More on 9-11

This is in response to this entry over at BeerMary’s Rant-o-Rama. I’d have posted it over there but it turned into a mini-rant which was too long for the comment box.
I dig her entry on the subject, because it’s simultaneously passionate and well-reasoned. But I don’t agree with everything Mary has to say.
Although I think I know where that nameless person was coming from, I agree that they were out of line – you can’t tell people how to feel. Hell, I am one of the few people in this country who was not radically upset by 9-11. I got weird looks from people because of that, which sucked.
That said, I think I know where they were coming from. It strikes me somehow as… off that so many people are so upset about 9-11 when the only thing they have in common with the people who died is an adjective (‘American’). Now, I’m a weird radical moderate freak who has a skewed worldview, but why aren’t all these people who are so struck by 9-11 equally upset by, say, the various horrible terrorist/governmental/whatever massacres that happen around the world the rest of the time?
Why aren’t they equally upset by the bombings and slaughters in the Middle East? Those people are people too. They’re human. They had wives and children and husbands and parents and lovers. They were killed suddenly, too.
My personal theory is that it’s because the media and the hype made it so you feel guilty if you don’t grieve (ok, made me feel guilty for not grieving. Can’t speak for anybody else).
Patriotism became in. Now, I’m all for loving your country, but the mindlessness of it really scared me for a while. People disrespected the flag constantly – displaying it improperly, leaving it out until it got ragged and thrashed, etc. because you HAD to have a flag SOMEWHERE or you were on their side. Or something.
Feh.
And don’t get me started on the “war on terrorism.”
The problem with punishing terrorism is that it doesn’t really stop it. Terrorists are not logical people, so the cause -> effect relationship of terrorism -> you get blown up won’t get through to them. We need to find another way to stop them.
I do think, however, that taking out Bin Laden is our responsibility. We created him and got him started, we should get rid of him. We just need to figure out a way of doing it that won’t involve offing innocent people. And we need to find a way to protect ourselves that doesn’t involve the kind of trampling on the Bill of Rights that has been going on.
I love my country. I don’t want its mission destroyed by anyone, including the government.