BuzzMachine... by Jeff Jarvis

September 07, 2004

Falling

: There is one image of September 11th that I have said I could not and would not talk about:retrospect 7.5 crack

The falling. retrospect 7.5 crack

The image is too awful to recall, too painful to relate, even now, three years later. Instead, I remember the sounds: the sudden and horrifying realization of what we were witnessing heard through the airless, paralyzed gasps all around; the terrible sound that punctuated each life; the stifled, staccato screams then. retrospect 7.5 crack

The falling is the worst of it for me. retrospect 7.5 crack

Perhaps that's because I have always had a crippling fear of falling. I can't watch a movie or so much as hear a story about heights and edges without being overcome by involuntary cause and effect: palms drenched, heart crazed, adrenalin abundant, nerves arcing. We all fear our own worst death. Mine has always been falling. retrospect 7.5 crack

And so you see, the worst thing about that day is not what happened to me, but what didn't happen to me, what happened to so many so close that could have so easily happened to me. But it didn't. retrospect 7.5 crack

They fell, God rest their souls. I did not. retrospect 7.5 crack

And ever since that day, I have lived in a limbo. I realize now that it has felt as if I have been falling all this time. I'm a third of the way down the giant tower. I can't scream. All I can hear is the woosh of wind and jets and fire and speed; that sound is deafening and blocks out every other sense. And yet I'm not really moving. I'm paralyzed. Just falling.retrospect 7.5 crack

The fall never ends.retrospect 7.5 crack

Another year comes and I take stock and that doesn't take long, for I haven't moved and sometimes I fear we have not, either. My own stock-taking is my business and I'll not bore or burden you with it; you shouldn't care, frankly. But our stock-taking as a nation and as a civilized half of the world is troubling this year, for we are fighting with each other, not with our enemy. retrospect 7.5 crack

And that enemy has only dug down to new depths of atrocity: from jets filled with innocents killing innocents, down to children strapped up as bombs, down to bombs in backpacks on trains, down to beheadings on video, down to schoolchildren captured and killed. They fall deeper and deeper into hell. retrospect 7.5 crack

And we just yell at each other: left v. right, Kerry v. Bush, Swift v. Kerry, Moore v. Bush, France v. America, America v. France, Iraqi v. Iraqi, damned near everybody v. Israel.... We fight all the wrong fights and wrong enemies and meanwhile let our real enemies invent new evil and drag us down with them. retrospect 7.5 crack

We're all falling.retrospect 7.5 crack

You'd think by now that I'd start to be feeling better, that we all would. Time heals, no? retrospect 7.5 crack

No. Time hides. retrospect 7.5 crack

Just look at the scabs of Vietnam: Scrape them today and they ooze and hurt. Amazingly, even Zell Miller's accent at the RNC brought out a few pokes to the scars of the Civil War. Hell, let's not stop there: All this we're fighting about traces back to the Crusades and the odd old war in the allegedly Holy Land and, sure, Cain and Abel, while we're at it. retrospect 7.5 crack

You'd think by now we'd be learning. But we're forgetting. retrospect 7.5 crack

We're forgetting the horror and anger and resolve of that day. How could we?retrospect 7.5 crack

Oh, but I forget, too. Last weekend, I shuddered when I realized that this coming Saturday was the anniversary already. It used to be -- right here in this weblog -- that I counted the days, then weeks, then months, yet now I'm losing track of the years. retrospect 7.5 crack

And that is why I will return to the scene on Saturday. I didn't even have to tell my wife that I would; she already knew it. retrospect 7.5 crack

I have to go back to remember so I can begin to forget, so I can snap out of this and end the paralysis and accomplish something real and decent again: So I can stop the fall. retrospect 7.5 crack

I wish we would all go back to remember this Saturday, so we can forget the foul temper we are in as a nation and remember instead who our enemy is -- and who his enemy is -- and what our duty to our children must be.retrospect 7.5 crack

Because the image I truly fear is not the image of what I saw that day but the image of what has yet to happen if we continue to fight among ourselves, if we continue to fall.retrospect 7.5 crack

LINK | Comments (45)

Results vs. attention

: Om Malik sent email to a few of us with a link from a self-described anarchist telling the tale of her arrest in New York during the RNC. Anil Dash replied to the group with this so-true sentiment:

I dunno, maybe it’s because she’s only 18, but there seemed to be a lot of whininess. (“Did you know anarchists are among the most peaceful political groups?”) The part that frustrates me is all these kids that were marching around in the streets could have sent $50 each to fund door-to-door canvassers in swing states and then stayed home and played video games and would have had more impact.

Yes. As I keep contemplating the changing nature of protest in this new age, that's a great scale by which to judge the means: Did you accomplish something or did you just get attention and something to blog about?retrospect 7.5 crack

: To expand and clarify, here's what Anil added in the comments:

I should be clear: I sympathize with this young woman, and hell, I probably agree with most of her political positions. But her writing about the peanut butter sandwiches in the holding center being lousy just seems... farcical. It's not helping her achieve her political goals.retrospect 7.5 crack
Protest can, and frequently does have a point. My great-grandfather was intimately involved in Gandhi's protest marches, and the work he and his compatriots did changed the world. So I'm not arguing that nobody should protest ever. I'm saying that people who are passionate and young and enthusiastic about issues should pursue courses of action that help effect the change they'd like to see in the world.retrospect 7.5 crack
I don't feel that was the case in these circumstances. No minds were changed, no policy was modified, and no dialogue was established.

: UPDATE: I saw a local TV report tonight on the arrested whining about being held in a dirty pier. retrospect 7.5 crack

Would they have preferred a night on Riker's Island?retrospect 7.5 crack

LINK | Comments (17)

Indecent?

: God and NOW should be suiting the FCC for saying that a nipple is indecent. retrospect 7.5 crack

For God's sake, God might say, God made the nipple. What's so damned indecent about it.retrospect 7.5 crack

And NOW should say that it's indecent to call a woman's nipple indecent and not a man's (unless it appears yearning to be free under an Olympic costume, like a male swimmer's butt crack, which looks indecent to me but apparently isn't). retrospect 7.5 crack

Indecent, indeed. It's the FCC and its nanny attitude and waste of our resources and assault on the First Amendment that's indecent. retrospect 7.5 crack

There's nothing indecent about a nipple, even Janet Jackson's. retrospect 7.5 crack

LINK | Comments (9)

The (not quite) Daily Stern

: The FCC is getting ready to fine CBS $550,000 for Janet Jackson's nipple.retrospect 7.5 crack

Shouldn't they feel just a little embarrassed, grown men sitting there tsk-tsking a nipple with the full force of government. Infantile. retrospect 7.5 crack

Says the Washington Post:

"We would be extremely disappointed," CBS said in a statement issued last night. "While we regret that the incident occurred, and have apologized to our viewers, we continue to believe that nothing in the Super Bowl broadcast violated indecency laws. retrospect 7.5 crack
"We would obviously review all of our options to respond to the ruling and we continue to call on the FCC to address serious issues raised by the more than 30 industry participants who challenged the FCC's sweeping new indecency policy," the statement said.

retrospect 7.5 crack

LINK | Comments (17)