Duck Season

I didn't do any blogging on 9/11, because it was hard to put my feelings and emotions into words, and also because I was so absorbed into the words of others. By the end of the night, I was emotionally drained, so it was a welcomed sight when I came upon a link to the Onion's 9/11 issue at Winds of Change. The highlights were "On TV Tonight" and "A Shattered Nation Longs To Care About Stupid Bullshit Again". An excerpt from the second story:

Even as America's television networks slowly return to regular programming, the vital issues of our pre-Sept. 11 lives are relegated to the background.

"If Access Hollywood would just go back to blathering about Julia Roberts' surprise platinum-blonde makeover and Brad Pitt's new dog and a bunch of other crap that doesn't matter in the least, I'd know everything is right with my world," said Shelley Orr, a Stockton, CA, data-entry clerk. "Oh, my God, what's going on with the whole car-phone controversy? Are they going to ban them? I haven't even thought about it in weeks."

***

"The United States is a free country, a strong country, a prosperous country," Schuitt said. "Many veterans gave their lives so we would have the right to focus our attention and energies on the DVD release of Joe Dirt, the latest web-browsing cell phones, and how-low-can-you-go hip-hugging jeans. It is a sign of our collective strength as a nation that we genuinely give a shit about the latest developments in the Cruise-Cruz romance. When Mariah Carey's latest breakdown is once again treated as front-page news, that is the day the healing will have truly begun."

While Schuitt says he is optimistic that Americans will one day obsess over stupid bullshit like they used to, others are not so confident.

"This is a life-changing, society-altering catastrophe of the first magnitude, on par with a Pearl Harbor or Great Depression," said noted historian and author David Halberstam. "The sad truth is, this country may never go back to caring about pointless, inane trifles as we once did."

Where have you gone, J. Lo? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

Two years after that day, I'm happy to say that, indeed, we are back to caring about pointless, inane trifles again. While the war on terror is still the number one news story, it now has to compete for attention with the recall circus in California. We analyze how much tongue Madonna slipped to Britney as much as whether we should go to the UN. The biggest sports story this week was on what Ohio State would do with its star running back, who lied to the police about what's stolen from his car. And in the middle of posting about 9/11, the Corner gives us the breaking news that the J.Lo/Affleck wedding was off.

While some people, like Rachel, are unhappy about our focus on irrelevance, I think that it's a good sign. For one, it means that we're winning the war on terror. We rooted out the Taliban in Afghanistan, removed Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq, and have Osama bin Laden on the run. While we have been unable to capture either of them, neither will be a threat to us in the foreseeable future, if ever. More importantly, in the last two years, we have not had a coordinated terrorist attack on our soil. Americans are more concerned about the economy than with the possibility of an anthrax attack or terrorists flying planes at the Empire State Building.

Our obsession with the Britney/Madonna kiss and other frivolities also means that our lives have not change for the worse since 9/11. After 9/11, a popular saying was, "If ___, then the terrorists win." Usually, the blank would be filled with worries of how we would lose our liberties, or how we have to change our way of life. For most of us, our lives are just as ordinary as before. We go to the local mall without worrying about a suicide bomber. We invest in the stock market without worrying that the market will collapse after a terrorist attack. We watch football games without worrying that a plane will come crashing into the stadium. The terrorists are not winning, and for all complaints from the ACLU and others, we have not lost our liberties. No matter what they tell us, the G-Men won't be coming for any of us at night with handcuffs. And few of us are even worrying about that possibility; we're too busy guessing who'll be the next to get voted off the island.