The 12th of Amnesia

I have the sneaking suspicion that anyone who thinks that this is what September 12th, 2001 was like missed the day itself, too.

I understand the idea of nostalgia for a time in which Americans didn't seem as petty and divided. But that's mostly a misrememberance of a fictional time. Because while Americans are fairly regularly divided, those divisions are rarely petty.

The class divides in the United States are fueled, in large part by a group of people, on the one hand, who feel that they have earned their advantages by their own virtue and being rewarded by a just universe, while on the other hand, people feel that the rightful wages of their hard work are stolen from them by people who are able to extort benefits through having been given the upper hand.

More than Christians simply believing that they are mistaken in their rejection of the divinity and messiahship of Yēšūaʿ of Nazareth, Jews have to contend with a sizable minority of Americans who believe that they are scheming, grasping cheats and thieves; again, taking the rightful wages of others hard work to enrich themselves, and clannishly locking other people out of positions that would allow them to better their material conditions, if not outright controlling hapless world leaders and preventing them from acting in the interests of the people they are supposed to be championing.

Likewise, Republicans and Democrats don't believe themselves to have different means towards achieving the same broadly-desired ends. Rather they have come to regard one another as Evil, and the intentional enemies of what is just and beneficial. For example, Republican voters often feel that Democratic efforts to control firearms is a cynical plot to render the public unable to fight back against tyrannical government, while Democratic voters are quick to believe that Republicans seek to install themselves as a permanent minority government in the service of further consolidating wealth in the hands of the business class.

Even the Chick-fil-A versus Nike comparison ignores deep differences in people's basic understandings of right and wrong. Chick-fil-A's corporate values are heavily influenced by the Baptist religiosity of its founder, which had lead the company to take direct stands against expanding the rights that society grants to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and other groups identified as "Queer", while Nike has publicly moved in the opposite direction, coming out in support of LGBT+ Pride activities and dropping endorsements of celebrity athletes that made disparaging remarks about queer people. Both sides have their defenders and those factions are sincerely convinced that the other is decidedly wrong, if not actively malicious.

And these are only four of the ways that Americans have come to regard one another as not only wrong, but either unintelligent, credulous or deliberately immoral. The entire list is remarkably long.

So even without those specific factors, for September 12th, 2001 to have been a day where "what matter more was what united us, than what divided us," it would have needed to be utterly unique in the whole of American history. Because "what 'divides' us" is a very, very, deep well. Not even the Second World War was able to completely suppress the American tendency to see those noticeably different from themselves as "the other," and use that "other-ness" as a justification for taking advantage or withholding what people wanted for themselves. It was, and still is, going to take much, much more than a small bunch of religious fanatics to bridge those gaps. Sure, they managed to stake up some of center stage on the Fear and Loathing chart, but they never owned all of it, and they didn't hold their position for very long.

But, let's say, just for a moment, that this halcyon view of September 12th, 2001 actually did reflect the truth of that day. Let's say, just for a moment, that Americans were willing to wave flags, be Americans and hug together, despite their differences. A brief papering over of the myriad fault lines of American society is not, and will never be, a substitute for learning how to disagree without devolving into prejudice, disdain and hatred. A one-day pause in the habit of regarding others with a combination of rage, anxiety, ignorance and distrust, born shock and terror is nothing to be longed for.

People can miss what they believed September 12th, 2001 to be, because even while it was supposedly happening, it wasn't valued. And its currency has only dwindled since then.