9/11 and the imminent demise of democracy

Realistically, we should remember that some people celebrated the catastrophic events of September 11, 2001, with glee.

  • Their wildest dream was coming true.
  • All those millions of American TVs tuned in to death, destruction, and devastation.
  • All that fear and anger!
  • It was better even than the Gulf of Tonkin incident!

I am not talking about Arabs or Muslims, the vast majority of whom shared our horror and outrage on 9/11.

I am also not talking about the people our government brands as terrorists or potential terrorists, although terrorists these people may be.

I am talking about Americans, a select group of Americans within the military-industrial complex who profit from wars, who lust for power, who would sell out any of us and call it patriotism.

I am talking about Americans, overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly male, overwhelmingly greedy, who enjoy enormous power, who constitute the shadow government hiding, in many cases, behind the shirts of the best elected officials money can buy.

Those Americans watched the relentless videos of the collapse of the towers and saw dollar signs and weapons contracts. They saw a frightened and angry public ready to support the Patriot Act, which accelerated the theft of their rights, the suppression of their freedoms, the death of their democracy, and the empowerment of the shadowy National Security Agency. The overreaching of that agency should appall us all.

Former President Jimmy Carter, who praised Edward Snowden for releasing information about government spying, recently commented that “America is no longer a functioning democracy.”

If democracy is to be revived, if we are to have a fair chance at peace, we need to be critical consumers of the news–and we need to follow the money.

Who wants war and why? Who wants peace and why? What will benefit YOU?

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology