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 10 Years Later, It’s Time to ‘Broaden the Context’Posted on Sep 8, 2011By David Sirota Ten years ago this week, I, like many living in Washington at the time, was fleeing my office building. In those minutes of mayhem, I knew only what the police were screaming: Get out fast, because we’re being attacked by terrorists. In the years since 9/11, we’ve learned a lot about that awful day—and about ourselves. We’ve learned, for instance, about the attack’s mechanics—we know which particular terrorists orchestrated it and how many lives those mass murderers tragically destroyed. We also know about 9/11’s long-term legacy—we have health care data showing that it created a kind of mass post-traumatic stress disorder, and we have evidence that it generated a significant rise in anti-Muslim bigotry. And, of course, we’ve learned that our government can turn catastrophes like 9/11 into political weapons that successfully coerce America into supporting wars and relinquishing civil liberties. Yet, despite all of this new knowledge, we still don’t know how to explain 9/11 to the next generation. As the magazine Education Week reports, “Fewer than half the states explicitly identify the 9/11 attacks in their high school standards for social studies”—and the relatively few schools that do discuss 9/11 often spend just a few minutes on it. As a result, reports the magazine, “Many students today may have only vague notions of 9/11, since they were young or not even born when the attacks occurred.” Worse, those “vague notions” are often defined by America’s crude popular culture. Advertisement Clearly, many schools are afraid that 9/11 is too touchy a topic, and that no matter how educators might address it, they would inevitably face parental ire. To know that fear is legitimate is to imagine being a teacher trying to follow the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which asks Americans to “raise complex questions” and “broaden the context for understanding the 9/11 attacks.” Pursuing such a worthy goal in a classroom would mean informing kids about taboo truths. Children would have to be told, for instance, about how the U.S. government funded the Afghan mujahedeen, elements of which ultimately supported the group that orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. They would have to learn about how America’s meddling in the Islamic world (invasions, occupations, support for brutal dictators, etc.) has inspired what the CIA calls retributive “blowback” from terrorists. And kids would have to hear about how 9/11 was used as a justification by American politicians to invade Iraq and kill thousands of innocent Iraqis, even though that country had nothing to do with 9/11. No doubt, reciting these facts typically gets one vilified by saber-rattling ideologues who want 9/11 to serve only as a no-questions-asked rationale for more war and bigotry. And so schools, understandably—and unfortunately—avoid the topic, even though children need to know these facts to properly “broaden the context.” Thus, we arrive at the implicit challenge of this week’s 9/11 anniversary: to grow up. That means finally rejecting the culture of fear, demagoguery and intimidation and instead beginning a more mature dialogue about uncomfortable truths. A decade after the attacks, such a conversation is long overdue—but it cannot occur in our schools until it starts happening throughout all of American society. David Sirota is the best-selling author of the new book “Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live In Now.” He hosts the morning show on AM760 in Colorado. Email him at ds@davidsirota.com, follow him on Twitter @davidsirota or visit his website at www.davidsirota.com. © 2011 Creators.com  Previous item: Recognize That It's Over Next item: Texas Medicaid's Vast and Dangerous Wastefulness New and Improved CommentsWe are launching a major overhaul of our comments section. In addition to more robust spam filtering and moderation, new features include the ability to rate other comments, sort how they are displayed and respond directly via e-mail or in a thread. Unfortunately, commenters will lose their existing Truthdig identities. It's a pain, we know, but on the plus side you will now be able to log in with a plethora of options, including Google, Twitter, Facebook and Disqus accounts. Before launching this system we spent months in discussion with our top commenters. We listened to the feedback and we hope you like what we've come up with. Please direct any problems or concerns to us via our contact page. |
Say ‘Hi-Ho!’ as They Strip-Search You
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By scotttpot, September 17, 2011 at 2:32 am Link to this comment
I always thought it was absurd that Americans bought the illogical idea that
Report this“we have to get the people who did this’’ as regards 9/11.
The people “who did this’’ were the hijackers and they are dead.
Murder/Suicide
Case closed
The question never satisfactorily discussed was Why?
Read about Mohammad Atta ,the leader of the 9/11 hijackers and the question is
answered.The book ,‘Perfect Soldiers’, describes his grievances against the U.S.A.
