4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 11, 2002 OP/ED obr AelHicbi~tau Jtail 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 JON SCHWARTZ Editor in Chief JOHANNA HANINK Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE Fear is no guide to th onstitution." - The New York Times Editorial Board in yesterday's paper, on the necessity of preserving civil liberties in times of crisis. SAM BUTLER Ti i SOAPBX Remembering what was lost and (briefly) gained JESS PISKOR THIs SPACE NT FOR SALE his is big. Bigger than the Oscars. Bigger even than the Super Bowl. This is Sept. 11, 2002. Every channel, all day. This is a media event. Some- thing to be hyped, adver- tised and treated with breathless reverence. So ends the memory of Sept. 11. I don't want to be cynical about the memorials and tributes and remembrances and vigils and retrospectives and analyses and banner headlines and pictorials and mon- tages. But I am. It all seems like too much of a show lacking any real substance. We have diminished the human tragedy and made it into a chance to pat ourselves on the back and assure ourselves that everything is fine now, if not better than before. The United States hasn't changed for the better. We haven't re-evaluated anything, we've become more set in our ways. We haven't become more tolerant; we've put our blinders on. It's us versus them, good versus evil. Gone is our thoughtful introspection. As we pause today to reflect on the horri- ble sorrow that was Sept. 11, we should not forget the humanity of the day. That day is now a fixation of every media outlet across the country. On one level it has to be. To ignore this day would somehow feel wrong, as though we were refusing to acknowledge the sincerity and solemnity of emotions stemming from Sept. 11. But somewhere during this past year we forgot the real lessons we learned and instead focused on broad self-assurances of righteousness. Sept. 11, the event, can be divided into two distinct realities: The day and the follow-up. First and foremost, it must always be remembered for the day. That day shocked the world. It was a day unlike any in modern times; airplanes didn't fly, no televi- sion commercials ran, the stock markets all closed and we spontaneously gathered, talked and thought, all united by grief and a deep feeling of loss. Everything commercial stopped and everything human drew us in. For those few days, the world stepped back and asked, "Why?" Why does this happen? Why here? What did we do? Why is there so much death in the world? Why so much hate? On campus, 15,000 people gathered on the Diag and talked about peace and tolerance and love. Amidst the horror, it seemed we were poised for a change. It was during this time of destruction that it seemed as though, some- how, we would bring about a new Greatest Generation, one that would rise above con- sumption and nationalism. The world was going to come out of this better than before. But then all that changed. After those few brief days, Sept. 11 began to take on a second meaning. It became the cause for frustration as the United States failed to take the opportunity for positive transformation. It all started when we began to react to Sept. 11 like good little capitalists ought: We used it and consumed it, bought it and sold it. Flags flew off the shelves, patriotic songs blared and red, white and blue logos gfaced every television station. We consumed - guilt -free - because our president told us it was out patriotic duty. We swaddled ourselves in the material and forgot the humanity and love that was our immediate reaction. After a brief spike in caring, people, despite what they may say, returned to their self-centered lives. Volun- teerism never took off. After a brief respite, anger and impatience with each other found its way back into society. The words "Sepember. 11" no longer con- jure up images of falling towers and ended lives. I've grown'cynical towards that day. In part this is because I'm no longer hopeful of what might become. But I once was. The com- mercialization and use of Sept. 11 for political gain, coupled with unilateralist U.S. policies strike me as horribly wrong. I can't help but look back at those few days when despite all the tragedy, there was hope. That was before nationalism's iron grip took hold of the United States. Before racial hatred and intolerance boiled over. Before' our civil liberties where traded in for a figment of securi- ty. Before our politicians used the day for their gain. Before we separated the world into us and them. Before we installed a puppet government in Afghanistan. And long before we planned to preemptively spread war throughout the world. And I want to deny it, deny that there was a chance. That way at least I don't feel frustrated. I don't feel defeated. But it doesn't change the fact: We could have been great. We had our moment, we all felt it. And then, "poof," it's a TV mini-series. And all meaning is lost. And I'm cursed for having had hope. 0 Jess Piskor can be reached atjpiskor@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Critics have been silenced, silent long enough; Sept. 11 appropriate day for dissent TO THE DAILY: Yes, on this day of all days, let us gather together in an uncritical spirit. Let us mourn without bitterness. Let us congregate without quarrel. Let us pray for peace without con- sciousness of the irony. And most of all, let's just please keep our mouths shut. Johanna Hanink's offer of a 24-hour ideo- logical truce (Let's save the criticism for Sept. 12, 9/9/02) - and the long-suffering tone in which it is offered - would be far more palatable if critical voices hadn't been ordered to shut up from day one. It isn't a matter of this single day. It's been an entire year, during which we have finished one war and made plans to start another. Respect for any form of patriotism that isn't