New York Times columnist Paul Krugman became conservative persona non grata on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 yesterday when he argued that people's exploitation of the tragedy for political gain tore the country apart at the precise moment it should have come together, thereby turning future anniversaries into occasions for shame.
Those patriotic Internet-Americans who honor the anniversary of 9/11 by surfing political blogs all day for something to get offended about seized on a pointed blog post from New York Times columnist Paul Krugman yesterday, and show no sign of letting up. Paul Krugman is now the most worst person in the history of America, for pointing out that certain politicians made some bad decisions after 9/11.
By George W. Bush's own account, "the most nervous moment" of his presidency—indeed, of his entire life—was throwing the first pitch at the 2001 World Series.
In keeping with its role as America's official restaurant, Hooters has created a one-minute 9/11 commemorative video in which some of its orange-clad server-troops honor our nation's blue- and camouflage-clad service-troops. Hooters' business rival Canz apparently failed to release any such video, and therefore does not care about the troops.
These photographs of today's September 11 memorial ceremonies in New York City, Arlington, and Afghanistan speak for themselves. [Image via AP]
Jumpy? Us? On the tenth anniversary of 9/11? Who's jumpy? Oh my god did you hear fighter jets got scrambled to intercept a flight headed to New York this is it we're all going to die oh god
Paul Simon was supposed to perform "Bridge Over Troubled Water" at the World Trade Center site today. He did "Sound of Silence" instead, not that we're complaining: NPR's Margot Adler called it "perhaps the most moving moment of the ceremony," and we don't doubt it. (If nothing else, the lyrics to "Sound of Silence" are much better, and arguably more appropriate, at least in the ways that their meanings have changed between 1964 and 2001, and between 2001 and now.)
How do talk about 9/11, ten years later? What stories do we tell? What ideas grab us? We made a word cloud of editorials from 15 prominent local and national papers to see what came up.
Bill Clinton, our most rascally of presidents, may have been out of office for ten years. But the guy can still bring the gravitas when he wants to—as he did today at the unfinished memorial to the victims of United 93, with a speech that's perfect in almost every way.
The September 11 attacks placed all kinds of characters—some sinister, some sympathetic—in the public eye, both making careers and ending others. It helped conspiracy theorists attract followings, terrorists earn life sentences, rescue dogs win medals, and patriotic country music stars gain crossover fans. Let's check in with some of the folks (and dogs) for whom 9/11 became a watershed personal branding moment, whether they intended it to or not.
Most people would agree that the ten years since the September 11th terrorist attacks have been pretty shitty ones. War, disaster, and economic collapse have all seemed to come pouring out of the hole at Ground Zero as if from Pandora's box. But! Light!
The Mayor of 9/11, Rudy Giuliani, made a stop on The View this morning during his 10-year-anniversary media tour, where he considered a common hypothetical: Would America be "ready" for another 9/11, in the sense that we'd put politics aside and unite as a country again? He thinks we would, and that we'd all forget about terrible budget battles and whatever else we'd be bickering over. In that case, let's try it! No, that's probably the wrong takeaway.
It seems like we've heard every last story remotely connected to the events of 9/11. But I'd never heard this one: the one about the female fighter pilot who came thisclose to a patriotic suicide mission that day.
Ahead of Sunday's 10th anniversary of 9/11, Stephen Colbert interviewed former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw on tonight's Report about what he was doing when he learned of the attacks, how he got through the day, and the degree to which the tragedy changed America. You'll find all of Brokaw's responses in this video, but let's just quickly address the first one: he was in the middle of a yoga class.
Did you know that a Saudi family living in Sarasota, Fla., that met with 9/11 mastermind Mohammed Atta disappeared without a trace—leaving behind their cars, food, and furniture—two weeks before the attacks? Neither did Congress, or the 9/11 Commission! The FBI didn't think to tell them.
In the excellent New York magazine 9/11 issue, Mark Lilla says, "The tragedy will be mourned, then trivialized, then commercialized, and then amnesia will set in." There are some tchotchkes that mourn, trivialize, and commercialize that tragedy all at once. Here is the tackiest 9/11 related crap we could find.
