9/11 widow: The media duped us

[babylonsister]

9/11 widow: The media duped us
As I watch other victims argue over Park51, I feel like reporters turned us into the experts we never were
By Alissa Torres

snip//

What did I think about the decision to construct a "mosque" this close to ground zero? I thought it was a no-brainer. Of course it should be built there. I sometimes wonder if those people fighting so passionately against Park51 can fathom the diversity of those who died at ground zero. Do we think no Muslims died in the towers? My husband, Eddie Torres, killed on his second day of work at Cantor Fitzgerald while I was pregnant with our first child, was a dark-skinned Latino, often mistaken for Pakistani, who came here illegally from Colombia. How did "9/11 victim" become sloppy shorthand for "white Christian"? I wish someone would put out a list of all the ethnicities and religions and countries and economic levels of the victims. For all the talk of "remembering 9/11," I wonder if we've missed the patriotic message entirely. So, in short: No, I did not think it was "a bad idea."

snip//

There is therapy in speaking up, in feeling that you are not simply small and helpless in these giant matters. Each issue presents a chance for small triumph inside an abyss of loss. Maybe we can get this even if we can never get what we really want. Because what we really want is still to have our loved ones back.

But here is what's been lost in this Park51 controversy: We are not experts, we are victims. We deserve to speak up, we need to speak up to acknowledge the pain and suffering, but we were never meant to be leaders in a national debate. Because the only thing we really know intimately is grief. The only thing we really know is what it feels like to lose a loved one in 9/11.

As we approach the ninth anniversary of the event that ripped open our lives, those 5,000+ people on Arnie Korotkin's listserv are more divided than ever. And I can't shake the feeling that the media has duped us. In trying to create a controversy where there is none, in raking over wounds that -- nine years later -- still hurt. As we continue to grieve on Sept. 11, many 9/11 organizers have called for a "cease-fire" in the controversy to respect all our dead. But even that isn't something we can agree on; some families will use the day to continue to protest.

But for or against Park51, who among us wants to see images of the towers about to be hit by a plane splayed on New York City buses, as right-wing blogger Pamela Geller's anti-"ground zero mosque" ad features? None of us needs craven gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio, standing in front of a picture of the smoldering towers, saying that he speaks on behalf of the victims of 9/11.


more...

http://www.salon.com/life/life_stories/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2010/09/07/we_are_not_experts_on_park_51

[Raster]

1. How did "9/11 victim" become sloppy shorthand for "white Christian"?

Let there be truth!

[supernova]

29. +!000

[SpiralHawk]

36. +!000

How? Ask your friendly (pretending) republicon propaganda pimps.

[Capitalocracy]

47. I like that "sloppy shorthand"

I would've gone with "fascist newspeak", but that's just me

[jhrobbins]

50. Guess I wasn't the only one gobsmacked by that phrase. Wow!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

53. yes, there are a few people I'd like to slap with that line.

perfect.

[polmaven]

64. The NY Times agrees....

"Muslims and Islame were part of Twin Towers Life"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/nyregion/11religion.html?_r=1&hp

There was a Muslim prayer room on the 17th floor of the south tower. There were at least 3 dozen Muslims working in a restaurant in that building aqt the time of the attack. They were "9/11 victims" too.

[keith the dem]

69. Thank you, this is a very important post.

It was a mortal sin for a muslim to destroy that 17th floor prayer room.

[hulka38]

67. That is so great.

Thank you for posting this.

[SmileyRose]

2. k and r

[Swamp Rat]

3. k&r

[spanone]

4. recommended

[me b zola]

5. K&R

[goforit]

6. Barking up the WRONG tree!!!...Try Cheney/Bush/Rummy

[babylonsister]

8. The media is way too complicit in this farce. nt

[Enthusiast]

28. Like they always are on every issue.

The U.S. media is downright horrible.

[barbtries]

41. hell yeah

[LibDemAlways]

24. "New Pearl Harbor" - Project for a New American Century.

Sham 911 commission. The media has failed to tell the truth all right - but their failure to properly dwell on the ethnicity of the victims is minor compared to the outrages they've covered up.

[lunasun]

66. let's say the name again, so we all remember -

Project for the New American Century (PNAC)

[one_voice]

7. K & R.

[Withywindle]

9. I wish I could K&R this a thousand times.

Almost 100 different countries lost citizens that day. We can extrapolate that it's likely that pretty much every religion you can think of as well as the atheist and agnostic communities lost people that day.

There really was a time when the "We Are the World" vibe was out in force. Remember pictures of people all over the world showing up at US embassies and laying flowers and signing condolence books and mourning with us? Remember the story of the Muslim survivor and the Jewish survivor who helped each other? I do. Those are my strongest memories of 9/11 AFTERNOON and EVENING, 9/12, 9/13, etcetera.

