Despite the best efforts of the collective media outlets and thousands of interest groups to make certain that no sentient creature could forget that ten years ago America was attacked by Muslim fundamentalists, there were those of us who chose not to be re-immersed in the ceremonies, speeches, and memories.
We are all too aware of the tremendous impact the event had on our economy, our government, and our perception of the world around us. The end results included am instantaneous inclusion into the way other nations deal with terrorism. Also included, serious concerns about the application of our laws and privileges under law, and how those apply to foreign nationals suspected of terrorist activity. Our elected leaders chose to return to barbaric means of interrogation and held that those suspects had no right to the protection of our laws.
We collectively became more anti-Muslim and our Muslim citizens have had their lives affected by the bigotry and stupidity of the poorly educated and uninformed who march under the GOP/teavangelist/anti-intellectual/anti-science flags. While we supposedly are seeing fewer church attendees, the Christian fundamentalists are firmly entrenched into the teavangelist wing of the GOP, which will give them a theocracy in exchange for their financial and voter support.
The standard answer to the question, “Why do Muslims hate us?” has become. “They hate us for our freedoms.” (So spoke G.W. Bush and Cheney) While they handed this answer out at every press conference they were doing everything in their power to diminish those freedoms. The GOP/teavangelists continue to attack those freedoms today.
In opposition to a minority populace of Muslims the teavangelists offer a gutted 1st Amendment with an obligatory Christian membership little different from the law of Afghanistan under their Taliban leaders. In fact, the Taliban are more honest in their nationalization of religion. We’re being handed an election in which it is likely one candidate will happily insist that all “true Americans” must either already be or must convert to Christianity.
Sounds unlike the America I grew up in. Well, not really. The fundamentalists were always there, burning books and records, measuring hemlines, banning anything that offends them under the guise of “morality.” They just never had the political power before. The unintended result of the 9-11 attacks has been to bring about our loss of freedom from religion and to unleash the American version of the Taliban. All it took was four airplanes, a few thousand lives, and a GOP/teavangelist alliance that should have never been allowed to exist. Thank you, teavangelists for sowing the seeds of our decline.
Outside our borders, the world still attends its daily functions. In the rise and fall of nations, they will watch our decline and understand why it is happening. We, largely, will not.
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