Jim Wright's post about 911 removed from Facebook

[kiva]

Last edited Sun Sep 11, 2016, 09:03 PM - Edit history (1)

I like reading Jim Wright, he's spot on about many things and his humor is often brilliant. His FB post today was about 911 and how it is remembered - and apparently his opinion didn't make the trolls happy, so they complained and FB removed it.

Here's a copy of what he wrote and a link to his page.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

https://www.facebook.com/Stonekettle?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf

Edit: It's back http://www.stonekettle.com/2016/09/renegade-911.html ...thanks Whatthe_Firetruck

[malaise]

1. The truth is often painful

Fuck Facebook - never joined.

[tblue37]

2. He is not wrong. nt

[SCantiGOP]

6. I agree with every word he wrote

N/T

[matt819]

21. Me too

Captures what I've been thinking for 15 years.

This is sort of a non sequitur, but new voters in the 2020 elections will be post 9/11 kids. Will they understand?

[Victor_c3]

43. That's a crazy thought

That new voters in 2020 wouldn't have been alive in 2001.

[matt819]

51. I believe that you're mocking me

But the point is still valid, as it is for analysis of voter demographics at all ages. While it's true that young people don't vote in large numbers, that's millions of new voters for whom 9/11 is ancient history. Look at the photos of the 9/11 observations yesterday in NY. Older people, mostly men, and mostly white.

[Victor_c3]

57. No, actually I really wasn't trying to

It feels so recent to me. Then again, I'm still stuck in 2004 (the year I was in Iraq) and the world has moved on without me and forgot all about the one event that was most central to my life.

It's crazy to think that all of that stuff happened more than a decade ago and for kids born now it is just as ancient to them as Vietnam was to me when I was growing up.

I didn't notice the mostly older white male demographic until you mentioned. That is interesting.

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. He's saying exactly what I feel.

Not long after we invaded Iraq (and remind me again how many of the 19 hijackers were Iraqi) and the death toll mounted, I wanted to ask just how many we needed to kill before we could declare it over and leave.

I honestly find it totally appalling that every single year we have to wallow in this 9/11 bullshit. There is such a thing as moving on.

And now I have it on my FB page.

[kiva]

5. Great, this does need to be out there.

[LittleGirl]

44. Right after 9/11

one of my air force retires (co-workers) was telling me how gung ho he was to get revenge for 9/11 in the middle east. I looked him dead in the eye and asked him if any of this killing would bring back any of those that died on 9/11? He just lowered his head and said, "I've been to Vietnam, I know death" and I said, "well, no war is not going to bring those people back." We're still friends even if he is a conservative veteran that is not voting for Blue.

[nolabels]

7. I have gotten a few 9/11 posts removed here but for more heretical reasons

Let's just say i am able to look myself in mirror without hesitation and don't give a damn what other think about it anymore.

[tazkcmo]

8. I regret

I have but on K and R to give.

[Coolest Ranger]

9. The one thing I am painfully learning is that

trolls don't want to hear the truth from us.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

15. Sadly true. :( n/t

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. We never forget but will we ever learn?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028157516

[Stonepounder]

11. +1

[love_katz]

12. Huge kick and rec.

And shame on Facebook! And a huge on the stinking trolls who complained. Mr. Wright spoke the truth. Too bad the brain dead "you're with us or against us" crowd can't handle it when anyone speaks out against blind unquestioning fake patriotism.

[Different Drummer]

23. Well said n/t

[CrispyQ]

13. A lot of people believe that whatever we do, we have good intentions & so our actions are justified.

The Author Who Got A Big Boost From bin Laden
By David Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 21, 2006

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/20/AR2006012001971.html

Twenty-four hours after Osama bin Laden told the world that the American people should read the work of a little-known Washington historian, William Blum was still adjusting.

Blum, who at 72 is accustomed to laboring in relative left-wing obscurity, checked his emotions and pronounced himself shocked and, well, pleased.

"This is almost as good as being an Oprah book," he said yesterday between telephone calls from the world media and bites of a bagel. "I'm glad." Overnight, his 2000 work, "Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower," had become an Osama book.

Some of his great articles are here: http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/William_Blum.html

[ladym55]

14. Ouch

This hits us where it hurts--which is why people made it go away. We'd rather wave flags and salute and get all saccharine.

I have been hating all the wallowing in 9/11 today. Because we never look at how Dubya and Cheney exploited what happened to invade a country that wasn't involved in the attack. And we never ask the question that will always haunt me--what if we had had a president who had actually paid attention to the security briefing on imminent attack instead of cutting brush on his fake ranch?

