Marc Cooper absolutely nails it with his commentary on and about 9/11. He uses few words but his portrait of American-centrism is both telling and very well-rounded. It’s only human to feel the way he highlights as he also depicts, we need to stop and remember that we are sharing a pain many others experience on a daily basis. We live in a country (I’m obviously playing it a bit loose here) where government institutions work fairly well, the press works fairly well, those sworn to protect us can generally be held accountable, and we damn well have the right to sue if we are damaged or sometimes even offended by someone or something. Recourse is available here. Tell that to those being tortured and killed about the world and watch the blank look you receive back.
Cooper opens with:
September Elevenths
“Too many empty words are being spilled over this fifth anniversary of the attacks on the Twin Towers. So I will try not to significantly deepen the void.
The photo you see (he posted a photo of Salvador Allende exiting a building) was also taken on the morning of September 11th — 1973. Chilean President Salvador Allende and some of his bodyguards are readying to defend the Presidential Palace and a century of democratic rule against a military uprising led by General Augusto Pinochet and encouraged by the Nixon administration.
That defense failed. And for millions of Chileans, September 11th was the last day before 17 years of darkness, dictatorship and death. A collective experience every bit as traumatic, if not more so, than the tragedy suffered at the WTC three decades later…”
Use this link to reward yourself with his complete and oh-so-correct commentary: