How Has America Changed In The 9 Years Since 9/11?

On September 6th, National Geographic will premier a special Giuliani’s 9.11. The commercials really sparked some thoughts for me, especially in light of recent political news regarding the “Mosque at Ground Zero.” Bumble has agreed to sit this one out and let “Daddy” finally do a guest post. I should warn you it is not the usual funny Infidel Nation content and it might be disturbing to some readers.

It has been nearly 9 years since the tragic attack on 9/11. How has it changed America? For better or worse, we now have a Department of Homeland Security, two wars, The Patriot Act, and terror alert colors.

How did Americans feel about Islam then as opposed to today? It’s always dangerous to try to answer a question like that. The best I hope to do is share my own experiences and emotions about that day and the years that followed. Hopefully I am not alone in still thinking about these things, but to understand where we are today we have to remember the events of 2001. For my generation I think that day is like the day Kennedy was assassinated. We will always remember where we were when we heard the news of the attacks.

That Day

My fiance and I had actually gotten up early that day to go to the local courthouse for our marriage license. We were in the car listening to the radio when the first plane hit. It was surreal. At first the details were very, very scarce. I immediately thought it was some small plane that just made a horrible error. We continued on to the courthouse. You could tell the employees in even this small town courthouse were tense and some were visibly shaken. Somehow we managed to get our marriage license and left the building under the assumption that this was just a bizarre aviation accident.

On leaving the courthouse we were immediately met by a beat reporter for a local newspaper. He stopped us and asked if we were nervous or afraid being inside the courthouse. My first though was “hell yeah, I just got a marriage license!”. He was kind enough to not quote that in the paper and took the time to explain that the second tower had been hit. We were in complete shock. Driving home we listened to the radio and realized for the first time that America was under attack. Unreal.

Once we got home we learned of the pentagon attack and what seemed like a bizarre crash in Shanksville, PA. My initial though was “my god they are just taking down planes anywhere they can”.

Then what were probably the most unforgettable images I have ever seen began to show on TV. The first tower falling and turning completely to dust. Then the second. I still can’t honestly process what that must have been like for anyone near ground zero. Nor can I imagine the courage it took to run towards that scene.

The attacks had the desired effect on me personally. I was terrified. I sat on the couch with my fiance watching the entire day transpire on the news. I recall even then thinking that America would never be the same. For one thing the media was actually just reporting. That day still stands out to me as the last time TV simply let the story unfold without interjecting opinions, speculation, and agendas. The event itself was big enough and didn’t need talking heads throwing out their two cents.

In The Aftermath

In the days after 9/11, I was shocked at what appeared to be an unprovoked terrorist attack on US soil. Initially it seemed unprecedented in history. Immediately, my own ignorance was exposed. In fact, this wasn’t even the first attack on the World Trade Center by Al-Qaeda trained terrorists. I had nearly forgotten the attack in 1993 in which a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower. I vaguely remembered it, but somehow thought it was a domestic terrorist attack similar to the Timothy McVeigh bombing in Oklahoma City. Admittedly, if I had ever heard of Osama Bin Laden, or Al-Qaeda I had forgotten them or written them off as a one time threat that failed in ’93. Over the next months Osama Bin Laden became synonymous with the boogie man, and Al Qaeda became an elusive evil army.

In the days and weeks that followed, America learned all about how much the world hated us. We watched people dancing in the streets cheering the attack. We learned of Al Qaeda and knew just how well organized they were. Fear would seemingly forever be a part of American life, and it was clear that ignorance was dangerous.

On 9/12, one of my coworkers actually tried to tell me that we had been attacked by the “Philistines”. Granted, she wasn’t really bright. I guess giving her the benefit of the doubt, maybe she meant Palestinians (which was still way off). I knew the middle eastern countries constantly lived with daily terrorist threats, but those were far off places like Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. Shanksville, PA didn’t seem to fit the mold.

Pride in Americans

The weeks that followed were filled with truly inspiring human stories and it was hard not to be proud of my country in the aftermath.

Accounts of heroism from everyday people began to fill the news. Fireman and Police from all over the east coast flocked to ground zero with one simple goal. Help someone, anyone. The tragic loss of civilian life was unprecedented, but so was the bravery shown by average New Yorkers and Emergency Response units that day. In the months that followed the death count rose to 2,996 dead. Citizens from over 90 countries died that day for no better reason than that they went to work. 411 emergency workers from the NYPD, FDNY, and Port Authority died in an effort to save lives.

Without their sacrifice many more people would have died that day. Out of the ashes rose the best of humanity regardless of race, religion, or nationality. For the people that were at ground zero none of that mattered. Everyone was equal in the chaos and deserved a chance to live. The hatred and ignorance of the terrorists was nothing compared to the courage and unconditional sacrifice made that day.

In the days that followed heroism took many forms. Here are just a few events that left a lasting impact with me.

Rudy Guliani – Stayed Strong From the day of September 11th to the years that followed the Mayor was a rock for New Yorkers and Americans. His constant presence on TV and radio was a reassurance to many that one day things could again be normal. If you put aside political opinions it is difficult to argue that the man transcended public office during that time and became a bastion of strength for everyone.

Bill Maher and HBO – Spoke Out Many people would disagree with me on this one, but that’s what makes America great. In 2002 Bill’s show Politically Incorrect was canceled by ABC in large part due to his “controversial” remarks after 9/11. In case you forgot, here are the controversial remarks. His comments were actually in response to a guests remarks from conservative pundit Dinseh D’Souza that the 9/11 terrorists did not act in a cowardly manner. Bill agreed with him saying, “We have been the cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from two thousand miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building. Say what you want about it. Not cowardly. You’re right.” Bill’s basic point then and over the next months was that Americans needed to better understand what they were fighting against.

In 2003 HBO picked Bill up and began to air Real Time With Bill Maher. Whether you love or hate Bill Maher give the man the respect he is due. In the aftermath of a terrorist attack when the country was too scared to think straight, Bill stood by his comments and exercised the very free speech that Islamic fundamentalists abhor. Is he a hero of 9/11? Certainly not of the same variety as the Emergency Response people that gave their lives. At the time though, I am sure Bill Maher thought his career was over and he still didn’t back down. For a comedian with a show that was based on satire, he showed more journalistic integrity and willingness to reconsider the enemy than most of mainstream America at the time. To me, that is heroic.

Saturday Night Live SNL was scheduled to premier just two weeks after 9/11. While they considered postponing the season premier, Lorne Michaels eventually decided that the best way to fight terrorism was to let the show go on. Giuliani again was front and center and opened the show with these remarks:

Mayor Rudolph Guiliani: Good evening. Since September 11th, many people have called New York a city of heroes. Well, these are the heroes. The brave men and women of the New York Fire Department, the New York Police Department, the Port Authority Police Department, Fire Commissioner Tom Von Essen, and Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik.

On September 11th, more lives were lost than on any other single day in America’s history. More than Pearl Harbor, and more than D-Day. The men, women and children who were in the World Trade Center came from across the country and 80 different nations. They were living their lives and pursuing their dreams, and they, too, are remembered as heroes. On our city’s darkest day, our heroes met the worst of humanity with the best of humanity. Their acts of heroism saved more than 25,000 lives. But even as we grieve for our loved ones, it’s up to us to face our future with renewed determination. Our hearts are broken, but they are beating, and they are beating stronger than ever. New Yorkers are unified. We will not yield to terrorism. We will not let our decisions be made out of fear. We choose to live our lives in freedom.

Lorne Michaels: On behalf of everyone here, I just want to thank you all for being here tonight, especially you, sir.

Mayor Rudolph Guiliani: Thank you, Lorne. Thank you very much. Having our city’s institutions up and running sends a message that New York City is open for business. “Saturday Night Live” is one of our great New York City institutions, and that’s why it’s important for you to do your show tonight.

Lorne Michaels: Can we be funny?

Mayor Rudolph Guiliani: Why start now? “Live, from New York! It’s Saturday Night!”

World Wrestling Entertainment Just two days after 9/11 Vincent Kennedy McMahon and then WWF Smackdown went back on the air. It was a seemingly small gesture with one caveat. Smackdown was filmed in front of a huge packed arena in Houston, Texas. Vince’s gang of Superstars was the first live event in an arena following 9/11.  It’s worth remembering how courageous every day life was right after 9/11. Even doing something as seemingly silly as attending a live wrestling show took courage only two days after the attacks.

