My response was not a defense or justification of George Bush's policies; it was a call for civility and respect to the mourners. I don't like the idea of anyone co-opting 9/11 to further their political agenda -- unless that agenda is to bring to justice the perpetrators of this evil deed: Bin-Laden and company. Using the assignation of guilt for historical events as a basis for prioritizing grieving rights for tragedies; and the strident tone of the poem -- What right do "you" (significantly, not "we") have to mourn? -- were what riled me, and evidently, a few others on the Listserv. It was as if Ortiz wanted to blame the readers for everything from Wounded Knee, to the rise in postal rates, to the lassitude of Kevin Federline (sorry for the levity).
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of L Dewey
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 11:11 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] For Our New York Friends on List
"nine-eleven" has become - and was expropriated to be - something other
than a date on which 2800 people died (at the WTC or on four airplanes
or at the Pentagon). If you read George Bush's speech delivered this
past Monday, that fact might jump out. I note that 11 September is now
'Patriots Day' as a result of some act taken by the U.S. Congress, thus
equating mass-murder with 'patriotism'.
My reading of Ortiz's poem is that it is addressed to that
substitution. He is not 'assailing' mourners – I certainly don't feel
'assailed' by the poem – but he is providing context and pointing out
the hypocrisy practiced by some (again, Bush comes immediately to mind)
who wrap themselves in the tragedy as justification for a quite
separate agenda - such as invading Afghanistan and Iraq and
slaughtering tens of thousands of non-combatants, suppressing civil
liberties in the U.S., etc.
-L.D.
On Sep 12, 2006, at 4:26 PM, Tim Bonow wrote:
> I understand the value of not ignoring injustices that have occurred
> in the past. But assailing those who mourn the 9/11 event on its
> anniversary was tasteless and disrespectful.
>
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