Tag: 9/11

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September 11: A Humanist Response – 25 Years Later

Back on the morning of 9/11/2001, I just got home from work. I worked nights in Downtown Columbus. My usual routine was to watch the morning shows for a couple of hours to wind down and then go to bed.

I was watching the Today show at 8:50 am when the first reports came out about a plane crashing into one of the World Trade Center Towers.

Like many people at the time, I was shocked by the terror attack and the following essay, written five days after the attacks was my way of dealing with the strong emotions still around.

It is the 25th anniversary of that tragic day and I stand by my words written back in 2001.

September 11: A Humanist Response

Written on September 16, 2001

By Doug Berger

A big black smoking hole in one of the World Trade Center towers was the first scene I saw at 8:55 am on Tuesday September 11, 2001. Thick black smoke poured into the air. The reporters said a plane had crashed into the tower. At 9:03 am I witnessed, live on TV, a second jet come into view and plow into the other tower with a resultant explosion as thousands of pounds of fuel ignited.

“What the f***?” I remember saying while the commentators on the morning show were asking if they just saw what they just saw. They reran the video and yes it was a second jet crashing into the other tower.

As news people scrambled to get the story I scrambled to understand what had just happened. Both towers, symbols of New York, were on fire. I felt for the people in the tower, on the planes, and on the ground. What happened? Why did it happen? I did know that it was not an accident. Then President Bush made a statement while on a visit to Florida before getting ready to head back to Washington DC.

At 9:40 am reports came in that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon in Washington. The news showed video of the black smoke rolling up from the building. Now I was num. I really didn’t know what was going on or what to do. The news reported that all airports in New York and Washington were now closed.

Less than an hour later I saw, live on TV, first one then the other tower collapsing to the ground. All 1,000 feet of steel, glass, and cement cascaded to the ground. Another report came in of another passenger jet crashing in Pennsylvania. Now I was sick.

In a little more than an hour we lost more people in a series of connected events than had been lost in similar tragic events of the past.

I was scared at the possibility that more was to come and searched out someone to talk to so I called my mom. I told her I was fine and she said she was O.K. She is a travel agent and she was really busy at the time since the FAA had shut down all the air traffic in the country.

I stayed glue to my TV for the rest of the day only sleeping when my mind and body just gave out.

It has been a 5 days since September 11 and I am still nervous. On Friday I was downtown getting my paycheck and heard a jet flying low and looked up hoping it wasn’t another attack.

Also on Friday our President called for a National Day of Prayer, as if only believers need to gather with others for solace. Instead I met with a friend in a local park for a Toast of Remembrance to the victims as church bells rang in town.

Later in the day I got mad when I heard Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, evangelical Christian leaders, claim that because of abortionists, gays, pagan, and secularists making God mad, God removed some kind of protective cloak He supposedly put around the US since its founding 200 plus years ago. They said we all need to do is get back to God.

I was mad because they were blaming people like me for the causing the attack and that people like them seem to use these tragic events as way of making more money.

I said to myself that any God who would allow over 5,000 people to die at one time is really not worth following. If we accept what Falwell and Robertson said as true then we must also accept that the Islamic extremists who planned and executed the attack had God’s blessing. They went to Heaven according to their beliefs. I was even mad when Rev. Franklin Graham, son of Rev. Billy Graham, who I thought was more moderate than Robertson et al., said on two networks that we all need to find Jesus and go back to Him.

I am mad by these kind of comments because they fail to include non-believers and because this tragic event was a political statement mixed with religion. This event is a prime example of the dangers of mixing religion and politics and I felt the comments were leading us down the same road the terrorists used to justify their attack. If we did what Falwell, Robertson, and Graham suggested we would be no better than the terrorists.

To be frank, the religion of the victims and the terrorists would not have caused or prevented the event. It was a political statement and the only thing that mattered was the nationality of the victims and the symbols of the targets. This happened in the US, using US airline planes, and attacking the symbols of the US and the US Government. The terrorists seemed to have been members of a group that hates the US Government and its policies in the region of their homeland.