This is what the Bush regime shit on and squandered. And the people who want to continue the exploitation of the dead to promote more hate and xenophobia and war are continuing that shame.

[babylonsister]

12. I saw that vibe.

I was in Bali, Indonesia when 9/11 happened. Sat across from our hotel in a sports bar with 24/7 coverage. It was packed all day and night for a week. We couldn't leave. All most of us did was watch. And I cried (I'm from NY/LI), and people were comforting and supportive. Once we got internet access, it was a bit better.

You bet idiot son squandered a great opportunity.

[Withywindle]

15. It goes on.

My mom travels all over the world teaching dance. She was in Bali, Indonesia when the bombing happened there in 2005--a few blocks away, thankfully. But we were still scared shitless until she managed to log onto a WiFi node and email us.

The US has no "divine right" to be exempt from violence. As long as the world is a violent place, we will be part of that violence. As long as we keep adding to the violence in the world, we have no right to claim to be exceptional.

[Enthusiast]

32. "You bet idiot son squandered a great opportunity."

Imagine what a little humility would have accomplished instead of the cowboy attitude.

[Raster]

46. 9/11 shocked the entire world, and was one of those rare times when all humanity was on

...the same page. Had he been even 1/10th the man Al Gore was, it could have lead to a world-wide dialog about combating terrorism. bush*, cheney*, rumsfeld*, rice*, et.al, had no intention of bridging gaps or facilitating healing and understanding. They had an illegal invasion to attend to. The invasion of Iraq was planned long before cheney*/bush* stole the White House. And if the absolute truth be told, they certainly know much more about 9/11 than they will ever admit. Especially cheney*. Idiot son is, well, akin to the national village idiot and alibi-in-a-box.

[Enthusiast]

30. But Bush had to cowboy it up and

act like a tough badass. Just what aspect of the U.S. didn't they affect for the worse? Now the same bunch continue to drive rhetoric in the wrong direction.

[w8liftinglady]

10. kicking and recing...so many have forgotten the diversity that is New York

[flyarm]

11. K&R!!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Truth it hurts

some of the victims that day, and the heroes, WERE Muslim.

[Withywindle]

16. I know of at least one Muslim EMT who went in with his unit

and didn't come out.

I know of at LEAST two gay men who sacrificed their lives heroically that day:

Mark Bingham, Flight 93: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Bingham

One of the men who fought to the death. Survived by his mother and his husband. No surprise that Fox isn't interested in HIS story or survivors.



Father Mychal Judge: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_mychal_judge

A priest who had been ministering to the police and firefighter communities for decades. He got written out of the right-wing narrative pretty quickly too--he was a queer Catholic New Yorker who really loved his city for all its racial/religious/sexual/class diversity, and died in the service of it. If I really believed in the monotheistic heaven, I'd be pretty sure he's there now.

[Supersedeas]

70. almost like the Media has a vested interest in DIVISION...

[SugarShack]

14. K&R

[Douglas Carpenter]

17. kick and recommend!!

[pinboy3niner]

18. K&R

[Kber]

19. That's powerful.

Sad, honest, and moving, too.

[NJmaverick]

20. K & R!

[orbitalman]

21. That's just it...

Not nearly enough blame is put on the media whose sole purpose is to create CONTROVERSY. I cannot stress this enough. Those who don't dig into a story for truth need to be run out of town. Really
:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[Scurrilous]

22. K & R

:thumbsup:

[LibDemAlways]

23. The diversity of the victims is one story that's been

long forgotten. The fact that 911 has never been thoroughly investigated is another. The sham commission set up by Bush should have set off media red flags - and would have in a country with free and honest discourse. 911 changed American lives for the worse in ways big and small - everything from the "big brother" aspects of a vast new "Homeland Security" bureaucracy we must bow to every time we board a plane, costly and wasteful wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have taken many lives and drained the national treasury, to increasing xenophobia that manifests itself in hatred and fear of an entire religion.

Had Bush heeded the warning that Bin Ladin was "determined to strike in U.S" all this might well have been avoided. But then he, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et. al would not have had the "new Pearl Harbor" they sought as a pretense for their illegal empire building and oil grab. Whether it was by neglect or design, we have all been affected by our own government's failure to prevent the events of that day - and we are all the worse for it.

[Enthusiast]

33. Plus one!

Look how they wrecked the country using that new Pearl Harbor.

[unapatriciated]

25. K&R

[lsewpershad]

26. K&R

Truth told about media thuggery.

[Winston Wolf]

27. Thanks For Finding This

K and R indeed.

[Roland99]

31. wow.

[tilsammans]

34. K&R. This is . . .

. . . a local property matter that shouldn't have made news in NYC, let alone the entire country and now the world.

To make it anything more, hurts us all.

