Not only Krugman, writing about the “Years of Shame” post-9/11, but also the anti-conservative liberal the media loves to quote as a conservative, Kathleen Parker.
An America that no longer knows itselfThe legacy of 9/11 can’t be fully measured even now, but perhaps the most damaging aspect can be found in our national discourse.
Taking the long view, it is possible to see the roots of today’s political dysfunction — the hate, fear, anger and resentment — firmly planted in the soil at Ground Zero.
Did Osama bin Laden envision such a thing when he plotted the attacks? Probably not. He might have imagined that we would retaliate, and this would cost us lives and treasure. But he couldn’t have known that we eventually would lose our common sense of who we are. This has been the big surprise of 9/11 — an ongoing, self-perpetuating act of American self-destruction.
Something was unleashed 10 years ago that bears our scrutiny. It wasn’t only evil, though the attacks were certainly that. The event was so cataclysmic and horrifying that it caused a sort of emotional breakdown in the American constitution. Simply put, it damaged our collective soul and seems to have released a free-ranging hysteria that has contaminated our interactions ever since.
No matter how many prayers uttered; no matter how many hands held or pledges made; no matter how many bombs dropped or coffins draped. A nation cannot heal itself without self-awareness. On this score we have fallen short. We seem not to want to recognize that we don’t have a problem; we are the problem.
Putting it bluntly, Sept. 11 caused us to go temporarily insane. Being for or against the war, first in Afghanistan and later in Iraq, divided us as wars do, but this time was different. Friendships ended, marriages suffered, people crossed the street to avoid those with whom they disagreed. Ten years later, we are still at war. Tack on the global financial crisis, stagnant unemployment, the further dissolution of trust in our institutions, and we have all the ingredients for moral panic.
And now, alas, another election season is upon us with all the froth and spittle we love to loathe. President Obama understands that the nation has a psychological problem, but no president in his right mind can afford to speak publicly of such things. If Jimmy Carter was brought down by his “crisis of confidence,” a.k.a. “malaise,” speech, imagine if Obama, who already suffers an image of elitist condescension, mentioned that the nation could use a little time on the couch.
We stumble at last upon a purpose for columnists — to say that which no one else dares.
Note that Parker writes in her typical passive-aggressive way, and a superficial reading might suggest she’s saying “a pox on all houses.” But her previous history suggests to me she has a firm idea about which people went “temporarily insane,” and which people remained steadfastly the voices of reason.
It’s interesting, to me, that neither Parker nor Krugman feel the need to pretend they supported the War in Afghanistan any longer. This used to be a standard trope of the left, to feign support of one war to prove one’s general credibility on the subject; they’ve now dropped that act, and no longer parse between Afghanistan and Iraq.
They don’t quite confess the truth, but they no longer bother with the lies they once told. And, by the way, Miss Parker — since you’re casting about for some purpose for columnists that may make them seem more important than they are, confessing that truth that none on the left dare mention would more useful.
For a certain dominant strain of liberalism — the liberalism of the bien pensant class — the most attractive element of the creed is the self-deception. The self-deception I write of the moral vanity of supposing, by mere embrace of a political creed, that all “hate” and lizard-brain desire for vengeance has been purged from their minds.
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That lady is a puesdo conservative if I have ever seen one, or maybe a compassionate conservative? stereotypical liberal BS. They, the liberals are furious and most of them have enough sense to realize that they had best keep their mouths shut on this day. Just like they did after 9/11. They went along with the conservatives and mainstream America in calling for action against the terrorists, and countries that supported them. But not for long, at the first opportunity they began to speak out. Hilary was one of the first. And the rest soon followed. For the first time in decades Americans have become more “aware” as a society, but not like the liberals want them to be. So liberals will always distort, blame, confuse, and lie especially when they are threatened as they are now. Hey! they had one major victory. No religious representatives at 9/11! Could you imagine the same thing happening at Perl Harbour on its 10 years anniversary, and or Normandy? Oh! that right! That was the Greatest Generation who still used common sense, and believed in American Values and traditions first and foremost. Not these “all encompassing values and traditions of all people from all countries that the liberals recognize.”
The left doesn’t like it when we defend ourselves. Besides, as we saw many leftists felt 9/11 was our fault. Let’s not forget they want us to fail and fall. That hasn’t happened and it drives them even more nuts.
Just another liberal whore..Where was paul at the time of the first impact. according to paul and parker, the holocaust and WWII never existed and it a was the “jew’s fault” Smile America, in 50 years 9/11 will have never existed thanks to people like this and opie, the brainless horse’s ass. Must we ever forget biden, holter and the clinton twins, sec of slut and whore dog husband, for in time..9/11 will vanish..just like the “Wall” .