9-11 Retrospective

Sometimes it is useful to read how others in the world views what happened to us on 9-11 - this is one European's view;

"Very few people deny the positive role the U.S. played in preventing a 3rd World War, but its role of ‘dishonest broker’ in the Middle East left a 40-year scar that has made accommodation between Palestinians and Israelis almost impossible.

But I personally believe the problem goes much deeper than the trouble spots in which America has been involved: The crux of the problem is the extraordinary myth of ‘American Greatness’ with which the nation’s schoolchildren are bombarded and brainwashed day and night. They grow up singing the national anthem at every minor event, and in suburbia they walk along streets dotted with Stars and Stripes. (Britain also made huge sacrifices during WWII, but in 20 years of living in England I never once saw a Union Jack displayed on a private plot of land). Europeans (not just the Germans) despise overt displays of nationalism on a daily basis, because they know how dangerous the effect can be.

The 9/11 ceremonies will be an excuse for more flag-waving and the chance for Presidential aspirant Giuliani to relive his finest hour and garner a few more votes. Instead of a quiet, private, dignified affair we will be treated to a tasteless exhibition of U.S. flag-waving, trumpet-blowing and kitsch ceremonies — the perfect backdrop for Senator Lieberman to renew calls for the immediate bombing of Iran.

Then there is the myth of “the land of equal opportunity”, which is no longer applicable as the wealth gap has become a chasm and a sense of social ‘fairness’ seems to have all but disappeared from the U.S. social landscape. And where America once willingly assumed the burdens of others, now it refuses to assume responsibility even for its own actions or to acknowledge its own glaring mistakes.

In summary, America is suffocating under the weight of its own self-esteem, unable to come to terms with a genuine New World Order in which it has to consider the views of other nations, especially those on which it depends for access to their natural resources, like oil. America will not be in a position to regain its former glory until it discards the self-delusion of ‘greatness’ that has encouraged it to ride slipshod over the rest of the world.

I always say that Germans have become a great and responsible nation, not by thumping their chests but by climbing a Wall of Pessimism in everything they do. Americans need to practice less chest-thumping and more introspection, less preaching and more listening."