blind is no greater than it was twelve months ago. All year, I've heard the World Trade Center bombing invoked for causes cynical beyond belief. Congress used the tragedy to pass a gar- gantuan corporate welfare bill. Our attorney general used it to shred the Bill of Rights. Our fearless leader has used it to legitimize and excuse his entire presidency, and will soon use it to start a war. How much longer will the dead and their loved ones be held up as a smoke screen for greed and violence? How much longer does Hanink propose I keep quiet about it? A year from now, will the powers that be point to another group of widows, this time from the war on Iraq, and say, "How dare you criticize? Look at them! Grieving! Pregnant! Have you no shame?" And so on, and so on, until we are knee-deep in the honored dead and their dishonorable killers. I'm tired of being told not to politicize an act of war, especially when the injunction comes from the politicians who have used that act to create a political atmosphere of hawkish xenophobia. I'm tired of being told to have more respect by those who have none. I'm tired of being told that all my respects must be paid in silence. And I am sick of the implication that I don't think enough about the dead. My inabil- ity to forget them is what leads me to question. I and all the other dissenters out there are trying to prevent a second act of terrorism. And we would really prefer that our country not go fly- ing overseas to take its three thousand pounds of flesh out on a new group of husbands and fathers, or - far worse and just as likely - their wives and children. I do like Hanink's proposal that we use Sept. 12 to "turn our attention to analysis, to critique." I have just one question: You promise? JESS WHITE LSA senior LETTERS POLICY The Michigan Daily welcomes letters from all of its readers. Letters from University students, faculty, staff and administrators will be given priority over others. Letters should include the writer's name, college and school year or other University affiliation. The Daily will not print any letter containing statements that cannot be verified. Letters should be kept to approximately 300 words. The Michigan Daily reserves the right to edit for length, clarity and accuracy. Longer "viewpoints" may be arranged with an editor. Let- ters will be run according to order received and the amount of space available. Letters should be sent over e-mail to letters@michigandaily.com or mailed to the Daily at 420 Maynard St. Editors can be reached via e- mail at editpage.editors@umich.edu. Letters e- mailed to the Daily will be given priority over those dropped off in person or sent via the U.S. Postal Service. al VIEWPOINT Tragedy should not trump equality, freedom BY FADI KIBLAWI Sept. 11, 2001, 3:30 pm - President Bush was to address the press and announce once and for all, secret evidence is no more. The nation was to come together, and put behind us a dark chapter in our history in which Arabs were arrested, detained and incarcerated with- out charge for sometimes years, their only crime being the land they descended from. On that fateful day, on that tragic morning hour, Americans did come together in another way. One that transcended political scheming and maneuvering, that magnified the true intrinsic beauty of Americans and the bond that ties us all together. On this campus alone, 15,000 of us stood side by side, and reminded each other of the oneness of humanity. We stood unsuspecting that this horrible crime against our country would be used as an excuse to erode the very principals that keep our soci- ety free and great. One year later, we embark on a time of iiit a-nd nrnvr 2,000 Arabs and Muslims that were detained indefinitely and not charged with any crime since Sept. 11 is that of Dr. Mazen Al-Najjar. Dr. Al-Najjar was arrested for the first time on May 19, 1997 by the INS, which cited evi- dence that could not be released, not even to him or his lawyers, due to national security interests. With no charges laid and no evidence brought against him, it was impossible to build a defense; other than one that based itself on the due process rights of all. . As soon as he was arrested, there were clear signs that the government did not have any incriminating evidence against him. After being taken into custody, he was immediately offered residency and citizenship in exchange for his acting as an informant against relatives. Logic dictates that if a man was a threat to national security, he would not be immediately offered citizenship. However, this was the case and Dr. Al-Naj- jar had no choice but to refuse, as he did not have any information to give. One-thousand, three-hundred and seven solitarv confinement many Arab-Americans, I will feel both the immense grief due to the losses of our country and the anger of injustice that has intensified since Sept. 11. . The message that I would like to get across to my fellow Americans is that our fundamen- tal values were not written on Sept. 24, 2001. They were not declared or intended to be declared on Sept. 11, 2001. They were not born on May 19, 1997 upon Dr. Al-Najjar's first arrest or Dec. 15, 2000 upon his first release. It should never be forgotten, that our fundamental values, those which carry this great nation above all else, those which ensure equality and due process for all, that shun racism and racial profiling, were born with this great nation over 200 years ago. Tonight is a night when we must come together, in prayer and memory of the victims of Sept. 11. It should not be one spent examin- ing the case of Dr. Al-Najjar or the 2,000 oth- ers. For the fact is, that no matter how sadistic the erosion of our civil liberties gets, nothing can overshadow the loss of lives so many one al r +Ct#,A#. i.xdVxE 1. l:laV: t ,f.is? .::1.#4 V#4 . t~ts i: t : 44+h ...4vsav~u v~c+ ,x v~k:+hj j!.. .j.z~t