Through these days I wondered what it all means and after some reflection I believe that I can’t give up my Humanist principles because I am angry and sad or that I am nervous and uncertain about the future. It would be extremely easy to discard my Humanism and go to church and start praying to God again. But would that protect me or my fellow citizens from future harm. I know it won’t. Religion isn’t just part of the problem. We have cultural and economic intolerance. It seems people find many reasons to kill or harm other people simply because they are not like them or they feel they have been harmed in some way. Inequality breeds the intolerance and can lead to violence as we saw on September 11th. Some people become so desperate that they act out in a nasty violent way. They have nothing to lose.

What happened on Tuesday September 11th is not much different than all the other days we live. We don’t know if we will live anymore than we know if we will die. We could step off a curb and get killed by a bus or we could be the victim of a murder. An asteroid could plow into the earth tomorrow. Someone who works out everyday dies while someone who is a couch potato lives to be 100. Going to church or praying, or not, will not have any effect on those events.

We need to live the life we have the best we can with the knowledge that the day could be our last. It is O.K. to feel sad or uncertain or any other of the emotions I know we are all feeling right now, but we know we must move on. We can’t let these events paralyze us.

What about the future?

Our elected leadership, along with a large group of citizens, are talking revenge. I know I considered it myself hours after the event. It is a natural knee-jerk reaction. In this country, that encourages revenge for criminals by using capital punishment, it didn’t surprise me that the only response seems to be revenge.

I would much rather see justice. We have one of the greatest legal systems in the world and our civilization is based on laws created by the members of society. We need to find all those who helped support and finance these attacks and bring them to justice. The terrorists in the attack died and their supporters want to die too, so killing them through military action is exactly what they want. To give them what they want would be to give into their religious beliefs.

The President has said we are at war. I ask a war with whom. War is declared through legal means. That has not happened yet and I am afraid Bush is saying the words to look tough and to justify the use of military force. His words sound eerily like those used my the extremists who have been attacking US targets for years.

I am resigned to the fact that there will be revenge using military force. I also know that if Osama bin Laden is implicated, he will not surrender quietly nor will other terrorists who may be implicated. They want to die. Martyrs are seen as heroes even if they brought about their own death from their own actions.

I also believe that Tuesday’s events didn’t have to happen. From better security at our airports to addressing the reasons people like bin Laden believe terrorism is a good way to make a point, there were human solutions available before Tuesday. We must continue to work on these solutions even in this current climate of terrorism and revenge.

The events of Tuesday September 11th prove to me that Humanism really is the better way to go. I only wish others will get the message.

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September 11th – A Humanist Response 10 Years On

Image of WTC before the attack with US Flag in background

Today is the 10th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on US soil. The World Trade Center in New York was attacked shortly before 9 AM on a bright and sunny Tuesday in 2001. By the end of the awful day both towers were destroyed, the Pentagon had been hit, and people were killed in a fourth plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. Five days later I wrote an essay about the attacks from my secular humanist perspective. I went through it this week and have posted it again – changed little from the day I wrote it.

Continue reading “September 11th – A Humanist Response 10 Years On”
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Should I feel good that Bin Laden is dead?

I am strongly opposed to the death penalty. It is a waste of time and money and isn’t justice. I strongly support the rule of law, due process, and the criminal court system. I seemed to throw all that out late Sunday evening when I learned that US Special Forces killed terrorist Osama Bin Laden.

I was concerned when the media started to ramp up coverage late Sunday evening for an unusal statement from President Obama about a publicly unknown topic. Such sudden statements either mean a military operation has occurred, there was a death of a significant figure, or a killer asteroid was about to snuff out civilization. None of those are really good news but the President surprised me. He announced that the terrorist Osama Bin Laden had been killed in a raid on a house in Pakistan by US Special Forces (reports say it was a Navy Seal team).

I fully support due process and the legal system but Bin Laden wouldn’t give up so his death is not a problem for me. He was either going to be dead in a shoot out or dead from old age in a dank dark prison and I am slightly happy about it. The man helped plan, fund, and execute terrorist activities including 9/11 that killed THOUSANDS.

