Cheers, Ken Hanly
Many peoples from diverse cultures express grief in very different ways. For example, among most Indigenous Peoples, grief is something to be expressed in very private and very spiritual ways; there is the thought that public expressions of grief or support for those who have suffered loss may be used for purposes that have nothing to do with genuine expressions of grief--private agenda, forging alliances, personal narcissism and self-engrandizement etc. It is like giving to a charity, if done privately, with no notice or fanfare, keeping it between oneself and the Creator, the motives and expressions are often less suspect. Other cultures, however, have very different modes of expressing grief and solidarity.
Imagine being a Jew, a Roma, Gay or a disabled person in Germany, a tragedy has occurred, and all around you people are singing "Deutschland Uber Alles" and saying "this is an attack on 'civilization' and OUR homeland", "WE have never been terrorists and WE will stand against terrorism, WE must unite..." That is how many Indigenous people feel about some of the syrupy emotionalism and jingoism going on and passing for "patriotism." etc. Guess what? There are many in America, including Indigenous Nations on the verge of extinction, the poor and homeless, those without health care fearing a catastrophic illness, children with the right to be born but not with the right to live full lives free of poverty and abuse and etc for whom America is not so "beautiful."
Further, jingoism and emotionalism may be self-gratifying from a personal and psychological point of view, but it doesn't help to stop further terrorism. What will help to stop further terrorism, and what is the highest tribute that can be paid to the victims, is to ask the tough and unpopular questions, do the often painful self-examination of ourselves and our own involvement in past and present terrorism (including our own past/recent support--with foreseeable consequences foreseen at the time--for the likes of Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, other terrorists yet to surface), do our homework and read from a variety of sources and perspectives, and just plain not allow cover-ups, the rewriting of history or demagogues using our grief and passions for their own narrow and cynical purposes.
Many are signing-up to give blood, driven by their emotions and grief, and that's great, but why does it take something like this for some people to give blood? There has been a longstanding need for blood for some time. I personally cannot give blood ever because of hepatitis acquired during service in the U.S. Army--from which I nearly died. So I'll have to find another way to contribute. My way to pay tribute to the victims is to do careful scholarship and research on the origins and forces responsible for terrorism. For example, if I give a gun to a known psychotic who is the "enemy of my enemy" and therefore potentially useful in a limited and contained sense--I think--I am responsible for the inevitable and foreseeable carnage that will ensue. Well Saddam Hussein was a known thug and terrorist long before the invasion of Kuwait, but because he was useful for purposes of oil and standing against Iran in the Iran-Iraq War that cost over a million lives, the U.S. Government armed him, gave him loans and grants from U.S. taxpayer's dollars, and even gave him sophisticated satellite intelligence they don't even give the Israelis. Then comes the invasion of Kuwait and all of a sudden those who armed and gave a green light to Saddam Hussein are posturing and waxing patriotic trying to sanitize any references as to who had given Saddam Hussein his resources and green light. The same is true with respect to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden who were U.S. "allies" against the Soviets in Afghanistan (knowing full-well they were as anti-U.S. as anti-Soviet and were trafficking dope to finance their operations--putting the war against drugs on the back burner) and then as recently as August, 2001 the U.S. Government was sending monies to the Taliban (see the very prophetic Robert Sheer article dated May 22, 2001) now under the banner of the drug war, as the Taliban claimed to have come to the realization that drug trafficking is "anti-Islam." And again, we see some of the same players in the U.S. Government singing "God Bless America" with no reference to how/why the Taliban and Osama bin Laden got to and stayed in the positions they are now in and with no reference to the myriad intelligence and security failures that also contributed to this tragedy.
Well flag waving, calls for "unity", etc. are relatively easy and often just plain narcissistic and manipulative; they don't really take a whole lot of personal energy and commitment. How many who are doing the more jingoistic expressions of "patriotism" knew anything about the Taliban and Osama bin Laden (who says he didn't do it and has not yet been "determined" to have done it) and the whole history of their origins and support? Or, how many of the flag wavers have even read the U.S. Constitution in its entirety? Or, how many of the more expressive "patriots" do you think could pass the basic citizenship test given to all immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship? I suspect not many. And what is really priceless is that while screaming "America the free", singing "America the Beautiful" and talking about "democracy", some of America's own Taliban types are trying to silence dissenting opinions, attacking poor immigrants who themselves are victims of terrorism and just plain playing right into the hands of these terrorists.
In their book "Critical Thinking: Tools For Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life", the authors Richard Paul and Linda Elder note the following values as critical to critical thinking or what they call "Traits of the Disciplined Mind": Intellectual Autonomy; Intellectual Integrity; Intellectual Humility; Intellectual Sense of Justice; Intellectual Perseverance; Intellectual Fair-mindedness; Intellectual Confidence in Reason; Intellectual Courage; Intellectual Empathy. They also note that more commonly held and employed traits are the opposite "values" or "Traits of the Undisciplined Mind": Intellectual Conformity; Intellectual Hypocrisy; Intellectual Arrogance; Intellectual Unfairness; Intellectual Laziness; Intellectual Disregard for Justice; Intellectual Distrust of Reason; Intellectual Cowardice; Intellectual self-centeredness.
The real tribute to the memories and suffering of the victims of the WTC tragedy or any tragedy, is to do some serious scholarship, read some very dull books, listen to a variety of often uncomfortable perspectives, admit what must be admitted about ourselves as well as about others, learn the lessons that must be learned and above all do not succumb to the jingoistic demagoguery and manipulations of the "sunshine patriots and politicians/politician wannabes. Of course what it takes to show real support and grief for the victims of any tragedy cannot be served up like a microwavable dinner and may be too much for a culture geared to narcissism, anti-intellectualism, ultra-individualism and the quest for "instant gratification."
Jim Craven Professor of Economics Member, Blackfoot Nation