And while we are wallowing in the pictures of the brave first responders, we aren't talking about the lousy job we did taking care of the health problems those first responders developed because god forbid "America's mayor" provided the protective gear for them.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

16. We are the Land of Jingoistic Exceptionalism.

As the Oligarchs and their Reich Wing christian soldiers work to dismantle everything that IS great. (or WAS, sad to say)

[Bucky]

17. He's crude, but he's right. We should quit commemorating 9-11.

Wallowing in the victim status of 9-11 is a bad trend in American history. We used to celebrate our victories. VE Day, Armistice Day, the Fourth of July. Now, like the corroding societies of Europe and the Middle East, we've started clinging to an old grudge to delineate our heritage.

Fuck 9-11 sentimentalism. Half a generation has passed since then. The kids at my high school who we make stand at attention for taps this year were toddlers when it happened. Most of the Freshmen at my school weren't even born when it happened. But we wallow in the travesty, wallow in the gloom of that terrible day, as if it defined Americanism. Not the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, not the Emancipation Proclamation, not the cooperation that overcame the Great Depression, not the resilience of character and idealism that broke Jim Crow, not the moon landing, not the global awakening of the Internet Age.... but just some 19 angry drop out fuckheads who drove airplanes into buildings full of people--that's what we're supposed to honor as Americans.

That's bullshit. The story of 9-11 is two separate American stories. The pulling together and rebirth of social gratitude that started on 9-12, and the perversion of that spirit into the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq using the moral weight of that tragic event two years later. We remember 9-11 because 4000+ American troops were sent to their needless deaths by George Bush and Dick Cheney by their willful misdirecting the anger at the acts of terror at a 3rd party who happened to have a lot of oil.

I'm still mad at the crazed ideology that could kill 3000 Americans for their own social resentments. But I am more mad, I am unrelentingly livid at, the corrupt American politicians who misdirected our national anger at a random nation on the map nearby and got two of my students killed. Killed needlessly. Two lives wrecked; two families devastated for a war that didn't need to happen. Two families among four thousand American families who didn't have to suffer, but did suffer because we, the American people, let our guard dog off its chain. Two families among the millions of Iraqi families that saw their nation and their homes and their children and their society devastated because a handful of American politicians thought, "Here's our chance to show the world who's boss."

Don't ask me to commemorate 9-11. Wallowing in resentment is the hallmark of decaying societies. It is the characteristic that made Iraq such a cesspool for the US to bumble into 18 months after 9-11. The fuckwads from alQaeda who masterminded 9-11 thought their terrorism would destroy American society. But it was the American people going along with the idiotic American leadership after 9-11 who made their plans come true.

[LittleGirl]

49. rightous rant, thank you n/t

[llmart]

52. Wow!

Wonderful post that sums it up exactly.

Actually, I watched very little of the coverage after the day it happened. I've stayed away from it for all these years. I don't wallow in any of the phony sentimentality. When an acquaintance, coworker, neighbor, etc. tries to start a conversation about it, I just smile and change the subject.

[fantase56]

18. Felt this way for quite a few years.....

Yes we got hurt, and so we waded up to our waists in the blood of the innocents and guilty alike. And the world has reaped the whirlwind of our lust for vengeance. Anymore I won't watch the networks bathe in the bloody horror show that was the destruction of the World Trade Centers. I change the channel.

[KG]

19. time to stop celebrating failure as if it's some sort of victory

[Ford_Prefect]

20. Well it was W's failure after all, to be accurate. One that some feel he allowed to happen

as the "new Pearl Harbor event" needed to justify the west attacking Saddam and taking the Iraqi oil, as PNAC ever so conveniently predicted.

We started celebrating about 30 minutes after the towers fell when W declared the dead were American Patriots and it's gone on ever since. Never mind that most of the hi-jackers were from Saudi Arabia as their passports showed, and that at least several of them were accounted for overseas at the time the towers were hit, leading one to wonder just who was on the planes and who put them there.

[Socal31]

22. Powerful. Below is a little satire re: exploitation of the tragedy.

[Different Drummer]

24. He is correct and sáys what I have thought for some time. n/t

[Whatthe_Firetruck]

25. It's up again on Stonekettle...

... I shared it on facebook before it was vanished, and I shared it again from Stonekettle.

The Deplorables really don't get that by whining for the censors, they proved everything he said about them is absolutely 100% true. Plus the repost gave us this little gem: "It irritates me, what they did pulling down my post because a bunch of fascist right-wingers got their delicate little Hitler Under-Roos all in a bunch, but I’m not in anyway surprised by the behavior of either party. It’s right there in the EULA. -Jim Wright"

http://www.stonekettle.com/2016/09/renegade-911.html

[kiva]

26. Excellent news!

I'll edit my OP.