But let me be clear I do NOT support an eye for an eye. I would have been just as happy if he was alive and in custody and on his way to Gitmo or wherever the government would put him.

I have never believed that the death of a criminal in response to the deaths of their victims is appropriate. I also disagree with any policy that would call for targeted killing of “bad guys”. I would like to think, short of evidence to the contrary, that President Obama authorized the capture of Bin Laden and that he forced the fire fight that in the end led to his death.

Sunday night, after the statement, the news channels showed crowds in DC and New York celebrating like their favorite team had won the World Cup. I understand the emotion but it was no better than the scenes on 9/11 of Palestinians dancing in their streets.

The death of Bin Laden wasn’t a victory or justice. It was an end to a chapter of our history. It was 10 years in the making.

I also have some friends who are a bit upset at the use of the military and the killing.

I have always been of the mind that sometimes use of the military is necessary. Using the legal system and police work should be the default but sometimes we have to deal with irrational assholes who don’t subscribe to law and order.

I thought the invasion of Afghanistan after the Taliban refused to hand over Bin Laden was the right thing to do and the use of Special Forces to raid Bin Laden’s compound on Sunday without telling Pakistan was also correct. There have been a lot of questions about the Pakistani response to Bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban. For years it supported Bin Laden and the Taliban as a policy to keep India, their on again off again enemy, off balance.

I also think the burial of Bin Laden within 24 hours of his death as prescribed by Islamic law was much more than he really deserved seeing how his buddies in Iraq and Somalia abused and mutilated dead Americans over the years.

With the final objective of the war in Afghanistan completed with Bin Laden’s death, I would hope we can bring our soldiers home sooner rather than later.

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Goodbye first decade of the 2000’s

Different critics have their “best of…” lists coming out this week as we get ready to end the first decade of the 2000’s. I thought I might add what I think are the major touchstones of the decade. These are events or persons who, generations from now, will still be looked at and studied or commented on.

In no particular order:

September 11, 2001

That date will live in infamy in the history books. Over 2,000 people were murdered that day in the terror attacks that led to the destruction of the two World Trade Center towers, heavy damage to the Pentagon, and sense of numbness that took some months to work itself out.

The event also brought out the best of humankind as millions banded together in the initial days and months both to grieve and to work through the aftermath. I admit I channeled my inner cowboy wanting to get the mofos who planned it.

9/11 has also guided our country’s direction for at least this first decade and probably for many more decades to come.

Presidential election of 2000

The 2000 election was the first time that one political party, the Republicans, were able to use their control of a state government and the US Supreme Court to thwart the will of a majority of Americans and install their own guy into the White House. I hope it will be the last time. It’s very bad for democracy if one party is able to manipulate the media, state, and courts to get what they want outside of logic and reason.

George W Bush and the neocons

The installed President in 2000 was a bad influence on this country for the 8 years he held office. It wasn’t only the guy but those he had working for him, the neocons, like Vice President Dick Cheney who wanted to install their brand of “Pax Americana” on the world.

Breaking with the traditional post-world war II idea of diplomacy to solve problems in the world, Bush and his goons “shot first” and asked questions later. They believed that fighting terrorism involved imposing organized military power first rather than the usual criminal justice model of investigation and intelligence. They were mistaken that a terror group could be fought like a war between armies. Their failed policy led to a loss of prestige in the world, loss of men and women in our military, loss of scores of innocent civilian lives in areas we invaded and destroyed, and the failure to capture the major people who planned and funded the 9/11 attacks in the first place.

At home Bush and the neocons chipped away at our civil rights – always “blaming” 9/11 – by violating our privacy, detaining without charge hundreds if not thousands of Muslim aliens in this country, holding so-called enemy combatants outside the country to avoid basic constitutional protections for alleged criminals, facilitating the use of torture, and using fear mongering to keep us all in line.

