September 11: Rememberance and Contemplations

Technorati tags: In Memoriam, September 11, Media, Terrorism, Obfuscation, Malaysia

In a few hour time, 5 years would have passed. The events, now infamously known as 9/11.

Walski remembers September 11, 2001 quite well, watching in disbelief as the second airplane (United Airlines flight 175) slammed into the South Tower of New York's World Trade Center, shown almost live, on CNN. Until the second plane hit, everyone thought that the first was an accidental collision.

Today, there are probably more questions than answers to who was really responsible for the events that have become a turning point in American history. A full minute-by-minute account has been documented on several websites. Among them:

► 911timeline.net
► Cooperative Research's Complete 911 Timeline
► Patriot's Day - September 11th
► The September 11 Digital Archive

While the "official" storyline still maintains that 9/11 was the act of Al-Qaeda, there are many Americans who now believe that they have been lied to by their own Government. One such body of compiled "evidence" can be found in a film documentary entitled Loose Change (1hr 22min, available for viewing at Google Video).

One of the more compelling documentaries on the purported
conspiracy behind 9/11. Click on the image above to view film at Google Video

If you have not watched the film, you should do so. While a lot of what's presented is circumstancial, the questions that it raises are quite real, and very compelling. And this is not the only example of the doubt that lingers.

For example, sometime last August, blogger Mahaguru58 posted about a former MI5 (British Secret Service) agent testifying that 9/11 was an inside job (the article referred can be found here). Simply Googling on the topic will lead you to plenty of information, both pro and against the conspiracy angle.

In any case, do you remember what you were doing when the news of 9/11 started to break?
(more thoughts, and a bonus music track, in the full post)

Walski had just gotten home from a very late day at the office, and at around 10pm (Malaysia time) was just flipping thru the Astro channels, and for some reason stopped at CNN. At that time, the fire on the North Tower was raging (the North Tower was the first to get hit by American Airlines flight 11).

The first thing Walski did was to try to call up a very dear friend living in Los Angeles. Although far away from New York, this friend does travel to the Big Apple every now and again. Fortunately, on September 11, 2001, Walski's friend was safe in LA. But the concern was about another friend, working in New York. As fate would have it, we found out that she was safe and sound.

For this, Walski is very thankful. And September 11 will always be a day where Walski thinks about friends and acquaintences far and near, and call them up for a short chat, if possible, just to make sure all is well with them.

In a broader sense, 9/11 is a day Muslims will remember as the day their religion became suspect for promoting terrorism and violence, although there were more than a few Muslims who rejoiced at the pain and suffering of 9/11 - Walski is happy to not that these did not represent the majority viewpoint of Muslims worldwide, but it was a side that was publicized in the media (or over-publicized, as some would say).

An emotional event like 9/11 brought out the best in most people, as evidenced by scenes of New York after the airplanes collided, and more so after the twin towers collapsed. But it also brought out the worst in some people. You may remember the random acts of violence in many parts of the US (and elsewhere) on some Muslims - even one Sikh in Texas who was gunned down, because the morons who shot him were ignorant bastards.

Having lived in the US for a number of years, two characteristics about the American people, rarely mentioned, became very apparent. One, is that the majority of Americans are totally insulated and isolated from what goes on outside their immediate lives (Walski's met people whom have never left their county ever in their lives, for example) - their view of the outside world is totally reliant on the media.

And Two, just like elsewhere, there are mostly good people, but also the not-so-good ones, who fortunately form the minority. And there are gullible people, too.

Take it from Walski, real Americans, in general, are nothing like the ones portrayed on TV or in the movies.

But because of their isolation and insulation, the Americans, in general can easily be deceived. Especially when the behemoth juggernaut of the press pounds on them incessantly, 24/7 on whose fault 9/11 was. And it was primarily on the platform of Iraq and 9/11 that Bust got re-elected, again with the help of the millions of dollars worth of spin that the Republicans bought for their campaign.

You can get away with lies and deceit for only so long, though. Americans are slowly starting to realize that they may have been victim of one of the biggest cases of mass obfuscation any American administration has been allegedly involved in. Joe Lieberman losing the Democrat senate nomination is proof of that - despite being a Democrat, he is one of those whom supported the Iraqi invasion.

And that war, is getting less, and less, popular with the American people. It may just be the reason the Republicans may not win the next Presidential elections. The American public may be slow to realize that they've been lied to all these years, but realize they do - eventually.

Walski found a song yesterday, via one of the sites listed above, that probably examplifies the feelings of betrayal of the citizens of the US - something you will never hear through the "official" or mainstream media. It's from 2002, not many months after 9/11.

What Would You Do? by Paris

Click ► to play
(Lyrics available here)

Walski has always maintained that any media outlet, be it print or electronic, will have its own bias. Examples are rife, even in our own country. When governments, or their staunch supporters, control the media, truth becomes obscured, particularly when it comes to reporting on the Government itself.

And especially in a more press-controlled country like Malaysia, any news (regardless of source) should be taken with at least a pinch of salt - Walski usually takes buckets of it. It's not difficult to see why many people, Walski included, are becoming more and more cynical as each day passes. We sometimes don't know whom to believe anymore. And pity the gullible fools who buy into what they hear too, too easily.

But consider this: What if it were true that 9/11 was nothing but a smoke-screen operation designed to deceive the American public, and the world at large, into blind and fervent support for the Bush Administration, its policies and actions?

If it were really true, then Walski would feel very sorry for the American people. But more than that, Walski would be afraid. Actually, make that very afraid.

Why? Because if such a deception could have been pulled off in the United States, supposedly "the land of the free", and much more transparent than many other nations, what of the lesser nations of the world?

What of Malaysia?