Unsettled nation marks 9/11 with rituals of sorrow

[Omaha Steve]

Source: (Excite) AP

By VERENA DOBNIK and BETH FOUHY

NEW YORK (AP) - Rites of remembrance and loss marked the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, familiar in their sorrow but observed for the first time Saturday in a nation torn over the prospect of a mosque near ground zero and the role of Islam in society.

Under a flawless blue sky that called to mind the day itself, there were tears and song, chants, and the waving of hundreds of American flags. Loved ones recited the names of the victims, as they have each year since the attacks. They looked up to add personal messages to the lost and down to place flowers in a reflecting pool in their honor.

For a few hours Saturday morning, the political and cultural furor over whether a proposed Islamic center and mosque belongs two blocks from the World Trade Center site mostly gave way to the somber anniversary ceremony and pleas from elected officials for religious tolerance.

But this Sept. 11 was unmistakably different from the eight that came before it, and not only because a new World Trade Center is finally ready to rise. As they finished reading names, two relatives of 9/11 victims issued pleas - one to God and one to New York - that the site remain "sacred."

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20100911/D9I5V7J01.html

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Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Larry Neumeister in New York, Jennifer C. Yates in Shanksville and Erica Werner in Washington.

[PSPS]

1. "Unsettled?"

Rites of remembrance and loss marked the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, familiar in their sorrow but observed for the first time Saturday in a nation torn over the prospect of a mosque near ground zero and the role of Islam in society.

Christ, what a load. Since all of this ("ground zero mosque" which is neither at "ground zero" nor a mosque, a nutjob Jim Jones wannabee getting calls from Obama and Patreus!) is a media creation, this is just more of what passes as news today -- the media reporting on the media. The only thing "unsettled" is the media's insatiable appetite to milk this for all it's worth.

We must all now bow before the altar of victim fetishization and televised freak shows.

[Skittles]

2. I agree

it is all garbage

[Iowa]

3. Well said.

[boppers]

5. Yeah, I'm sure the kids who lost their parents will be "settled" someday.

"Hey, sure your father was killed by religious nut-jobs, in an act of mass-murder of unprecedented scale, but get over it already! Your feelings are simply a media creation, they're not actually real."

:sarcasm:

Stay classy.

[PSPS]

6. I'm talking about the media

You've become trapped in the media frenzy with its "victim fetish." It's as credible as a local news model racing up to a relative of a murder victim, thrusting a microphone in their face, and asking, "How do you feel?"

By the way, 9/11 was nothing even remotely close to "an act of mass-murder of unprecedented scale."

[boppers]

7. Feeling sympathy is not a fetish.

It's an act of human decency.

As far as ""unprecedented scale", feel free to provide any events where:
1. An attack brought down the walls of the pentagon.
2. 19 people killed 3,000 people using blades as their weapons in under 2 hours.
3. Every airplane in the US was grounded to stop attacks.

Heck, it doesn't even have to all be in one attack, maybe you could provide separate examples of each, or at least, explain your thinking on how this has happened before?

[Historic NY]

4. I'm still waiting for the smoking out of Osama.....

of course he is prpbably dead.

[defendandprotect]

8. The sorrow should have been confined to that day and NOT two wars....

5,000 of our soldiers dead -- preemptive war on Iraq for no reason and 1 million

Muslims dead!

The bankrupting of our nation -- neglect of our citizens with health care --

and another long period of being lied to by right wing warmongerers -- murderers.



9/11 isn't any more real than Timothy McVeigh and the Murrah Building was --

and in neither case did our government seek the truth.

THAT'S what we should be express our sorrow about -- loss of truth -- loss of our

nation -- immoral wars!

[lunatica]

9. I stayed away from the media and just came to DU

It's like family here. There was a lot of heartfelt emotion going on here with no spruced up speeches, no Capitalistic thirst for making a buck over grief and no grand theater.

[pitohui]

10. do they really?

its now 9-12 i didn't hear one person mention 9-11 to me

it's nine years it's over, honey, we have moved on