Bush and the neocons, through their use of the Congress, changed laws that were meant to protect our economy and well being which helped bring about the economic crash of 2008. President Bush was alerted to the signs of collapse and basically did nothing until Wall Street started to implode on itself. Then he gave them a blank check with basically no strings attached.

Presidential election of 2008

This election was good because the system worked. The American electorate, in a stinging rebuke of the whole Bush Presidency, put the Democrats into a commanding majority in the House and Senate. It not only elected a Democrat as President but also the first African-American, Barrack Obama. The Republicans and the neocons tried their best tricks to steal another election but the public turned them away hard.

Corporatism

Although the jury is still out on this one, I feel a major political point of the first decade is the continued corruption of our government by the corporate lobbyist. These people give money to Congress people to buy votes that benefit their industries agenda. It was this corruption that helped bring on the economic collapse of 2008 by getting bought legislators to remove regulations installed during the Depression of the 1930’s to protect the economy from wild speculation. What happens? Wild speculation followed by collapse. *sigh*

The corruption led to Congress passing tax breaks and other laws that gave big pay days to their wealthy friends while screwing the middle class and damaging the lower income people time and time again

Corporatism has led the Democratic majority installed after the abuse of the Bush years to continue the failed economic polices and to be ineffectual in passing almost anything, like real health care reform, that challenges their masters in the board rooms around the country.

The influence of the corporation has also led to our major media outlets being held by only a few large companies and that has effected what passes for journalism today. Mainstream media protects and propagandizes for their corporate bosses, their affiliated companies, and bought legislators at the state and Federal levels.

I have a feeling, moving forward, that Corporatism will become more of an issue that could lead to a crises that an election can’t fix.

The Internet

It really came into its own during the first decade. The one area not entirely controlled by media conglomerates – yet – is the Internet. Millions of people bypassed the propaganda that passes for news on mainstream media and shared news and information directly through their computers.

The Internet has already knocked down print newspapers and severely hurt broadcast media. That is a sure sign that people want their news and information unfiltered. People also want facts and the truth not a press release that spins something according to some agenda.

Fake celebrities

The first decade of the 2000’s saw the rise of basically lazy, untalented people thinking they should be famous by participating in “reality” TV shows or for doing something stupid. When you can’t answer the question “Why should we care?” then the person is basically a fake celebrity. Historians might look on this like we do about those wacky stunts pulled in the middle 20th century like stuffing a phone booth, dance marathons, and stuffing a small car with people.

Hopefully in the coming decade, there are far more better times than bad ones.

Good luck to us all…

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We need to leave Afghanistan now

With the debris of the collapsed World Trade Center towers fresh in my mind back in October 2001, I was very happy when the United States and allies helped remove the Taliban from governing Afghanistan. One reason was they refused to turn over Osama bin Laden and the others responsible for planning the attacks on the towers on 9/11. The Taliban also had been very nasty to the women of Afghanistan and I was getting tired of hearing all the other horror stories from there. But common of the bad thinking of the former Bush administration, the war in Afghanistan went left of center and needs to be ended.

The blatant jingoism of the neo-cons blinded them to the fact that Afghanistan had historically chewed up the British and Soviets, they didn’t capture bin Laden and his gang, and then thought they could impose “democracy” on the country.

Bush and company sent too few resources then cut back more as they fought a stupid war in Iraq that was only about settling past scores and for oil.

Once out of power the Taliban melted into the mountains and into Pakistan. Was there any doubt it would happen because they never fought a set piece battle back 2001. They withdrew from each city as the Northern Alliance and the US drew near.

Until recently Pakistan had been a supporter of the Taliban. That changed when it the Taliban started putting the Pakistan government in danger as it built strongholds in the Swat valley. But the support was there and didn’t help the US in capturing bin Laden in 2001.

The Karzai government, put into place by the US, is corrupt and after the last election, seen now as fraudulent, will never bring Afghanistan into a modern democracy. Once US troops leave Karzai will not be around for long. The Taliban have infiltrated the police and army and with the war lords still around, nothing really has changed.

It seems to me that Afghanistan is a lost cause and the US should leave as soon as possible.

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