song that had been dormant for nearly 20 years magically gets reproduced and repackaged for mass consumption. When it was re-released in 2001 it climbed all the way up to #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts making it a legitimate hit. That also means Greenwood made a ton of money off of it. In fact, 9/11 is the greatest thing that happened to his career. He should really thank the families who lost loved ones for all the money he's made. Maybe he should give them some of the money. That will never happen.
I'd also like to point out one more thing about Greenwood. I remember being at a bar one night when the song came on. I was the only person in the establishment that was not singing along. I wasn't trying to make a point or take a stand. I just don't know the words. It's a poorly written and terrible song and I never gave a damn to learn the lyrics. Someone at the bar told me that I was un-American and I had no patriotism because I wasn't singing. For all of you that think Lee Greenwood is such a patriot for writing that song I'd just like to point out that he also recorded another version for our friends in the great white north called God Bless Canada. So does his allegiance lie with America or Canada? My guess is whichever country pays him more.
I didn't mean to get on a rant about Lee Greenwood there. I was initially planning on writing about the Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin rally being held in Alaska today. Palin herself said she couldn't think of any better way to commemorate 9/11 than being at a rally with Beck. First of all, commemorate isn't the right word to use here but we all know she's not the brightest bulb so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. The fact that they're holding a rally is not my problem. My problem is that they're charging roughly $100 a head to get into the event. Not to mention the $225 he's charging for a special meet and greet after the performance. I love how he is using the emotions of so many people just to put a few thousand dollars in his pocket. No one ever said he had class.
And there's one more thing. Last year when President Obama declared September 11th to be a day of service Beck went off his rocker. On his show Beck said,
"You want to talk about hijacking the most sensitive day of the year to anybody who has been alive in the last 25? You wanna talk about taking that day and using it for your own purposes? . .Your country has been taken from you. Your country is being taken from you . .Am I the only one that still looks at the skies of New York when a plane flies and still thinks of 9/11? I don’t want my history changed. I don’t want my traditions changed. And when we do decide to change them, we’ll decide together, not on a little conference call with all my little union buddies and the Sierra Club. You wanna talk about . . . the rape . . of a sacred memory? "
Is his rally not considered a rape of a sacred memory? How is asking people to shell out hundreds of dollars to hear you speak any better than the President asking people to volunteer time to help others on this day? The fact is that it's not better. It's worse. Much worse. It's one of the most heinous acts I've heard of since 9/11. It's a shame that more people don't see these people for who they really are.
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