"Never Forget"

I keep seeing the same old stream of "Never Forget" images on Facebook year after year, and it ALWAYS troubles me; what person who knows about what happened on 9/11/2001, whether they witnessed it in person, saw it on TV, or read about it in the paper, could possibly forget? Are our memories really that poor? Even if they were, it'll be plastered all over the media anyway.

I understand the sentiment of honoring those who died and I agree with it, but why are we constantly reminding each other to never forget? Are we afraid of some sort of mass synchronized global amnesia? Or is it more likely that these are subliminal keywords ingrained in the American psyche in order to dredge up all the feelings of trauma and helplessness all over again in order to drum up support for yet another bullshit military-intervention-du-jour?

Really ask yourself, what exactly it is that we should "Never Forget", and whom is making this absurd demand? I'll tell you what I'll never forget, all the holes in the official story, the complete lack of any investigation before all the evidence had already been disposed of, the complete lack of plane debris at either the ground crash site OR the Pentagon, and how the entire spectacle was eagerly used as pretense for endless wars in the middle-east. I'll never forget that NORAD was on stand-down the whole time due to a "practice drill" meant to simulate exactly the events that occurred, yet the government declared no one could have possibly anticipated such a method of attack.

I'll never forget that it happened exactly one year to the day after the PNAC document "Rebuilding America's Defenses" called for a "new Pearl Harbor", and that of the many people involved with PNAC as signatories to their statement of principles the list included Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Donald Rumsfeld. And I sure as hell will never forget that upon becoming president, Barack Obama declined to investigate the wrongdoings of the previous administration.

No one who ever lived through that day will ever forget the story, but how many people out there still have the balls to remember the story behind the story?

For the most part, I would have to agree with the general, mmm, questionable activity surrounding this day in history. It's all a little weird. But like most huge national events, there are always questions, always those who doubt the facts.

I will not claim to know what exactly happened on 9/11. I know what I've heard, what the media showed, and what I saw on video that day. I don't know much of anything because I wasn't there. But I feel that the explanation, that terrorists planned and executed a plan to destroy the World Trade Center, seems more likely than some grand conspiracy to have an excuse for the US to start another war in the middle east.

Streen wrote: For the most part, I would have to agree with the general, mmm, questionable activity surrounding this day in history. It's all a little weird. But like most huge national events, there are always questions, always those who doubt the facts.

I don't doubt the facts, the facts are that a lot of people died when two planes flew into two buildings. Those are literally the bare minimum that can be agreed upon as fact, because for those who have done sufficient research, almost everything else involved in the official story stinks to high heaven.

Granted

Sorry, I'm just on edge this morning. I slept poorly, and had nightmares. 14 years later I still have PTSD and I only watched the thing on television. It's the day that never goes away, and I'm having difficulty pulling out of anxiety mode.

CryojenX wrote: ...Are our memories really that poor? Even if they were, it'll be plastered all over the media anyway.

I understand the sentiment of honoring those who died and I agree with it, but why are we constantly reminding each other to never forget? Are we afraid of some sort of mass synchronized global amnesia?

Well...yeah...

Think about how the society (or at least a majority of westernized society) works today. Everything is "whats going to pop up next on my Twitter feed?" People literally crash and burn because we're strapped to our phones searching for updates and sneak peeks. I think using those very same platforms to remind us of something that monumental in the past is actually a better use of it.

People may not actually forget it, but they may overlook it and something like that should most certainly not be overlooked. The very things that you spoke about are a great example of why we shouldn't forget. Everyone remembers watching the towers fall, but how many people remember the behind the scenes stuff? I didn't. Granted, I was 11 when it happened and didn't know to look for that kind of stuff. But that's exactly my point. Being reminded might cause others to look at things like that also.

I never look at those posts as meaning a literal concept that people will forget. Instead I look at them as a call to awareness and understanding. I treat it a lot like the modern version of "REMEMBER THE ALAMO!"

Goken wrote: Think about how the society (or at least a majority of westernized society) works today. Everything is "whats going to pop up next on my Twitter feed?" People literally crash and burn because we're strapped to our phones searching for updates and sneak peeks. I think using those very same platforms to remind us of something that monumental in the past is actually a better use of it.

People may not actually forget it, but they may overlook it and something like that should most certainly not be overlooked. The very things that you spoke about are a great example of why we shouldn't forget. Everyone remembers watching the towers fall, but how many people remember the behind the scenes stuff? I didn't. Granted, I was 11 when it happened and didn't know to look for that kind of stuff. But that's exactly my point. Being reminded might cause others to look at things like that also.

Well see, that's part of my gripe. We see images and hash tags parroting the same two words: "Never Forget"; they are words that mean nothing and everything. They're a Rorschach test and can be used to manipulate ones emotions. If I see "Never forget those who died", I'm down with that, but I'm not even sure the majority of people hashtagging or sharing meme images even really know for themselves what they're trying to call attention to. I get the distinct impression that for many people, "Never Forget" is a sort of call to nationalistic righteous indignation.

Too many people are taking the single most well known and yet simultaneously ignored happening in recent American history and attempting to boil it down to a bumper sticker, turning it into a hollow rallying cry for anything and everything a person can mentally associate it with. I just want people to express their thoughts, actually think about what it is they feel, rather than just parroting the same two words. For cripe's sake, even "Remember the Alamo" has more context (though not much). It's not communication, it's noise; it's an echo chamber that seems to make less and less sense with each passing year. This is what bothers me.

I should also say that I notice I haven't seen any memes saying "Always Remember", it seems to always be "Never Forget". "Always Remember" speaks to me of hope, whereas "Never Forget" sounds like a commandment. But that may just be me.

I tend to believe that people pay a lot of lip service on social media and say what is expected of them rather than what they genuinely feel, but I also appreciate that "Never Forget" can be understood in a number of different contexts.

Never forget those who died that day.
Never forget that we were unprepared.
Never forget that we were unable to defend our largest city.
Never forget the first responders and survivors who have suffered every day since.
And yes, never forget that as a righteous American I was pissed off that day and I wanted swift and merciless retribution.

All of these could be considered worthy of never forgetting, but none of these are things I want to "always remember". I want to remember them in the proper context. I want to remember them when I vote. I want to remember them when I pay respect on 9/11. I want to remember them when I see an old picture of the NY skyline. I want to remember them when I feel the need for revenge again.

I don't want to remember this every morning when I am enjoying my fruit loops and living the privileged life afforded to me as a citizen of the United States. I would rather "live in the now", as they say, and neither remember nor forget the events of that day unless there is good reason for doing so. There is a time and a place for it. Today is the time and beyond New York City, The Pentagon and Pennsylvania, the place is social media and mainstream media. I'm okay with that... for a day.