Remembering 9/11

9/11 did no serious damage to the USA. As a whole, Americans were not made significantly poorer or significantly less safe. Yes, good people died on 9/11. But there have been a lot of good people murdered over the last one hundred years. Every victim had his virtues. And every murdering politician in history has had his reasons.

What has done lasting damage to the USA was not 9/11. It was remembering 9/11. Over-reaction to 9/11 has played a substantial role in bankrupting the USA. With that incredible mixture of paternalistic arrogance and xenophobia that all US politicians display every time that they open their mouths, they still believe they can protect themselves by spending trillions of dollars they don’t have, on military campaigns that don’t work.

Force against ideas doesn’t work, hasn’t ever worked and will never work. But there are too many vested interests in bombs and guns in the world for a sensible dialogue to take place. None of the conflicts taking place in the world today would be possible without the active sale of weapons to the combatants.

We should declare an international one-day truce, and get all of the combatants around a table for just one day to find out who has been actively promoting the conflicts behind the scenes.

For starters, the arms manufacturers would be put under a spotlight. It is not possible for there to be a shooting war unless someone is making and selling the guns and bullets. And arms manufacturers and dealers are like stock brokers – whether you win or whether you lose, they make their profit either way.

Which incidentally opens up a whole other question of what is ethical and moral behaviour, and how is it that such companies can operate openly with nobody apparently even noticing, let alone making them accountable. I will no doubt be writing a lot more about that.