Remembering 9/11 for What Purpose?

This is the day on social media where we dutifully post where we were and when and what we were doing when we first learned that the World Trade Center Towers had been hit by airplanes. On the anniversary we repeat the slogan "Never forget." But why? What are we not supposed to forget? Obviously, it can't be that we are supposed to forget it happened. The images are burned into our memories. Of what are we in danger of forgetting? I certainly have not forgotten 9/11 and until death or the onslaught of dementia, I likely won't ever forget that day. So why do we need to remind each other, "Never forget?" Never forget, what?

I suggest that the "never forget" command refers not to what but to who. We are never to forget who did this to us.  As Christians since the medieval period remembered the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday, they recalled a who. Who killed our Lord? Never forget it was the Jews, so they believed.  Why did they believe it? They believed what they were told in sermons by those in authority. They believed interpretations of their holy texts that were ritualized in worship.

24When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. 25Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. (Matthew 27:24-5 KJV).

Who are "all the people?" Everybody knows, the Jews. It isn't until modern scholarship that these texts have been exposed for the false history they represent. As John Dominic Crossan wrote:

Here is the question at the heart of my book [Who Killed Jesus?]. Jesus stands before a Roman governor who declares him innocent and wants him released while a Jewish crowd declares him guilty and wants him crucified. The crowd wins. Is that scene Roman history or Christian propaganda?

Never underestimate the power of propaganda. Why would the gospel writers focus on the Jews rather than the obvious culprit, the Roman Empire, for executing a Jew, Jesus? If you are believers in Jesus writing after the Jewish Revolt and War in 66-70, you might want to distinguish yourself from that unpleasantness and let the Roman authorities know that you won't be making trouble. They painted the Roman Empire innocently washing its hands, while the murderous Jews scream for the death of the messiah, even as history shows that imperial Rome crucified Jews by the thousands.

Propaganda serves a purpose. Propaganda keeps us on message. Propaganda keeps us focused on the enemy and what is necessary to combat the enemy. Since 9/11, we need to keep focused on the Global War On Terror and never let up.

Who are we never to forget on 9/11? Muslims. Particularly, radical Muslim terrorists. Never forget that the Muslim terrorists attacked us on 9/11 because they don't like our freedoms. On this high holy day, 9/11, we remember why the Patriot Act is necessary, why we need to allow the NSA to spy on us, why torture is necessary, why we need killer drones, why we need to topple governments and why we need to spend obscene amounts of money on military equipment and personnel all over the Middle East, and indeed, the world.

The latest book by David Ray Griffin, Bush and Cheney: How They Ruined America and the World, (my interview with Dr. Griffin is here) spells out the consequences of 9/11. At the conclusion of his book, Professor Griffin includes a quote from William Rivers Pitt, "recalling that on 9/11 people in New York City were running for their lives, said:

We are still running because September 11, never ended. To the contrary, it grew, expanded, metatisized and ultimately subsumed this nation. We are a wildly different place, and a wildly different people than we were fifteen years ago....We accept [demeaning] things after a decade and a half of taming and training....September 11 gave us the horror and shame of Abu Ghraib as well as the disgrace of Guantanamo Bay. It gave us the concept of the Unitary Executive through which the president wields unlimited power in defiance of constitutional law. The PATRIOT Act exploded the surveillance dam and flooded the nation with watching eyes and ears....Fifteen years later, the pall of poison smoke from the day still hangs low over us all. The great mission for the remainder of this century is plain: We must get out from under the control mechanism September 11 has become." pp. 304-5.

Professor Griffin concludes his book with this:

The argument of this book is that we will not get out from under it unless the Big Lie of 9/11 is publicly exposed. p. 305

In my interview with Professor Griffin, he said that most people don't know about the 9/11 Consensus Panel. I didn't know about it. Professor Griffin writes:

In writing about skeptics regarding the official account of 9/11, newspapers have often not distinguished between 9/11 scholars and other skeptics, who may be uninformed or irrational. Ignoring this distinction has allowed the press to quote some silly statement by non-scholars and say, "This is what 9/11 Truthers believe." To try to reduce this problem, an organization called Consensus 9/11: The 9/11 Best Evidence Panel, was formed in 2011. 

The panel reminds me of the Jesus Seminar, except that I think the 9/11 Consensus Panel may be even more stringent as to how they to come to consensus on the evidence. Of course, the sources and evidence regarding the events of 9/11 are more easily tested and evaluated than the sources and evidence of early first century Palestine.

Nonetheless, both groups state their methodology, evaluate the evidence as their professions dictate, are transparent about their processes and results, and invite others to peer review their work. It is not propaganda. It is reason.  Both groups have been dismissed by the mainstream media because their conclusions upset the beliefs of established orthodoxy.

How to get people even to look at the work of the 9/11 Consensus Panel or Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth? That is the trillion dollar question.

I think for me it took a realization that being open to the evidence and all that it implied would not cripple me. I could look at it, discuss it, and share it and not be afraid of the consequences. What keeps me going when fear does creep up upon me, is that I cannot in good conscience allow the blame for 9/11 to be misplaced on Muslims any more than I can allow the blame for the execution of Jesus to be misplaced on Jews.

As I light a candle for the thousands who were murdered on the day of 9/11, I also light a candle for the destruction of the Middle East and for the millions who have been murdered since 9/11 by US imperialism fueled by propaganda and fear.

I light a candle because I trust that we can heal from this. We can follow where ever the evidence leads and we can be free. It is our great work. As more and more people dare to challenge the propaganda for themselves and look at the evidence itself, the movement for justice and truth will emerge. If the evidence leads us to prosecute criminals within our own government, then it will be because of true patriots who have shown us the way.

Rather than "never forget" I invite readers of this blog post to consider the evidence and be brave.

Other links of interest:

A review and summary of David Ray Griffin's book by Edward Curtin, The Lies of 9/11 “Miracle Workers”. Bush and Cheney, How They Ruined America and the World.

My interview with David Ray Griffin, Bush and Cheney: How they Ruined America and the World.

My interview with Dr. Niels Harrit, The Science Behind the Destruction of the Three World Trade Center Towers on 9/11.

My interview with Frances Shure, Why Good People Become Silent (or Worse) About 9/11.