[Hoyt]

27. Excellent. I'm tired of 9/11 being used as a rationale to kill or hate innocent Muslims.

[Ford_Prefect]

28. Or to hate peace loving liberals who believe diplomacy and genuine rule of law work better.

[Hoyt]

31. That too.

[Iggo]

34. Been tired of it since 9/12. (n/t)

[Paka]

29. K&R

I agree with all he says.

[malthaussen]

30. I'm sure Mr Wright is sourly amused by that.

And having now read his update on Stonekettle Station, I guess I'm right about that.

-- Mal

[PatSeg]

32. K&R

[Leith]

33. It's Nice to Know That I'm Not the Only One Who Feels That Way

Sure I was horrified and angry on 9-11. I was just as horrified and angry when the US invaded Iraq, but with a whole bunch of "what the f*** is my country doing?!" mixed in with it. I have felt that last emotion too much in the last 15 years.

[PatSeg]

35. The American people need to grow up.

People all over the world have suffered far greater loss than we did on 9/11. Many have lost entire cities and hundreds of thousand of lives. People mourn their dead and rebuild their cities, without constantly memorializing their losses. And without going out and seeking endless revenge.

We do not have a monopoly on tragedy and pain. As a country, we tend to be a bit dramatic and self-absorbed. Perhaps we would be better served to look about us and show some compassion for the many losses people experience every day without all the fanfare and bumper stickers.

[BlueSpot]

36. Just wondering

The closest comparison I can make is the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. I'm just wondering how long that lasted with the same fervor as when it happened like the current fervor for 9/11. It's certainly a day we remember every year but it isn't a date we remember by hating Japanese people. We've clearly moved past that.

But my question is, how long did that take? I don't know how realistic it was but the characters on Madmen were still pretty resentful in the 60's. End of WWII to 1960 was 15 years. If it carried on longer, what's a reasonable expectation for 9/11 to mellow the way December 7th has?

While I agree with the author of the article, it may take the rest of the country a little longer.

[wcast]

37. When Jeremiah Wright preached this, even though he was preaching about self examination,...

People lost their minds. Looking at your country's faults doesn't mean you love it less, but more. I think people like us at DU hold America, and Americans, to a higher standard. We expect our country and country men to live up to these ideals; ideals like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; equal justice under the law, etc.

Here is the relevant quote from the sermon.

"I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday. Did anybody else see him or hear him, he was on Fox News. This is a white man, and he was upsetting the Fox News commentators to no end. He pointed out, (Did you see him, John?) --a white man-- he pointed out-- an ambassador-- that what Malcolm X said when he got silenced by Elijah Mohammad was in fact true, America's chickens are coming home to roost.

We took this country, by terror, away from the Sioux, the Apache, the Arrowak (phonetic) the Comanche, the Arapajo, the Navajo. Terrorism--we took Africans from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism. We bombed Grenada and killed innocent civilians -- babies, non-military personnel. We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with Stealth Bombers and killed unarmed teenagers, and toddlers, pregnant mothers and hard working father. [fullest voice] We bombed Khadafi, his home and killed his child. Blessed be they who bash your children's head agains the rocks.

[fullest voice] We bombed Iraq, we killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed the plant in Sudan to payback for the attack on our embassy -- killed hundreds of hard working people --mothers and fathers, who left home to go that day, not knowing they'd never get back home. [Even fuller voice] We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye. Kids playing in the playground, mothers picking up children after school -- civilians not soldiers. People just trying to make it day by day. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and South Africa and now we are indignant? Because the stuff we have done overseas is brought back into our own front yard.

America's chickens are coming home, to roost. Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred, and terrorism begets terrorism."

[LittleGirl]

50. I remember that

and I was quietly applauding Rev Wright until he made a fool of himself by dissing Obama. His words are spot on.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

56. The "Right" criticizes us too: otherwise, why would we have to be made

great again?

But what they criticize are our good deeds--anything that involves peace, love, and understanding.

Man, they hate that shit!

[get the red out]

38. FB makes no sense

I complained about an animal abuse video one time and the WOULD NOT remove it.

Jim Wright expressed what was on my mind all weekend. I find it impossible to watch the beginning of years of carnage.

[sinkingfeeling]

39. I completely agree with his assessment.

[Pacifist Patriot]

40. Add me to the list of those who think he's absolutely correct.

[Rhythm]

41. Spot on, as always...

I always look forward to Wright's FB posts, and his blog pieces...

FB trolls be damned.

[Rhythm]

42. The new intro to that essay, from his actual blog page -->

Renegade 911

I made a Facebook post about 9-11.

It went viral.

It wasn’t even the first viral post I wrote this week, or the first to offend a certain segment of America.
And many people were offended.

Oh, yes, they were offended.

Those who beat their fleshy chests and wave the flag in righteous unending fury and bleat most bitterly about “Freedom” and “Liberty” and “Patriotism” were the most offended.

Because aren’t they always?
Aren’t they?

