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My Dad just finished watching Loose Change. I was in the room, tooling around with books and photocopies and my laptop; I ended up watching it too. If you haven't heard of it, it's an amateur film on the eternal question of who really was behind 9/11. It... has its faults, certainly, and its holes and flimsy spots, but it's certainly food for thought, as are all the many, many similar works out there. What lets it down harder and faster than anything else is a scene in the extra featurette - about a free screening the makers organised in New York, on 9/11/2005. They hawked the DVD and the screening at Ground Zero, and got into an argument with a fireman. I support the asking of questions, I will always support it, but it was appalling to watch.
And then my Dad left, when it was all over, to walk the dog, and on impulse, I fired up Winamp to play City Hall, by Vienna Teng, and that's when the tears started. This simple, pretty little song has moved me to weeping before, but not like this, not quite.
(I'm hesitating, as I write this; not my place, maybe, and what business have I making pseudo-thinky posts? But nevertheless.)
I cried - am crying - because we are... privileged is not the word I mean, but it's like it. We are responsible. We have seen, in the span of our days, how the face of the world can be changed, so vastly and so deeply by hate, by greed, by lust for power. In this unprecedented age of on-site reporting and instant media, we have seen the smoke and body trails they leave behind them. We were there, for that few hours that changed history, and left the scar of Ground Zero behind to prove it - that's what Loose Change reminded me of. We are responsible.
And we've risen out of the ashes. Not all the way, but I don't doubt we're trying. And we've shouldered our responsibility - or we're trying to do that, as well. All you have to do is look at the shape of the movements of the past years. Has there ever been such a united outcry for peace as when George Bush began his campaigns against the countries of the Middle East? Perhaps, but I was not alive to remember it, and this is our generation's cycle, as the protests against Vietnam were our parents'. And (though if we're getting there, we're going slowly) the struggle for gay rights, the right for anyone to marry the person they love, to have it recognised by the country they live in. This is our cycle too, as the struggle for racial equality, though not over, though far from over, was that which defined our parents'. These should be the things the opening years of the new millennium are marked by, remembered for.
Vienna Teng - City Hall
Because this is our chance to make a difference. Because I am a student of history, and I know its importance. Because I want them to remember us for such things. Because I don't want to sound like a goddamn hippie, but that's our responsibility. Love. To try and clear away a little of the smoke, and let some of the light back in.
And then my Dad left, when it was all over, to walk the dog, and on impulse, I fired up Winamp to play City Hall, by Vienna Teng, and that's when the tears started. This simple, pretty little song has moved me to weeping before, but not like this, not quite.
(I'm hesitating, as I write this; not my place, maybe, and what business have I making pseudo-thinky posts? But nevertheless.)
I cried - am crying - because we are... privileged is not the word I mean, but it's like it. We are responsible. We have seen, in the span of our days, how the face of the world can be changed, so vastly and so deeply by hate, by greed, by lust for power. In this unprecedented age of on-site reporting and instant media, we have seen the smoke and body trails they leave behind them. We were there, for that few hours that changed history, and left the scar of Ground Zero behind to prove it - that's what Loose Change reminded me of. We are responsible.
And we've risen out of the ashes. Not all the way, but I don't doubt we're trying. And we've shouldered our responsibility - or we're trying to do that, as well. All you have to do is look at the shape of the movements of the past years. Has there ever been such a united outcry for peace as when George Bush began his campaigns against the countries of the Middle East? Perhaps, but I was not alive to remember it, and this is our generation's cycle, as the protests against Vietnam were our parents'. And (though if we're getting there, we're going slowly) the struggle for gay rights, the right for anyone to marry the person they love, to have it recognised by the country they live in. This is our cycle too, as the struggle for racial equality, though not over, though far from over, was that which defined our parents'. These should be the things the opening years of the new millennium are marked by, remembered for.
Vienna Teng - City Hall
Because this is our chance to make a difference. Because I am a student of history, and I know its importance. Because I want them to remember us for such things. Because I don't want to sound like a goddamn hippie, but that's our responsibility. Love. To try and clear away a little of the smoke, and let some of the light back in.
Re: Interesting article.
Re: Interesting article.