Wednesday, April 26, 2006

It's Not Too Soon

I'm pretty sure that I'm sick of these people whining that it is "too soon" for a studio to release a movie on 9/11.

Seriously, there's already been documentaries on television. Remember that one in which you could actually hear the bodies hitting the pavement as desperate people lept from the burning heights of the twin towers? Furthermore, there's already been a made-for-TV movie about the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania. So what's too soon about this? It's been nearly five years.

Considering that Hollywood was producing films depicting actions in World War II while World War II was being fought and while Americans were dying by the hundreds of thousands, I'm pretty sure that people should be able to handle a picture about one of the doomed flights that took relatively few lives on that September morn.

Before you react by how casually I dismiss the number dead on 9/11, pay attention to the word "relatively." Compared to other conflicts and disasters, 9/11 was hardly the physical catastrophe that it is made out to be. From 1861-1865, the Civil War saw over 700,000 men die. The three day long Battle of Gettysburg was witness to over 50,000 losses. One of the most popular songs of the day was called "The Vacant Chair," and that chair symbolized the fathers, brothers, and sons who were gone forever. http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/vacant.html.
Let's compare this to songs on today's top 40 (the number 23 single is currently "I'm N Luv (wit a stripper)".)
http://top40-charts.com/chart.php?cid=27

On March 22, 1622, the English colonists in Virginia suffered losses equaling nearly 25% of their entire population. Men, women, and children were surprised on that Good Friday morning and massacred (http://www.jamestowne.org/massacre.htm). Comparatively, the attacks on 9/11 produced rather negligible casualties.

I think it's a sign of how weak people are nowadays. It's also a sign of a very pathetic form of egotism. Honestly, the "trauma" of 9/11 is largely imagined, for most Americans were witness to the events via television and knew no one actually killed in the attack. This "trauma" has been carefully groomed and extended by the media (it makes good business) and the government (it helps us overlook its expansive growth, tyrannical policies, and basic ineptness).

I'm not saying that the events of 9/11 did not inject a hefty dose of anxiety into the minds of Americans, no matter how disconnected they were to the actual events. It was scary, no doubt. But stuff happens, and life goes on. Those who think that it is too soon are actually trying to place themselves at the center of a drama that exists in their minds, to capture attention and generate sympathy to ease the burden of an undeserved ego.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:54 PM

    Aristos, you may say all of this, but it just makes you sound like an insensitive jerk.

    Yes, many Americans didn't know anybody in the Trade Center, or anybody who was killed during 9/11, but it does not mean that people weren't affected by it. How many soldiers have died since 9/11, dealing with things such as Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, and Iraq in general? HOW many people know a soldier who has died?

    As to your comparison of the music from the Civil War era to today, there is no relavancy to the subject all! If you are going to complain about music today, try doing it in another music. Just because it's number 20-whatever on some stupid list means nothing. Maybe you should get that through your insensetive head, eh Aristos?

    You need to get your head out of your ass before you post on your blog, okay Aristos?

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  2. Women rationaliry [sic]- an oxymoron:

    Your accusation that I am an insensitive jerk is heartfelt, especially since it comes from a person so sensitive as to have such a display name. It's apparently all right to belittle an entire gender, but I've gone too far.

    Though I may be insensitive, it does not defeat my thesis. Though I may be a jerk, this does not negate what I've said.

    You totally missed the point with the music comparison, but I was a bit brief in explaining it. Right after 9/11, when people were rather jarred, musicians responded with songs depicting the anxiety (e.g. "Where Were You (when the world stopped turning)," by Alan Jackson) and anger (e.g. "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue," by Toby Keith). These songs aren't being written anymore, for the real time for anxiety et al. has passed. Songwriters are back to the inanity and redundancy of usual.

    Still, I am amused and pleased that you at least tried to refute my thesis. It is very brave of a man who cannot even spell ("rationaliry"?) to attempt any form of RATIONALITY. I'll make you a deal. As you suggest, I'll get my head out of my you-know-what, but you then have to pass the seventh grade. Try an argument with conclusions backed by premises. That you state that my comparison of popular music "means nothing" does not mean that it means nothing. You need to do better than that, and I mean it. The whole music thing was, admittedly, a bit of a stretch. Still, try an argument not strewn with loaded language and ad hominem red herrings. It will allow you to make others appear stupid without proving the same of yourself.

    You truly make my case that this whole ado is merely the product of pathetic souls desperate for some kind of recognition, even if it is only pity.

    Oh dear, I've been unpleasant. Then again, I am an insensitive jerk...

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  3. Anonymous3:53 PM

    Aristos is right, though he could have been a bit more diplomatic about it.

    ReplyDelete

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