“A group of militant, mostly Saudi troublemakers convince the superpowers of the world to strip away many of their freedoms in the most ineffective and expensive game of cat and mouse ever.”
Several new friends of mine have asked me the old question “why is 9/11 a joke to you?” and my answer is still: I read a lot of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. If he was still alive, I am certain he would have written a piercing, witty tale of the life of Khalil Ibrahim Omar al-Muslit, Saddam’s supposed driver. Or perhaps the brief tale of the world’s most nervous suicide bomber!
Humor is quite possibly the best coping mechanism our species has. I wasn’t myself after 9/11 until I saw the home page art on The Onion. It had an amazing “9/11… HOLY SHIT” feel to it, and shocked me back to my senses.[1] There is a time for mourning, but that time is not forever. To paraphrase an ancient saying: “over time, the tragic becomes funny.”[2]
9/11 has become a tool for intolerance, divisive politics, and justification for all manners of heinous international warcrimes. In my opinion, this is far more debasing of the memory than my tasteless jokes.
As usual, I present “The 9/11 Terrorcore Mix,” by the GeoJedi, one of the finest commentaries on 9/11 to date:
A higher-resolution version can be found at his site: http://www.geojedi.org/professorpost911/
- Shame their archive doesn’t seem to have it.
- I have experienced and witnessed the truth of this statement countless times. My best stories are my most embarrassing or tragic.
