"Forgotten Years" - Midnight Oil
Wow, Krugman really turned it up to eleven today with a post entitled "Years of Shame" in which he characterizes "what happened after 9/11 . . . as deeply shameful." He doubles down, essentially repeating the same charge in his short post, just a paragraph later:
The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.
He then disables comments for pretty obvious, but I think incorrect, reasons. I think if you are going to use language this inflammatory on a day like today, you really should let people respond.
I'm torn by the post. On the one hand, I admire the sheer chutzpah of engaging in this kind of heretical statement on a day in which the rest of the media is engaged in what strikes me (on very casual viewing) as a grotesque manipulation of emotions in order to attract eyeballs. I would also concur that 9/11 was demagogued by people like Bush and Cheney to justify shameful acts -- acts committed in our name.
And yet, I can't quite endorse the sentiment. Yes, both the tragedy and heroism of that day have been hijacked by some for less than admirable ends. But they do not own the day -- unless, I suppose, we let them.
Mostly I wish that Krugman had written a more thoughtful piece if this was going to be his topic. I would imagine that even ten years after the fact the wounds remain quite raw for those who lost loved ones or were themselves injured on that day. A column like this can seem to trivialize their pain and their memories.
This strikes me as a post that was dashed off in haste and disgust. I think Krugman could have benefitted from approaching this with a cooler head -- it would have produced a more nuanced column or, perhaps, he might have refrained from posting it on this day.
What do you all think?
Update: Krugman wrote an additional post -- helpfully pointed out by nancy -- that spells out with greater specificity what he was getting at in his post yesterday. The new post contains this paragraph:
Now, I should have said that the American people behaved remarkably well in the weeks and months after 9/11: There was very little panic, and much more tolerance than one might have feared. Muslims weren’t lynched, and neither were dissenters, and that was something of which we can all be proud.
But the memory of how the atrocity was abused is and remains a painful one. And it’s a story that I, at least, can neither forget nor forgive.
All he really needed to do was take the time to add this additional detail (and spell check his post) and I would not have had a problem with it. The fact is that a large chunk of the American populace behaved admirably both during and after the tragedy. It was our political leadership and its media cheerleaders who failed us.
