Practicalmadness

Today is September 11th, and one year ago today -- at around this time, as a matter of fact -- terrorists linked to the Al-Qaeda network hijacked four commercial airliners and crashed them into both towers of NYC's World Trade Center, destroying it, the Pentagon (although it is now believed that plane's initial target was the White House) and a field in Pennsylvania -- an accident caused, it is believed, by the passengers after they learned that the plane was to be used as a weapon.

All of the major media outlets are using today for what they are describing with terms like 'mourning' and 'remembrance', but which stinks suspiciously of such more odious things as propaganda and marketing.

From The New York Times's coverage: "Maybe it is willful ignorance, some suggest. Maybe it is the conviction that living in fear is no way to live. But one year after the attack...nearly half of all New York City residents say the event has not changed their lives."

Salon.com, per usual, can be counted on for two things: mindless optimism, at least as it pertains to getting web readers to actually (ha!) pay for something, and showing an alternative (read: critical, and often funny) viewpoint amid all the tearjerking.

The Chicago Tribune, also in typical form, gets right to the heart of the matter: U.S. orders 'high risk' alert. While the Trib's website does lead off with a memorial section, the paper focuses on the fact that the government has just restocked Cheney's undisclosed location with a year's supply of Chee-tos, and those DNA samples we've been taking off your Starbucks cups? Yeah, we're gonna need them now, 'cause we're at Code Orange! AAAAAAAH!!!

"Wait, what's this about my Starbucks cups?" you ask. Damn. Said too much. (Takes suicide pill...)

...But before I do that, The Onion has this story of an area man whose life will never be the same after 9/11.

As for my own feelings on this day of indisputable infamy, you may have already seen some of them.