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    'cherished national symbols' Archived Message

    Posted by Ian M on January 11, 2021, 1:51 pm, in reply to "Violence in the Capitol, Dangers in the Aftermath"

    'The psychological trauma from the carnage and the wreckage at the country’s most cherished symbols [...] The U.S. Capitol remains a potent and cherished symbol even for Americans who are deeply cynical about the ruling class and political system. [...] One is that striking at cherished national symbols — the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, the Capitol — ensures rage and terror far beyond body counts or other concrete harms.'

    Bit of a city boy, isn't he? Mate, they're buildings. Get upset at the people killed, not at the Dreadful Destruction of concrete & glass! I don't doubt that many people think this way, but for me it reveals a pathological, childish identification with the system and should be challenged not accepted as a given. When people look back at defaced, vandalised Mayan temples, toppled Easter Island statues or other examples of grand monuments destroyed (often by the same people who built them) there's at least some questioning of the mindset which led to them being constructed in the first place, as well as trying to understand why they were destroyed. Greenwald is still bought into the system if his heartstrings are being pulled by the sight of 'marauding band of hooligans invade and deface both the House and the Senate, without any identifiable objective other than venting grievances'. Here's what someone who doesn't identify with the system sounds like:

    'As for those in the World Trade Center... Well, really, let's get a grip here, shall we? True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break. They formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire—the "mighty engine of profit" to which the military dimension of U.S. policy has always been enslaved—and they did so both willingly and knowingly. Recourse to "ignorance"—a derivative, after all, of the word "ignore"—counts as less than an excuse among this relatively well-educated elite. To the extent that any of them were unaware of the costs and consequences to others of what they were involved in—and in many cases excelling at—it was because of their absolute refusal to see. More likely, it was because they were too busy braying, incessantly and self-importantly, into their cell phones, arranging power lunches and stock transactions, each of which translated, conveniently out of sight, mind and smelling distance, into the starved and rotting flesh of infants. If there was a better, more effective, or in fact any other way of visiting some penalty befitting their participation upon the little Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers, I'd really be interested in hearing about it.'

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Justice_of_Roosting_Chickens
    http://academic.depauw.edu/jeremyanderson_web/eteach/342_churchill_full.pdf

    Wiki's summary of what happened to him as a consequence of these comments:

    'Churchill's remarks about World Trade Center victims became the center of considerable attention and controversy in January 2005 when Hamilton College of Clinton, New York invited him to give a speech. As a result, the speech was cancelled, citing "credible threats of violence". Churchill's "little Eichmanns" drew ferverous condemnation from media pundits, who called for his resignation and deemed him unfit to teach. The University of Colorado Board of Regents publicly apologized for Churchill's writings about the September 11, 2001 attacks. Following this media controversy, Churchill was investigated for plagiarism, alleged to have committed academic misconduct, fired, and filed a lawsuit against CU. Churchill won the wrongful dismissal claim and was awarded $1 in damages by a jury that was vacated by the judge.[8] Churchill's final appeal was denied on April 1, 2013 when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.[9] '

    cheers,
    I

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