The Answer is Palestine.
By DavidByron, September 13, 2011 at 7:59 am Link to this comment
No, we don’t.
“We’ve learned, for instance, about the attack’s mechanics—we know which particular terrorists orchestrated it and how many lives those mass murderers tragically destroyed”
And on the Anthrax attacks we don’t even have a single clue who did it. That ignorance also means we don’t know if it “terrorists” who did it, nor if it was “murder”, nor even that it was a tragedy.
Report thisBy John R., September 11, 2011 at 9:38 am Link to this comment
The overwhelming majority of our U.S. population is trapped. Trapped in the world of consumerism, the endless corporation ads to buy the next product, a material brainwashing that begins well before the toddler age.
How do we break that cycle that feeds the corporate agenda?
That damn T.V.
The big distractor. The little box that fed us B&W news and commercials has now
grown large and in color, (3D), and big enough to be labeled by those that are in
the know; “The elephant in the room”
You can absolutely expect generations after us to willingly sit in front of that
brainwashing screen and its tireless 24 hour, conditioning mechanism.
Just the press of a button, and the screen lights up in its pretty colors, its urgency
to be paid attention to. “Its all happening right now on this screen!” Resistance is
futile.
And we casually sit down, maybe tired from a rough day at work, in a small
moment of indecision of what to do with the remainder of the day, we press that
‘power’ button. And then, the flipping of channels begins… in search of?
We’ve all done that. I am guilty of letting the brainwasher, the great consumer programmer, distract and cloak the truth from me. I blame myself and only myself for that happening.
Then, on a day of frustration, on a day of reading Wikileaks’ facts, I suggested to my wife “Why don’t we disconnect the cable T.V.?”
I went on to explain how much we could save each year. And that worked. It’s now been three months. I find my brain clearing of the endless ads and propaganda spewed out by corporate owned media news stations.
I felt at first, before I disconnected the T.V., that I could do this, in my mind, I
could control and separate, and compartmentalize without pulling the plug.
But I was wrong.
Because I found myself always flipping the channels looking for a news story that
was not a pro multi-national corporate agenda news story. And it is very hard to
do, when there are so few voices on the T.V. that will point out corporation crimes.
And then… in my search, I would be stopped, if only momentarily, by some
beautiful woman delivering a film performance, it would be just enough, just
enough to distract my attention from my search and get me to watch her. And in
turn… the product commercial that came on moments later.
This of course is not news to you. I’m only stating this because it used to happen
to me. There is a large barrel, pointed at your brain, that is on the other side of
that screen, and it is very well disguised.
That T.V. screen is the weapon of the corporations. It is the ultimate brainwasher.
Want, buy, discard, repeat. Ignore that war against your fellow human on the other
side of the world -
that human is not a consumer
- therefore, not an essential human.
Report thisBy Anarcissie, September 10, 2011 at 9:27 pm Link to this comment
Confrontational tactics like abuse and ridicule do lead to conflict, however.
Now ask yourself who conflict among leftists benefits.
When you’ve answered that question you may get an idea what—or who—motivates the confrontational tactics.
Report thisBy bd6951, September 10, 2011 at 6:05 pm Link to this comment
Here we go again. The other day Truthdig’s editor Robert Sheer posted an essay assuring us of the validity of the official account of the destruction of the 3 WTC buildings. Now it’s apparently Siorta’s turn (and I usually agree with Siorta’s positions). This is getting tiresome attempting to explain all that is wrong with the official account. Just watch the 9/11 Toronto hearings (they began Thursday and conclude tomorrow) if the truth is what is being sought. I am beginning to think Truthdig is yet another mouthpiece of the plutocracy.
Report thisBy Anarcissie, September 10, 2011 at 5:38 pm Link to this comment
Too late now. That’s like telling the government of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918 that it was time to get over the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and move on. Where are they going to move to?
Report thisBy diamond, September 10, 2011 at 2:47 pm Link to this comment
Yes, it’s a parallel universe and David Sirota is living in it every single day. Do you believe the science and your own eyes or do you believe the Bush administration - notorious liars and criminals from way back? Tough, tough decision but I don’t believe a word the “c” student and the pulseless zombie known as Dick Cheney have uttered about 9/11 or the so called War On Terror and I have nothing but contempt for their shills in the mainstream media, still lying their heads off ten years after the fact. If Dick Cheney told me it was raining I would have to open the window and check.
