Celebrate 9-11

I propose 9-11 should be “National Travel Day” and as Americans who refuse to be afraid of the big bad wolf, we travel, go out to eat and spend money lavishly and in hedonistic ways.
I remember 9-11 well, the burning towers etc, I was working nights and woke up to my morning coffee and the internet news I couldn’t quite believe. Yes for several minutes I thought it was a hoax of some kind.As time went on over the next several weeks it actually got worse as people literally stopped living their lives, and adjusted everything to cowering in fear that some ridiculous imagined threat might materialize. A man I worked with who always talked about his church, cancelled his trip to Hawaii, he was afraid. He was in poor health and about 66 years old, apparently his savior was not powerful enough. People actually called the police if local kids played in the woods and wore camo clothing; they thought “terrorists had targeted their important neighborhood for implosion. People turned in neighbors who took photos outside it was completely nuts.
Things of course have cooled off some but we are nowhere near back to normal are we?
One of the moments I have been proudest of my mother is one week after 9-11 she had plane tickets to Montana. I asked if she was still going and she said of course, she was more worried about airlines cutting down on maintenance (very real), and drunken pilots than terrorists. Her reasoning was; why would the terrorists bother with a little old lady like her. Well, right on.
The terrorists attacked the World Trade Towers as a symbol, a symbol of American might, but also American values, freedom, morality, and happiness. They killed some people sure… but the total effect was a 1000 times worse because they did cause terror, and panic, they did change American life for the worse. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams because we rolled over, pissed our pants and let them.
So in all seriousness I think 9-11 should be made a holiday and it should be based on travel, and partying, and going out and not being afraid. People should go skydiving or take that hot air balloon trip, or do something new. It should be about breaking out of ruts, mental, physical and spiritual. Don’t tell me about your wonderful life-after-death god and show me your fish bumper sticker, show me your powerful faith by living a fearless, powerful life.

I know we have a lot of holidays but we have tweaked them haven’t we?

We used to celebrate Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthday and now we have the watered down “President’s Day” which means nothing. Columbus Day went the way of political correctness to a dried up death. MLK day is actually the only day the Seattle Times takes out a full page in the paper to remind us, hard to believe, good thing he is not still alive to disappoint us with being human. As near as I can tell Easter has waned and most stores are open now. Memorial Day and Labor Day are just days off from work. Fourth of July is only fireworks day. Thanksgiving and Christmas still retain pop because the weather is bad and hey we still do the family over for dinner right? Halloween is too scary because we can’t trust strangers any more, we are too afraid.
So why not ditch Labor Day and have a real holiday? We could call it American Values Day or something. I honestly think if we had a big holiday spectacular every year it would make Bin Laden’s butt burn. Instead of singing about the “home of the brave” why don’t we go out and live our lives like we always have and be brave or at least not afraid of living our lives like Americans used to live their lives.
Personally I think it would be like a Pearl Harbor Day that we really celebrate, it should be a three day national holiday and can replace Labor Day which has no meaning anymore. People should have resolutions to do something they want to do but have put off due to fear. Ask out that special person on a date you have been afraid to ask. Try out that risky blog idea. Go down to downtown Seattle and take some photo night shots you have been meaning to do, but inexplicably haven’t. Try something new like a play, or new ethnic restaurant you have never tried. If at all possible travel somewhere for no reason at all, other than you are happy to be alive and living in America on September 11, 2009!

So, join me in celebrating 9-11, Amercia is alive and kicking Day.

Journalism 2009: Insightful or Incitefiul?

Right now there is a great deal of talk about journalism all across our media; mainly because so many newspapers and magazines in the US are going out of business. People assume it is because folks are reading the papers online but there is also a lot of discussion about blogging. Many so-called or self-professed “professional” journalists have decried the amateurs which seem to be taking over the web. Many of these upstarts have become quite powerful very quickly. The Perez Hilton’s of the world do not have to be politically correct and can entertain by being outrageous. Gossip, rumor and innuendo are all fair game and good for readership numbers and hits.
Here in the Seattle area many have decried the loss of the Seattle Post Intelligencer. But where did the PI come from? It is a Hearst paper and Randolph Hearst in his day was thought of being a “yellow journalist” for publishing something akin to a National Enquirer of its day. Hearst bumped up crime coverage to 24% of the paper and published rumors about suicides, affairs and printed pictures considered to be very racy to gain circulation. He catered to large population of immigrants where English was a second language and reading content and accuracy were deemed secondary to a good story.
Both Hearst and Pulitzer (now Murdoch), discovered that when going after advertising revenue more circulation meant more money for them. The Spanish American war prequel of 1895 is where Hearst really went nuts, publishing lurid tales of Spanish brutality of very dubious accuracy. He was pushing a war-hawk agenda. In fact when the war started in earnest Hearst actually claimed credit for it. So that is where our beloved PI came from, a quick buck artist who cared little about the integrity of journalistic ethics.
This latest swine flu epidemic scare has already been beaten to death shamelessly by the local media. KING5’s coverage can only be described as hysterical. Clearly they are still selling fear, the meat and potatoes of the FOX NEWS network. It goes deeper than that though; these news organizations get in bed with those they cover. They have reporters that cover things like “Aerospace” and if you think for a minute they are going to be critical of the decision making going on at the Boeing Company you are nuts. If they were they would lose their privileged status and would be persona non grata. Besides that it would be more work. They literally take the company news releases and print whatever they are told, amazing.

So all I can say is this: thank god for the internet, thank god for bloggers and the niche news people all over the world, thank god these established papers and TV finally have real competition from real people who aren’t always just after more circulation, more money and keeping the status quo. Most have nothing to really gain, only that wonderful feeling of community and connectedness.

If you think these people that have been in charge of information dispersion for so many years really did their jobs admirably during the Iraq War, or 9-11, or the torture scandals of the last 8 years, then watch FOX NEWS read the Times and go to bed scared witless every night. So what was the headline today in the online PI? One guess.

Nowadays, with a little work the truths of the world can in fact be gleaned out. This is a tremendous time for people who are citizen journalists all over the world to tell the real, non-commercial, non-politically correct, un-strained, un-washed gritty naked truth.