So, the Bush Republicans memorialized 9/11/01 with the title of "Patriot's Day."
The Obama Democrats appear to be rebranding it to a "National Day of Service."
Both seem inappropriate to me.
Patriot's Day:What's so patriotic about dying in a fiery collision of airliner and steel I-beam? Did anyone wake up that day and make a conscious decision before getting on the plane that "today, I'm going to die for my country (
) in a very patriotic way... I'm going to be remembered as a tragic hero that rode a plane into a building..." ?
Maybe the terrorists responsible for the event did. But not any Americans on planes or in buildings.
It's such a gross misnomer and it does injustice to the memory of real Patriots. Men who
knowingly sacrificed their fortunes, honor and lives in creation or defense of this country.
Those are Patriots. The victims of 9/11 are sad casualties. Not heroes.
"But what about the Fire/Police/EMT crews that responded? Aren't they heroes and patriots?"
Not really, IMO. Not just for their actions that day, at least. While they may be patriotic men and women in their day to day lives... nothing they did that day was above and beyond the call of duty. It was their job to attempt to save as many people as they could save, before the buildings collapsed. Written right into their employment contracts.
"But what about the victims inside the buildings? The unsuspecting businessmen in the Twin Towers? The brave military folks in the Pentagon?"
Twin Towers folks? Victims, yes. Heroes and patriots, no. Pentagon folks? The DoD has a military intelligence wing, does it not? That attack constituted a huge failure to investigate/communicate/act amongst the NSA/CIA/INS/FBI and military intelligence. It allowed for the creation of the DHS behemoth that encroaches on civil liberties today. How in any way is this failure heroic or patriotic? Anyone not involved in MI that was attacked on 9/11/01 in the Pentagon is surely a victim...maybe even a hero or patriot for other actions taken in other walks of life... but not a hero by virtue of being a victim of the plane attacks.
Really... the
only true heroes and patriots I can point to from this ghastly attack are the folks from flight 93 who died outside of Shanksville, PA. Whether they retook the cockpit and crashed the plane themselves, or sealed their fate and drove the hijackers to crash the plane while they attempted to fight for control of the cockpit, they saw their fate coming straight at them and did the most honorable and heroic thing they could possibly do: fought for themselves and their countrymen who would have been targeted by the men in control of their aircraft.
But, flight 93 seems to always get glossed over in 9/11 remembrances. So the date didn't get the misnomer of Patriot's Day from those events.
Day of Service:This one irks me even more. "Service" won't stop another 9/11 style attack. Service won't bridge the cultural chasm between the West and radical Islam. Service will not keep the memory of the heinous attack alive in the minds of Americans.
Which I think is the goal.
Democrats want to rebrand 9/11 into a day of guilt, somehow. Guilt is a means of controlling people who accept it as a payload. The angle of the guilt used is an attempt to bring our country's domestic and foreign policies more in line with those of Europe.
By fusing policy issues with a "Day of Service," it grants Democratic leadership the ability to make a little bit of progress every year. If only we would "serve our fellow man" and act as "citizens of the world" then things like this wouldn't happen. That's why we will be sending $10B to "X" craphole country to
bribe warlords for a week fight AIDS and hand out condoms. And I am fusing this initiative with our Day of Service in the form of an alteration of the tax tables to accomodate this money. Thank you, and God Bless America.
I hate the concept of 9/11 as a "Day of Service" only a little bit more than I hate it as "Patriot's Day."
Imagine calling December 7th a "Day of Service!" Or even "Patriot's Day."
"Patriot's Day" should be April 19th (Lexington/Concord). Or October 19th (Cornwallis surrenders). Or June 6th (D-day, Normandy). And it doesn't really even fit June 6th that well, brave and patriotic as those men were.
But a "Day of Service?" Bite my *expletive deleted*ss, Democrats.
What's a good title that appropriately fits 9/11 for you, APS? Frankly, I nominate "Vengeance Day." I kinda doubt that one will get very far, though.