To their credit, the WWE since 2001 has been awarded the first ever Corporate Patriot Award for it’s continued ongoing support of the U.S. Military and their families. To this day the WWE offers free tickets to US Military personnel to it’s live events. In addition, the WWE has held a Tribute to the Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan at Christmas since 2003. Superstars large and small have traveled to the front lines to perform for the troops over the holidays and throughout the year.

Dogs at Ground Zero

My Neighbor John – Defending “His” Country

Our neighbor John was part of the reserves during 9/11. He and his wife have three kids and were living paycheck to paycheck like a lot of Americans today. When the war in Iraq began in 2003 John was called up to active duty. As a veteran of the gulf war his experience was valuable. Within a few months he was deployed to Iraq. Unfortunately his family wasn’t in a great position financially. His wife had been working nights, and he had been working days. This left one of them always home with the 3 kids. With John away from home, his wife had no choice but to quit working. Their extended family was in Florida and there was simply no way around it.

To compound matters it took a few months for the military to get his first paycheck stateside. By that point things had fallen apart. Within a year they had to sell the house and his wife and kids moved back to Florida. I saw John when he was granted leave to attend his mother’s funeral. She died while he was in Iraq. He had easily lost 30 pounds from his thirty something domestic life physique. He never once complained. Not about his situation at home or being in Iraq.

I also have to mention that John was an immigrant. He was an immigrant that came here and was willing to fight for “his country”. Twice, as a matter of fact. First in the Gulf War and again in Operation Iraqi Freedom. It bothers me to this day when “immigrant” is thrown around as a dirty word. If you mean illegal aliens, say it. An immigrant is something totally different and in this case someone to respect. I honestly don’t know what became of him after his family moved to Florida. He was still serving at the time when they moved. All I can say is “thank you wherever you are”.

Flight 93 – “Let’s Roll”

To me no story embraced American defiance in the face of an enemy more than that of the passengers of Flight 93. These were normal husbands, wives, brothers and sisters no different from most Americans. On 9/11 they did something so extraordinary that I truly hope it is never forgotten in American history. They fought back.

It sounds so simple. While the rest of the country was in total disarray and the military had jets scrambling over the Atlantic by mistake these 44 people found the courage to fight back. Knowing that the plane would likely be used to attack another target, they took the risk and attempted to regain control of the cockpit. The plane crashed near Shanksville, PA. We may never know what the intended target was for Flight 93. It’s been speculated that it was the White House or the Capitol. What we do know is that Todd Beamer and the other passengers made it a moot point with their courage. May they never be forgotten.

America Today

As I stated earlier much has changed in the last 9 years. George Bush’s 90% approval rating in the weeks after 9/11 sure did. As did the universal respect for Rudy Giuliani. Some tremendous positives did come about as a result though and that’s a true testament to the American people. Unfortunately, there is still much work to be done to counter fear and ignorance with knowledge.

InfidelNation – Prior to 9/11 there certainly wouldn’t have been an Infidel Nation. Over the past 11 months the site has allowed Bumble the angry Persian cat to do what he does best. Make people laugh. Writing from the perspective of an angry Persian cat in America has given tremendous flexibility and artistic license, as well as some interesting takes on current events, pop culture and life. Humor is universal and frankly “funny” transcends religious and political affiliations. No doubt the character of Bumble wouldn’t be what he is today had he been born before 9/11. Many would argue that this is not a good thing at all. Bumble and I disagree.

Supporting Our Troops – Regardless of where pundits, people and politicians stand on Iraq and Afghanistan there is a well deserved respect for the men and women of the armed services today. Nobody would dare blame the soldiers for what may be an unjust or failing war. In that regard we have made tremendous progress since Vietnam. Finally Americans have realized you can still support the troops even if you oppose the war.

Respect for Firefighters and Police – Certainly 9/11 was a huge eye opener for most of America as to just what being a firefighter or police officer means. Though they always deserved our respect and admiration, it was only after 9/11 that most people began to give it to them. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to make people remember just how special some people are. In this case let’s hope we never forget the Firefighters and Police that still serve every day and do their best to keep American’s safe. I doubt we will for quite some time.

Zaytuna College in Berkely, CA The first ever Muslim college in the United States founded in 2009. Their motto is “Where Islam meets America”. This type of institution undoubtedly couldn’t have been launched in 2002. I know the initial reaction is probably one of mixed emotions, but it’s important to remember a few things. Catholic institutions like Villanova University, Notre Dame, Loyola Marymount and countless others are also faith based institutes of higher learning. So are Oral Roberts university, BYU and for that matter Yeshiva University in NY.

