[Welcome, Blogometrists; I've punched this politics-soaked post from a few days ago back to the top for your EZ-reading pleasure. To our regular readers … well, I hope you like reruns.]
A number of pundits have referred to the "September 10 Mentality". Dubya alluded to it in a debate with John Kerry (although he, perhaps predictably, managed to mutate it into "pre-September 10th mentality." It always struck me as a little unfair to apply the term with a broad brush; who doesn't realize that we turned a corner on September 11, and there's no going back?
Well, to name two: Dennis Kucinich and his wife, Elizabeth. Not only do they exemplify the September 10 mentality, they embrace it, and give it big sloppy wet kisses. In an effort coordinated with his presidential candidacy, they've established the "9/10 Forum" which is (if I may characterize) based on the idea that if we close our eyes and wish real hard that 9/11 never happened, maybe we can go back to those wonderful days when America was universally loved and admired as a beacon of hope, etc.
[Note (2008-01-25): the link above is no longer functional, and there are no recent mentions of the "9/10 Forum" found by the Google; the idea probably became too stupid and embarrassing even for the Kuciniches.]
States Elizabeth, in paragraph one of the link provided above:
Quick, someone call Jerome Armstrong! Somebody needs to ask Congressman Kucinich just how much weight astrological insights would be given in his proposed administration, and it would seem Jerome would be ideal for this task.
I am personally a Taurus, but I don't think that's where my ability to detect bullshit comes from.
The Kuciniches recently appeared at the RiverRun Bookstore in lovely downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Elizabeth's segment was CSPANned and YouTubed:
[Elizabeth's segment was removed from YouTube; the CSPAN video is not embeddable, but it's here.]
And—sorry—I cannot resist transcribing Elizabeth's brief speech, using a Rosie O'Donnell-style free verse format:
thank you so much for being here
it's lovely to be with you
um
the 9/10 forum as Dennis has described
really is
about reconnecting with our highest aspirations
our highest aspirations of who we were
and who we thought we were
the highest aspirations we had for our families
our communities
our country
and our world
asking the question
who were we before 9/11
who was i
what did i dream
how did i see myself
how did i see
the world
how did the world see me
it's looking at rediscovering who we are
using an appreciative technique
which is the idea that
when we align our strengths
then the weaknesses fall away
they become irrelevant
we don't have to worry about them
when we constantly look at the problems in the world
we'll always find more problems to solve
so that's a cul-de-sac
9/11 has become a cul-de-sac
a cul-de-sac for our emotions
a cul-de-sac for everything
to do with our policies
and everything that we create now
we can move beyond that
it's about rediscovering
who we are
what we want
what our highest aspirations were
what the founding mothers and fathers of this nation
had
in mind when they created this country
this amazing place that the rest of the world
used to
look at
as being a beacon of light
of hope
of vision
we can recreate this together
through rediscovering who we were
who we are
through narrative
through sharing stories
what is your highest aspiration
when was a time when you felt most courage
when was a time when you felt most community
when you belonged
when you were there
sharing these stories which are individual to ourselves
not working on theory
but working on our own experience
we actually reaffirm our collective experience
the true experience of who we are
once we've rediscovered that
we can move forward and think
well what is it that we want to carry into the future
what are the building blocks
that we want to
to build upon
to create the vision
of where we want to go
in our own [?] community
and our nation nation nation nation
well thank you for having us
and back to my husband heh
Darned if a part of me doesn't want to see Kucinich elected; the straight network news would start looking like Daily Show/SNL parodies, and the parodists themselves would be at an utter loss.
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