Pardon the interruption from lowbrow sports coverage, but I want to close the day by taking a little break from our daily idiocy to recognize the 3000 innocent people who were killed seven years ago, all because some dark souls hate and fear America.
I’ve written about this before at much greater length, so I won’t prattle on about patriotism and service and all that. But I think it’s important to periodically run our fingers over our scars, to remember the events that made us what we are.
When your television shows those names getting read at Ground Zero, don’t change the channel. Don’t roll your eyes and ask why they’re doing it again this year. Go ahead and sit through a little bit of it. Weigh what those names mean, the sheer volume of them, how many lives each one touched. Think about what the orphaned children looked like seven years ago. And keep in mind that this event led to a war that’s now taken a thousand more American lives than 9/11.
If you’ve ever wondered why I’m so dismissive of people who take their sports teams too seriously, this is it. There are much bigger things that deserve our attention, our passion, and our anger.
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Well said, Captain.
Amen brother. (And I am not even religious).
I’d give some generic military sound of affirmation, put us Airmen don’t have one. So I’ll just say thanks.
Amen… Lest we never forget.
OOORAH Sir!
preach!
I read your site all the time, but have never posted before. But I have to just post a comment to say thanks for this post. You could not have hit the nail more on the head in so many ways, and you should be commended for it.
It is tragic how many people, both inside and outsite the world of sports, laser focus in on events on the field without grasping the larger picture, which is just sad.
I have always loved your site, and will continue to. But I now have the utmost respect for you as well. Thank you for that, and for all you do.
Eric
Proud American Who Will Never Forget
The only other time I remember Ufford posting about something 9/11 related was when he wrote about Pat Tillman, and he nailed it then, too. Kudos, chief.
I was reading a Richard Roeper column today and he made a intersting point, that in a year or 2 college freshman are not even going to remember 9/11 at all. It is just going to be history to them because they were to young to know what was going on that day. Time just flys on bye.
There are much bigger things that deserve our attention, our passion, and our anger.
WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY ABOUT THE REDSKINS?!
Nice, Ufford.
Amen – you did good – very respectful!!!
Good job and thanks Matt.
still waiting for that book.
Yeah, and where’s that $50 you owe me?
Well said.
“all because some dark souls hate and fear America”
This is not true Ufford. I have a degree in History and teach. There is much more to this story and people need to know about that too.
“Saudi Arabia is home to some of Islam’s holiest sites and the deployment of US forces there was seen as a historic betrayal by many Islamists, notably Osama Bin Laden.
Bin Laden used American presence to justify anti-US attacks
It is one of the main reasons given by the Saudi-born dissident – blamed by Washington for the 11 September attacks” [news.bbc.co.uk]
Nicely done, Matt…and happy 30th! (I saw the KSK post)
Well done, amigo.
For all that was lost, not just in the form of 3000 odd lives at GZ and the Pentagon, my mind wanders to a smoldering hole in the ground in the grasslands of Pennsylvannia. Where the fight was first taken to our nation’s enemys by ordinary people who knew the score, knew the chances, but fought back regardless.
@ Swany, yeah, but that’s a simplification as well. Go back to the barbary coast and the shores of Tripoli, go back to the first sacking Jerusalem by the crusaders, the burning of Venice, etc, etc. There is 1400 years of hate fear and violence between “us and them” and it will perpetuate as long as “my God is better then your God.”
Good job Ufford and Swanychitown. Lets never forget but lets also never stop learning from the mistakes that led to that tragedy. We live in an increasingly complicated world. While the easiest answer may seem to simplify our problems, it’s not usually the best choice.
Ufford writes a serious post? Swanychitown is an educator? Welcome to a very special episode of Hooker Murder Joke Central.
Yeah and don’t forget the 700 000 plus Iraqis who died as a result of the war you fucking morons. What’s 3000 verus 700 000??? NOT A GODDAMN THING!!! Fucking clown shoes I tell ya.
Good post. Let us not forget everything that we’ve lost or had taken from us in those moments, those hours, those days, those years.
LETS ROLL! NEVER FORGET!
Freakin’ awesome post. Thanks.
Well said Matt. The feelings shared by my fellow readers only compounds my pride for; and reinforces my belief in the resilience of Americans. We shall not forget.
@ Diremutt
Are we fighting a Crusade? I sure as hell hope not.
Arguing Us and Them is hypocritical because we are supposed to be the most tolerant nation , first amendment (freedom of religion), in the world and nothing stands for that less that us vs. them. We are our brother’s keeper and we are all brothers and sisters…
(and dead skanks in the trunk of my jetta. oh shit.)
And again, I tip my hat to Matt as he is a great writer and American. He wakes people up and in my mind that is greatly needed in this country and he makes it funny along the way. Mucho Gusto.
FUCKING RACK!
Excellent post.
“Think about what the orphaned children looked like seven years ago.”
Floored.
I meant that sentence floored me. Ambiguity sucks. Great post.