Yeshiva is similar to Zaytuna in that it is a liberal arts college in which students undertake classes in religious studies as well as liberal arts. That’s where the differences come in. Zaytuna College will attempt to merge liberal arts with religious learning only from an Islamic rather than Jewish faith base. Is Zaytuna College a good thing? Time will tell, but I think so. Zaytuna’s goal is to produce American Islamic scholars, since most Islamic scholars are produced abroad and naturally have a cultural perspective foreign to America. According to Imam Zaid Shakir, “We want to manifest Islam in a way that’s compatible with America”. At a minimum this institution deserves a chance at accreditation like any other. Hopefully it is a step towards a better understanding of Muslims here in America as well as abroad.

Islamaphobia Initially our ignorance was mixed with rage over the attacks. It was all too easy to lump Muslims all into the same small fringe group represented by Osama bin Laden. There really is no excuse for that 9 years later, and yet it still happens at an alarming rate. Pundits and politicians continue to use fear of the lunatic fringe to push their own agenda. For these fear mongers typical vision of a Muslim is portrayed as a crazed Arab with a turban and AK-47.

The truth is that there are 1.57 billion Muslims in the world today. To put this in perspective, there are 300 million Americans. The Muslim populations of  India and Indonesia combined are more than 300 million people. India is only 13% Muslim. Any way you slice it there are more Muslims in the world today than Americans, which of course is discounting the obvious fact that some Americans are Muslims too!

Less than 15% of Muslims are Arab, and the Anti-West fundamentalists are a tiny fringe group of fanatics within that 15%. Al Qaeda is a very real threat, no debate there. However, to say they are in any way representative of Muslims in general is absurd. Islam itself is largely fragmented into secular groups just like Christianity. There are Sunni and Shiite Muslims which are as different as Mormons and Catholics. There are repercussions in our own culture of failing to grasp the basics about Islam vs. TerrorIslam. We certainly can see it in the recent Islamophobia in the news regarding the proposed “Mosque at Ground Zero”.

The Mosque at Ground Zero I’ve seen reported “news” articles claiming everything from a victory mosque being built to Barrack Obama will worship there. The facts are a little less spectacular. There is currently a proposition to open a $100 million dollar Islamic Community Center 2 blocks from where the World Trade Center stood. The Community Center would include a prayer room.

First, it’s not at Ground Zero. Ground Zero isn’t even visible from the proposed site of the Cordoba House. It also is not a Mosque. It seems like opponents immediately wanted to paint a picture of the Dome of the Rock sitting at the foot of the Freedom Tower/One World Trade Center. That’s not quite right. It’s a proposed community center with a prayer room 2 blocks away.

Obama also didn’t say they should build it (nor that he would worship there). He did say that…

“Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances,” he said. “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.”

He is correct. It’s private property and the owners can do what they want with it provided they have the permits. Ground Zero is the closest thing we have to sacred ground in the 21st century though. So it is totally understandable that this would be an emotional issue if it were a Mosque going where the Twin Towers once stood. To be accurate, that simply isn’t what was proposed. Nor is there any legal justification to stop it.

This is a huge hot button topic for one reason, mid term elections. Again, we see politics and pundits using Islamophobia to push their own agenda and tear down the other party.  That’s not to say it isn’t a truly emotional issue for New Yorkers. Unfortunately, that real emotion is being manipulated and exploited for political rhetoric. The question remains, should it be allowed to be built there?

I guess that is the real litmus test for how far we have come since 2001. So far more than half of New Yorkers oppose a Mosque at Ground Zero. Though I have to wonder if that poll explained it was a 13 story cultural center in the old Burlington Coat Factory building two blocks away. This particular issue will take months to reach resolution and by then the debate will have mucked up many an elected official. In reality it’s a moot point. We live in a country that tolerates freedom of religion. A group of Muslims bought the property and can build whatever they want there. Freedom of religion can’t just mean all religions except Islam.

For myself I would like to see one simple monument somewhere at the base of One World Trade Center or at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. I’d like to see a  statue of one of the most inspiring photos taken during that tragic day when it seemed time stood still.

Ground Zero Statue?

I’d love to hear your comments and memories of 9/11 as well as how you think America has changed since. Please feel free to leave comments.