UPDATED: "There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men."

Just some quick follow-up thoughts on yesterday's 5 year anniversery of September 11, 2001:

- How quickly, it seems, that a day of mourning can become a day for politics as usual. The President's address to the nation - robotically and clumsily recited as per usual - mixed grief and sorrow with yet more justification for the war in Iraq. And the thing is, I am not even necessarily opposed to the war. I do think that, ultimately, it may be good for our country and the middle east. But I hate the fact that it is continually explained under false pretense, continually an issue that is explained to the nation by preying on emotions rather than intellect and logic. And even as this one issue - the war in Iraq - is hammered home as being justified over and over again, countless other security-related issues are ignored or played down. Safety in our ports, coalitions with international allies, a roadmap to peace in Israel, the broader issue of encouraging democracies rather than dictatorships to rise up in the Islamic world. Bush is a one-trick pony, and he simply lacks the ability to explain his actions with any real elegance or intelligence, instead, yet again, playing off of people's fears by evoking September 11th, 2001, as the be-all, end-all reasoning for all of his administration's plans. Ridiculous.

- And who saw Bush's crazy interview with of all people Matt Lauer? On one hand, I think Lauer was a bit naive to press so much on the issue of torture. While I agree wholeheartedly that torture is a last resort only, and I find the actions of Abu Gharib reprehensible, I don't think we need an ultimatum that says we never use extreme methods to extract information. If it means saving American lives, then sometimes you do what you have to, but again - only as a last resort. But still, the interview showed yet again what a total moron Bush is. Sure, Lauer was pressing a sensitive issue a bit, but Bush is the freakin' President here - why can't he just explain himself in a reasoned and clear manner? The fact that Bush had to resort to juvenile finger-pointing and absurd justifications is just sad. If you didn't see it, Bush kept poking his finger in Lauer's chest and saying how the terrorists were out to kill him and his family! Jeebus, THIS is the leader of the free world?

Check it out in all of its stupid hilarity HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9NVRB3sSFk

- Now, one guy whose speech did really resonate yesterday was Kieth Olbermann, whose MSNBC show Countdown yesterday featured a critical look at the American post-9/11 political landscape that, for me, hit all the right notes. Olbermann is one of the few liberal-leaning voices on TV who is so well-spoken and clear in his points that it's usually hard to attack what he is saying. Anyone who wants to hear a reflection on 9/11 that demonstrates true oratory skill, take a gander at this. And bonus points to Keith for so eloquently referencing one of the greatest episodes of TV of all time ...

Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ymYwj4OA4o

By the way, how amazing is YouTube?

- And yeah, as I anticipated yesterday, most people, as I guessed, are so entrenched in their bubbles that major world events seem to pass through their heads like air, leaving room for Monday Night Football, Paris Hilton's latest publicity stunt, or the newest friend request on MySpace. I was somewhat shocked though sadly not entirely surprised that of all the people I talked to at work yesterday, not one made reference to anything related to world events. Is this a West Coast thing? A Hollywood thing? Is it just my little department here? I remember being in London during the start of the Iraq war, and at my internship there (at a TV production company) people constantly talked politics and every so often gathered 'round the television to take in the latest. But I guess I should take the hint when the LA Times, probably my least favorite paper I've ever read regularly, features the flimsiest political coverage you'll find, and the local newscasts are useless other than for catching the latest high-speed freeway chase. Also, I have talked to a few east-coast transplants here who agreed that the LA natives are not only just apathetic in general, but also probably feel much more removed from the whole 9/11 tragedy. To me, it still seems odd and strangely discomforting. Especially as, during my time at BU, as well as my semester in London, I think my peers and I felt right in the middle of all that was going on in the world - geographically, demographically, and mentally. I hate the feeling of living in a vaccum.

- For a dose of smart-ass levity, you can't beat the snarkiness of crazy political blogs like The Wonkette. While yesterday I wasn't really in the mood to be told not be self-serious and reflective (hey, everyone else as doing it!), today I find this pretty funny. Their sentiment was correct, timing though was a bit inappropriate:

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/9%252f11/wonkette-psa-no-one-cares-where-you-were-on-september-11-199807.php

To quote: "If you have a blog, you’ve probably written about it. If you’re on your third giant beer at Recessions’ happy hour, you’re telling your neighbor about it right now.
Sorry America, but no one cares. Unless you were buried in the rubble of the north tower alongside a mustachioed Nic Cage, your story is completely uninteresting and can be repeated almost verbatim by 3 or 4 million other Americans."

Hey, don't blame me for the crass attitude - it was them who said it, not I! But something the more cynical side of me finds funny, though it would probably be a lot more funny if I was actually someplace where people actually talked about world events! (see above)

- Alright, don't worry all you entertainment junkies - soon I will be back with some more regularly-scheduled blogging, including PRISON BREAK thoughts, a review of HOLLYWOODLAND, and the TOP MOVIES OF SUMMER 2006. Until then, to mix up the political and entertainment angles a bit, I leave you with the quote that Keith Olbermann cited in the segment linked to above, the closing narrative to one of the finest and still most socially relevent works ever produced for TV. Ladies and gentleman, the seminal words of Rod Serling, still as meaningful as ever, from the Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters Are Due in Maple Street," airdate March 4th, 1960:

"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own - for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things ... cannot be confined to ... the Twilight Zone."