22 Years of 9/11
Sep. 12th, 2023 08:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerYesterday was 9/11. It was the 22nd anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
As the tragedy of that day recedes farther into the rear view mirror of history it seems like a gradually less important anniversary. And that's a good thing.
Part of the reason it's becoming less significant is that there are fewer things today to associate it with. Slightly fewer things, anyway. There's no more War in Iraq or War in Afghanistan. The latter the US wound down two years ago... and Afghanistan's weak government promptly conceded to the Taliban, the murderous, misogynistic regime we spent 20 years and trillions of dollars fighting to defeat. Oops. Well, at least we're not putting US soldiers in harm's way anymore.
Speaking of US soldiers, the lead in a lot of news stories the past few days has been that young men and women enrolling in the military these days weren't even alive when 9/11 happened. We're 22 years on from it now; most recruits are 18-19.
A common narrative in these stories is that the recruits are no longer motivated by revenge. The recruits of several years ago remembered 9/11 as it happened. They saw it on TV, live. They joined the military with the expectation that they'd go to war and get to punish the perpetrators. Or at least punish the people who grew up in the country where a small insurgent power temporarily sheltered the wealthy guy who paid the perpetrators, most of whom were from a country the US political right cozies up to while blaming other countries.
The fact that military recruits today are part of the post-9/11 generation reminds me of how schoolkids for the past several years have all been part of the post-Columbine generation. For several years kids growing up have only known both a world that was always turned upside by 9/11 and the reactions to it, as well as the way the experience of attending school in the US has been irrevocably altered by frequent school shootings. In the latter case, young people today have something to say about it. ...And that something is, increasingly, "Enough!" Meanwhile, what's being said about 9/11? I don't think there's a reaction coalescing around it, except maybe for worn-out resignation.
As the tragedy of that day recedes farther into the rear view mirror of history it seems like a gradually less important anniversary. And that's a good thing.
Part of the reason it's becoming less significant is that there are fewer things today to associate it with. Slightly fewer things, anyway. There's no more War in Iraq or War in Afghanistan. The latter the US wound down two years ago... and Afghanistan's weak government promptly conceded to the Taliban, the murderous, misogynistic regime we spent 20 years and trillions of dollars fighting to defeat. Oops. Well, at least we're not putting US soldiers in harm's way anymore.
Speaking of US soldiers, the lead in a lot of news stories the past few days has been that young men and women enrolling in the military these days weren't even alive when 9/11 happened. We're 22 years on from it now; most recruits are 18-19.
A common narrative in these stories is that the recruits are no longer motivated by revenge. The recruits of several years ago remembered 9/11 as it happened. They saw it on TV, live. They joined the military with the expectation that they'd go to war and get to punish the perpetrators. Or at least punish the people who grew up in the country where a small insurgent power temporarily sheltered the wealthy guy who paid the perpetrators, most of whom were from a country the US political right cozies up to while blaming other countries.
The fact that military recruits today are part of the post-9/11 generation reminds me of how schoolkids for the past several years have all been part of the post-Columbine generation. For several years kids growing up have only known both a world that was always turned upside by 9/11 and the reactions to it, as well as the way the experience of attending school in the US has been irrevocably altered by frequent school shootings. In the latter case, young people today have something to say about it. ...And that something is, increasingly, "Enough!" Meanwhile, what's being said about 9/11? I don't think there's a reaction coalescing around it, except maybe for worn-out resignation.