[proReality]

35. K&R

I'm just speechless at the stupidity of some Americans and their shriveled cold hearts, and that includes so much of our MSM.

[Uncle Joe]

37. It's just more dividing and conquering of the American People from the corporate media.

Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, babylonsister.

[defendandprotect]

38. 9% of 9/11 victims were Muslim ..... they are only 6% of our population ...

per Thom Hartmann

[CLANG]

71. I could swear he said .06 percent.

[southernyankeebelle]

39. Sorry for your loss. I totally agree with you. These people will come to be ashamed of themselves

10 yrs from now. Just like what we did to the Japanese people that were americans and putting them in camps. I'm waiting for the american muslims to be rounded up and put into camps. It is so very very sad. To think our leaders approve of these behaviour all for the sake of getting votes. Shame on them. This country deserves what we get when we don't treat our own citizens right.

[rhett o rick]

40. Thanks for the post. k & r. nm

[Supersedeas]

42. the media has an agenda...follow the advertisers

[Cha]

43. The "media" is always trying to create a

controversary where there is none.. give us a bush coup and bomb a country when there was no reason.

[veganlush]

44. k& R ..n/t

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

45. K & R

A million times over.

[blondeatlast]

48. The media dupes us all in the name of CREATING news. When I took journalism,

that was a taboo--now it's SOP.

Thank you for the sanity.

[Javaman]

49. I've said this before and I will say it again...

who wants that land?

Who is creating the charade so they instead could have that very valuable piece of property?

There, my friends, is the question that needs to be investigated.

[polmaven]

51. The only regrettable thing is...

That none of us can Recommend this time and time again! What an insightful woman. I felt a chill down my spine when I read this....Thank you so much for this find!

[Bluerthanblue]

52. wow... this is SO excellent.

thank you for posting it-

:hi:

[butterfly77]

54. Kicked&Recommended...

[Martin Eden]

55. "raking over wounds that -- nine years later -- still hurt"

That is exactly what all the idiots screaming about the "Ground Zero Mosque" are doing -- raking over old wounds for no good reason except (for some RW politicians) trying to win votes by appealing to ignorance, fear, and bigotry.

[CLANG]

72. Remember that Glenn Beck hates the 9/11 victims.

How many of his listeners/watchers agreed with him?

[Historic NY]

56. There was a reason its was called World Trade....

its housed more than 50000 thousand employees of varying nationalities & religions.All workign for companies from many different countries. One didn't have to be a certain religion to work there.

[The Wizard]

57. What is disguised as news

is psyops and propaganda. Orwell was right.

[jbeing]

58. K & R + + +

[GreenTea]

59. No Shit! Not a moment too soon....should of known this about the media from the git-go

I did...and is why I was marching & protesting, screaming & shouting upon deaf ears before the coming war in Iraq (a direct consequence of 9/11 that BushCo convinced the gullible through the media)...It was very easy to see, if one chose to see past the silly emotional manipulations everywhere, that it was ALL a set up and complete bullshit, that no opposition allowed by the media (that should of told the fools something) but the voluntarily blind idiots ate it up, just like they do everything else the media tells them....these people are insecure self-obsessed, followers, fearful of everything and what others think about them, what a sad way to "live" - pitiful!!

[pjt7]

60. 911 was a american coup

& that could only happen thru the control of the main-stream media.

God Bless everyone who works to get at the facts @ especialy those brave people who work for the giant media powers & stil attempt to expose the truth.

[RedCloud]

61. The promise not to sue Bush or no donated money reeks of corruption!

[Loudmxr]

62. By sentence six of the second graph I was in tears.

Let me forgo the rant.

The best of the story is when the mom and her child see an exploitation of 9-11 they yell out "That's CRAP!"

'nuff said

[Clear Blue Sky]

63. The media are always duping us, or at least trying to.

[CUTTIN HEADS]

65. Kick...Rec...ad infintum: Now, please read Vince Bugliosi's

work "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder"
Bugliosi nails it...we just need some Prosecutor...from Anywhere USA (as the deception was delivered, shore to shore)...and indict that fucker, and the house of cards will tumble.
My 16 year old and I were looking at the Twin Tower "collapse"...and he said, "dad...those towers were brought down by a controlled implosion"...smart kid.
I concur...where's the wreckage @ Shanksville??? Where's the wreckage @ The Pentagon???
WE are the wreckage.

[bertman]

68. REC. thank you, babylonsister. nt

[CLANG]

73. This part kills me:

"I'm doing story today about the proposed mosque project at the WTC site. I am interviewing the developers but I am also trying to look for family members who think building a mosque at the site is a bad idea."

What? LOOKING for family members who think building a mosque at the site is a bad idea? Really? So you can slant your story sufficiently to be allowed on TV with it? Journalism is dead. The press is dead. And the US is dead.