Report thisBy blogdog, September 10, 2011 at 10:26 am Link to this comment
RE: The invasions, the fear of arabs, the torture, the history, and so on, are all
worthy topics on which to have a “mature dialogue”.
agreed, but it was all launched in ernest by the 9/11 myth - lynchpin to the global
war of terror, based on Huntington’s racist thesis, ‘the clash of civilizations’ and
clearly laid out in PNAC’s ‘Project for a New Amreican Century’
in all this, the history of false flag terrorism and it’s continued utility is essential -
Report thisextensive details here - http://www.2012theawakening.com/?cat=43
By Fred LaMotte, September 10, 2011 at 3:01 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Actually, ten years later, its time to get over it and over it and move on.
Report thisBy JMD, September 9, 2011 at 9:01 pm Link to this comment
David Sirota: 9/09/2011
Report thisThe truth and a lie run together on the same
concourse.They know that time is on their side,if
they remain hidden and move quickly.The bucko
conductor on the concourse that is protecting them is
cunning and vociferous.His ranting can be heard,“We
are above the law!”
“Its Time to Broaden the Context,“it is now,too
late.A decade of obfuscating the truth is tantamount
to keeping someone malnourished and dehydrated.The
interest may still be there,but the strength has been
weakened and diminished considerably.
Teachers remain in their strait-jackets avoiding
any vacillation on the subject.Better to be safe than
educated. “Teach your children” (song) C.S.N.Y.
“Does anybody REALLY know what time it is?”(song)
Thanking you for this opportunity to comment-
James M. de Laurier
By Hilary Mansfield, September 9, 2011 at 1:39 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
“We’ve learned, for instance, about the attack’s mechanics—we know which particular terrorists orchestrated it and how many lives those mass murderers tragically destroyed.”
So even truthdig.com and David Sirota are going to limit the discussion in this manner? The absurd official story of what supposedly happened on 9/11/01 must be the starting point of any discussion?
The people who are skeptical about the official story of 9/1/01 tend to be those who—regardless of their underlying political beliefs and predilections—have closely researched the actual facts and data. One becomes increasingly skeptical to the extent that one studies it. There are so many holes, implausibilities and impossibilities in the tall tale that one is slowly and inexorably forced to the conclusion that it is absurd.
And once you conclude that the official story is absurd, a whole new set of questions is raised—the real questions that we should be considering on this memorial, I would suggest.
See the following article as a starting point if you are interested:
http://tvnewslies.org/tvnl/index.php/911-facts/48/20581-you-only-believe-the-official-911-story-because-you-dont-know-the-official-911-story-.html
Report thisBy prisnersdilema, September 9, 2011 at 1:23 pm Link to this comment
Chomsky, Julian Assange, Bradley Manning = Emmanuel Goldstein…each one vying for our daily 10 of hate…
Report thisBy MeHere, September 9, 2011 at 10:40 am Link to this comment
Good article by D, Sirota.
Report thisBy gerard, September 9, 2011 at 9:12 am Link to this comment
P.S. Look at the Republican line-up of presidential candidates, and the reluctance of elected Democrats to initiate anything “progressive” if you want further evidence of refusal to come to grips with reality.
Heads up, people! Chest out! Take a deep breath!
Ten years have passed and we still don’t know what happened, do we, Mr. Jones?
At first, ignorance is bliss. Then it becomes “interesting”. After that, boring. And
Report thisin the end, disgusting.
By EmileZ, September 9, 2011 at 9:05 am Link to this comment
@ gerard
I thought the citizens were supposed to take leadership in guiding their government.
Report thisBy gerard, September 9, 2011 at 9:00 am Link to this comment
Big problem: The Government, which is supposed to take leadership in guiding its citizens, still persists in propagating the old myths, leaving the people, many of whom actually prefer mytholoogies, to propagate the same “exceptionalist” beliefs.
That’s why people like Chomsky—yes, and Julian Assange and Bradley Manning—are so vitally important. They are trying to save us from our
Report thisself-delusioins. The fact that you can count them on the fingers of one hand, and that intentional efforts to discredit them are constantly being made, indicate that maybe—just maybe—their diagnosis is accurate, and we are our own worst enemies after all.
