politics: 9/11

Today is the ten-year anniversary of the attacks of 9/11. It is one of those events where you know where you were when you heard the news, which for the majority of people in the East and Midwest was probably work or school because it was business hours on a weekday. Feel free to share what you were doing when you found out or other related memories in the comments. My greatest memory of that time was that for a short period there was a bit less political divisiveness in the country.

Something that I have noted in the time since is that this incident was one that has a remarkable ability to reaffirm to people what they already believed about whatever topics involved. Somehow, both people who think Islam is inherently peaceful and inherently violent find evidence for their worldview in 9/11. People who think the U.S. should take a more active role or less active role against rogue states both find evidence to support their worldview in 9/11. Some see the event as an indictment of the Western lifestyle and others see it as proof that our freedoms are so great we're worth attacking for them. It's telling that one of the big conspiracies from the past decade is that the government was behind the 9/11 attacks. If I deep down want to hate the government why not invent some blame for one of the most significant events in recent history?

Maybe some of the arguments that use 9/11 as an illustration are valid. Most are probably just an excuse to trumpet a viewpoint. I would guess that all miss the gravity of the sacrifice that so many people experienced. I wonder how I would want the day honored if I had lost a loved one in the attack.