They attempted to hack my Facebook account.
When that didn’t work, they complained to Facebook in righteous anger, furiously waving their little flags.

Because that’s what you do when you love “Freedom” and “Liberty” and “Patriotism” -- not the real freedom and liberty and patriotism but the jack-booted goose-stepping version where everybody is lined up and made to salute the flag with a gun to the back of their necks. The kind of “Freedom” that’s administered by serious men of pure Aryan descent with death’s heads and lightning bolts on their collars.

Eventually these patriots succeeded in convincing Facebook’s idiot mechanical brain to remove my post for “violation of community standards,” even though nothing I wrote violates Facebook’s community standards in any way.

Now, I’m not particularly vexed by this.

First, because this is the risk you take when you post to Facebook. You don’t own it. You don’t control it. You are entirely at the mercy of poorly coded algorithms and the arbitrary judgement of some 20 year old Frappuccino swilling douchebeard somewhere in the bowels of the Facebook cloud.

Facebook’s interests aren’t yours, even if like me you make them piles of money by pulling in 70,000 people every day. I knew this when I signed up. It irritates me, what they did pulling down my post because a bunch of fascist right-wingers got their delicate little Hitler Under-Roos all in a bunch, but I’m not in anyway surprised by the behavior of either party. It’s right there in the EULA.

Second, Because the people who complained confirm everything I said about them.

And I’d be lying if I said that didn’t amuse me.

By getting my post pulled down they confirm everything I said.
They always do, these patriots, predictable as the next row of goose-stepping Nazis.
And what was it I said that was so terrible?
What was it I said that was deserving of censorship and death threats?

This:

[Victor_c3]

45. I didn't even watch or read anything on the 11th on purpose

I turn everything I reply to about me and the war on Iraq, but September 11th is one of those days that really pisses me off.

I'm as upset as anyone is over the attacks that day. However, what really infuriates me is how it was used by our leaders to fight wars that had nothing to do terrorism. The countless lives lost on both sides in Iraq are what really upset me. Our leaders took advantage of our feelings and used the tragedy of September 11th as a tool to get us to agree to a war in Iraq. I can't forgive anyone who ever supported that war for what they were a part of doing to the nation of Iraq.

I was there. I shot, killed, and stuffed my share of body bags over there. I saw the consequences first hand - unlike the people who allowed this war to happen. It must be nice for those people to be able move on with their lives. Start war and spread death and destruction and you don't even have to be sorry about it. I joined the army to make the world a better place (I was a completely naive kid) and I get to have blood all over my hands and I get to become totally disabled as a result of my service.

[FairWinds]

46. I would go further than Mr. Wright . .

People who are incapable of grasping the meaning of the
Other 9/11 in 1973 - done BY the US, not TO the US,
mostly by Nixon and Kissinger.

It shows that our government can kill innocents by the
thousands, destroy democracies, and Americans don't
care a whit.

[Saviolo]

47. Reminds me of this little number from Asylum Street Spankers

Put Magnetic Stickers on your SUV. The original video was from 2006, but I linked to a slightly later one that has subtitles.

Plus ça change, eh?

[KittyWampus]

48. People prefer reflexive, unthinking action. We are habitual creatures

We are habitual creatures with a capacity for rational, conscious thought.

The rightwing are SOLELY habitual creatures. They have allowed their rational minds to atrophy or remain undeveloped.

[dofus]

53. I'm not the only one who has reposted it.

And I just checked: it's still on my FB page.

But then, I have very few friends by FB standards, none of whom are RW jerks, which helps. Plus I'm not any sort of public figure, unlike Jim Wright, so no one is out trolling my posts.

I've also saved it as a Word document, so I can repost if need be.

[DirkGently]

54. The problem with "remembering" 9/11

is that we still collectively refuse to acknowledge how terribly we reacted to 9/11. I remember a woman in a building where I worked, a banker I think, who had always been nice, getting very upset with me over my suggestion invading Iraq was the wrong thing to do in response. Saddam was building nukes and preparing to wage war on the U.S. -- she saw it on TV. What else was there to discuss?

We're still in the same war, really. Just as PNAC envisioned. War in Iraq. War in Syria. A war in Iran would complete their sleazy vision.

All these deaths, all these trillions of dollars, and Middle East is no better off. America is no better off. But fear still works. Fear has put a half-assed real estate developer on the Presidential ticket. Fear still makes unlimited defense spending okay but Social Security too expensive.

I look forward to the 9/11 retrospectives that include in the horror of a terrorist attack the equally damaging horror of allowing a shocking event to upend our common sense and ability to think critically about what we're doing as a nation.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

55. Truth...

people can't handle it.

[hourglass1]

58. ME TOO!

had to ad my 2¢
9/11 sales at wal-mart - priceless!