By SoTexGuy, September 9, 2011 at 8:32 am Link to this comment
How to explain it? Easy!
Have them watch Fahrenheit 9/11
Adios!
Report thisBy prisnersdilema, September 9, 2011 at 7:57 am Link to this comment
Life in America, has become a carefully crafted delusion. When your world revolves around delusions, then of course when reality intrudes, it is dificult to know how to think about it, or feel about it.
911 was reality intruding into the lives of all of us. Like your call to 911 when you unexpectadly find your wife, in the bath tub her wrists slit vertically, dripping into water already blood red.
It was an emergency call from the Arab world to America.
She must have gone upstairs, while you and the children were watching T.V., and carefully planned her death.
If you hadn’t gone upstairs during the comercial, to get some kleenex, then, she wouldn’t be coming back from the hospital.
911 was an intervention, a break from our psychosis, it was the world letting us know that America is not what it’s citizens believe it to be. It’s not what we’ve been trained to think, by the elite.
It was like, something auful happening, something you never expected to happen in a million years, to people who were supposed to go on living in a beautiful fantasy of life, forever.
So we can go back to mouthing all those great sounding slogans, we’ve all been taught since kindergarten, back to our fantasy lives, living through others, on T.V., the movies.
Yet how we answer that call, either to try to make our delusions work again, or deciding to face the facts of our lives, and our country, no matter how unpleasant they are, will determine our fate.
Report thisBy Morri Creech, September 9, 2011 at 7:04 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Generally speaking, the U.S. as a culture seems afraid of history. For one, history tends to interfere with the national myths we have created for ourselves. It is also inconvenient to contemplate how short our history has been because it doesn’t assure us of our continued world importance. This fear also explains many Americans’ preference for religious, as opposed to scientific, truth: if the factual narrative contrasts with the mythic one, the former must be jettisoned in all cases. How, then, do we teach a history that does not consistently reinforce our national “self esteem?” Perhaps if we identified ourselves more strongly as independent individuals living together in a democratic society, instead of clinging to a “national” identity, we would be less bothered about where we have been and what we have done, and less inclined to claim the glories of the past as our own.
Report thisBy EmileZ, September 9, 2011 at 4:27 am Link to this comment
@ WarrenMetzler
I think the architects and engineers for 9/11 truth are on the right track as well.
However, I am not so sure that it helps the 9/11 truth movement to attack people and dismiss their otherwise relevant observations or to ridicule them.
The confrontational tone combined with the hard line absolutism so many understandably passionate 9/11 “truthers” seem to take, I believe, discourages others from even discussing the matter.
It’s all very strange and disturbing.
It is possible that many people just don’t find debunking or pointing out obvious defects in the official narrative about the attacks themselves to be the best tactical approach to discussing 9/11 and focus instead on other aspects. The invasions, the fear of arabs, the torture, the history, and so on, are all worthy topics on which to have a “mature dialogue”.
Were it not for people like Noam Chomsky and others, who do not dispute the official story about “attacks” themselves, I would be so much more ignorant and understand so much less.
I think David Sirota made some good points.
Report thisBy Big B, September 9, 2011 at 3:40 am Link to this comment
Our schools don’t even teach Vietnam, what are the odds that they would do 911 as well?
Report thisBy Billy Pilgrim, September 9, 2011 at 3:20 am Link to this comment
The amount of ignorance of history prevalent on our
Report thissociety is nothing more than a reflection of our
general ignorance about everything. If most Americans
believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible, how
can they be educated about anything?
By WarrenMetzler, September 9, 2011 at 12:54 am Link to this comment
If there ever was a reason why reasonable people treat David Sirota as irrelevant
Report thisthis is it, “We’ve learned, for instance, about the attack’s mechanics—we know
which particular terrorists orchestrated it and how many lives those mass
murderers tragically destroyed.” None of this is true. The idea that Al Queda
people did 911 is about as reasonable as there is a man in the moon. Just one fact
for your consideration. Never in the history of skyscrapers has one collapsed from
a fire, plus the collapse was exactly like a controlled demolition. Check out
architects and engineers for 9/11 truth.