Political cures that may be worse than the disease Vol.9: 9/11

There are days where it's just painful to read the news. I want to be up-to-date on current events. I want to have as many facts as possible so that I can form reasonable opinions on the state of our country and, in turn, our world. I want to have a better understanding of who we are as a culture, and what I can do to make it a better place.

But sometimes it's just too painful to process.

I was flipping through channels last night, and I was amazed how so many channels offered nothing to commemorate the anniversary of September 11th. In fact, most channels actually went so far as to show the most banal, insipid shows in their lineup instead of remembering the events of six years ago.

I understand their decision to some extent. There's a lot of reporting about it over the course of the day, and it's always on our minds from the moment we look at the calendar. And anyone who was affected directly by 9/11 isn't gonna be at home watching VH1, so you might as dig deep into the chum bucket and show whatever you want.

However, I was sorta outraged when I stopped on MSNBC and saw a promo for their rebroadcast of the Today show from September 11, 2001. I was skeptical when they touted it as "watching history unfold". For some strange reason, I put down the remote and watched it.

It turned out to be quite fascinating. Watching the events unfold the same way I saw it six years ago, with the undercurrent of panic in the reporter's voices, the speculation to what the hell was going on, the uncertainty of what was going to happen next...I saw those events with a level of clarity that has been lost in a six-year fog of political rhetoric, a sea of pointed fingers and a haze of bumper sticker slogans.

Here's my proposal for remembering September 11th from here on out: Manditory rememberance, in the context of honoring the people who perished that day. We talk openly about the fear and anguish we felt that day, recalling and reliving that unity of grief we experienced. The catch is, the moment anyone tries to politicize it, or spin it into a back-handed attack to either side of the political spectrum, that person will be gagged, bound and placed in solitary confinement overnight, with no food or water for exactly 24 hours. All they will have with them in their cell is a list of the victims, which they must copy by hand.

Sure, this sounds an awful lot like the creation of the thought police, but wouldn't it also be great to have one day out of the year without hearing "liberal" or "conservative" in a snide tone? To have one day of unity as Americans, where we put aside our differences like we did that day, only we do it out of respect for the victims of that day instead of that collective feeling of being scared shitless? As it stands, I'm just getting sick of people finishing off a moment of silence with "and another thing..."

Fox News would certainly have to switch to pre-taped programs and give their reporters the day off in lieu of having them detained on live television. The downside to this would be that all of the news channels would almost have to force themselves to only show fluff pieces to fill out their schedule that day. Then, we'll be flooded with updates about Leona Helmsley's dog, or that one kid whining for people to leave Britney alone.

Theres never a perfect plan, is there?