I agree with this post. I also like to take some time out to reflect on the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. Yet, our country doesn’t really seem to care much about a terrorist attack that happened in the Midwest.
Those victims go unnoticed because they had the audacity of not dying in New York.
I don’t agree with this post, in fact…fuck all you guys. It will happen again to someone else, then they will raise the flag and attack back. And so forth and so on.
You take time to commemorate the 3000 innocent souls of 911? What about your fucking soldiers who are currently dying for nothing? How many of them have died…over 3000.
I’m not trying to be a prick but perspective is everything.
Plant your cross on that.
bonercat- you are in fact a prick. Go fuck yourself.
Nice post Matt.
Great post Uff…I was in NYC 4 weeks ago and made it a point to go to GZ in the pouring rain to pay my respects.
Great post Matt and thanks.
Well done Matt.
And let me say that as a resident of the Chicago area, it speaks volumes about our school system that swany is an educator. Christ on a cracker.
@bonercat – why dont you go down to your local airport and tell the next service personnel you see getting off a plane that they are fighting for nothing? I would be interested in knowing how long it takes them to kick the everliving dogshit out of you.
Just because you are too stupid to know why they are there doesnt mean they are. now feel free to go back to your tv so that you can keep believing everything CNN tells you.
For those in the dissent: Yes, some things were simplified above. It is, after all, a blog post. Yes, American policy created much of the ill will that led to the attacks. Yes, the Iraq war is obviously not being fought against Al Qaeda.
It was simply meant for us to take a few moments to remember people who didn’t deserve to die. That generally doesn’t deserve a “Fuck you,” Mr. Bonercat.
HOW DARE YOU MATTHEW UFFORD!!!!!!!!!! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU.
Sorry to be late to this particular party. Here’s my two cents, now that everyone else has moved on…while the Iraq War was/is a foreign policy abortion, the fact is what happened 7 years ago was the most scarring event ever for us Americans born after Pearl Harbor. That day was surreal and frightening, and that was the perspective of what we West Coasters only saw on TV. Good God, I can’t imagine what it was like in Manhattan. So anyway, since we have the freedom to make rape/dick/dick-rape jokes daily, it’s important to (like Matt eloquently said) just take a minute to reflect on just what that day was like, and what was lost, both big and small.
@King Jeremy the Wicked- That shit about service personnel proves nothing other than the fact the you freaks are paranoid and freedom of speech doesn’t exist in the USA. Meaning you aren’t free, just delusional. Hey let’s free Iraq everybody.
Fix your own country first dipshits.
3000 US civilians dead VS. 700 000 Iraqis civilians dead. Who do you really think is hurting more right now?
thegreatgorillaman:
If you are just going to make up a number of Iraqi civilians killed, why don’t you make it higher. Personally when I’m arguing, I like to say 5 million Iraqis dead — doesn’t that sound much worse?
@gorilla, no what it proves is that there are a lot of people out there who dont know the first thing about the world around them. You can say whatever you want. I just dare you to go say something that stupid to the people over there making the sacrifice. Funny how the ones that I have talked to have a great belief in what they doing, yet you never see them on the news, just the ones that are too big of cowards to go protect a way of life.
Yeah, that 700,000 count is bullshit. He’s going off of the Lancet numbers, which pretty much every single sensible person knows are bullshit. They conflict with almost every single other casualty estimate published to date.
I’d just like to reiterate MY appreciation for Matt’s posts and yes, I understand the main focus of the piece. I wasn’t trying to slight in any way your beliefs or denigrate your service to our great country. Misinformation kills though and I am an advocate for the WHOLE truth. Find out for yourselves, that’s why I left my resource, I could post a thousand more sites with a credible backing of my view, but we need to stop being lazy and find out our own truths. I agree that BONERCAT will definitely NOT do this, and that he should go fuck himself. G’Day all.
@hhy
Glad I terrified you! Christ in fact fits on to a cracker! Ritz, actually.
I was being conservative with the 700 000 number you dickbags. It’s probably a lot higher than that. But let’s say it isn’t. So then 150 000 is better? No matter what you dickbags say, the point is your stupid country has killed hundreds of thousands of people all for 3000 people. You suck and the it’s not just a few souls who hate and fear you. THE WHOLE WORLD HATES AND FEARS YOU!
And the 150 000 number is from the World Health Organization. And that’s the low end of their estimate…
And nobody is threatening your way of life you cunt rag. NOBODY. You people are so fucking paranoid.
You’re an angry little fella aren’t cha?
…AND remember that part where Iraq had nothing to do with September 11th…
Angry? Besides the tragedy of all of this, can you even guess how much entertainment the US fucking up the world had brought to the rest of us. I don’t know what we’d talk about if you guys weren’t so retarded? Oh right Britney Spears. Never mind.
Says the angry little fella from………… ?
Ireland.
Ok, G’night then Laddy. Ya dumbass.
Jesus fuck. Someone get that guy a sedative!