In the days after 9/11, I had no access to the internet, nor any possibility of publishing anything anywhere. But I occasionally wrote pieces about history or current events, for no reason other than to preserve my thoughts, and probably in an attempt to protect my sanity. Most of those pieces have been lost; the following piece is the only one that remains. It was written early in 2002.For a long time I was reluctant to show it to anyone. It seemed too radical, too speculative, too paranoid. How things have changed since then. It now strikes me as rather tame. Nevertheless, since I now have a blog of my own, it makes some sense to publish it here. Make of it what you will.
~~~TROUBLE
A guy could get in a lot of trouble around here
if he happened to notice
and especially if he happened to mention
that America's wounds of September 11th, 2001
appear to have been self-inflicted
even if all he said was that
the conditions which allowed the attacks to succeed
were largely created and maintained by Americans
poor airport security for instance
a generous immigration policy
and open access to flight training schools
so of course I did not say that
A guy could get in even more trouble around here
if he said something else about those wounds
for example if he said that
the conditions which inspire terrorism
and terrorists
stem from the facts
that the United States has shown
very clearly
over and over
that it will happily prop up any tyrant
no matter how repressive
so long as he is willing
to sell us his country's oil
or coffee or tin or bananas
or whatever else they happen to have
at prices which we consider reasonable
and that we don't even require these tyrants
to share the resulting income with their people
and that therefore they do not do so
so that untold millions of people
become obscenely poor
while a very few people
friends and families of the tyrants, mostly
become obscenely rich
and that all of this
hideously unbalanced
distribution of wealth
is protected by American military power
and is therefore seen as America's doing
so I didn't say anything about that
But a guy could get in a lot more trouble around here
if he said something else
about America's wounds of September 11th
for instance if he said that our security services
the FBI the CIA the NSA and so on
appear to have been given many hints and warnings
not one of which they appear to have heeded
and any one of which could have served
to compromise the entire plan of attack
and if he just happened to mention
that none of these security services
have ever been disciplined in any way
and that instead their budgets have been increased
and if he also happened to mention
that he found all this quite strange
so of course I did not do so
A guy could get in even more trouble around here
if he took a different view
of the way in which
all these intelligence services
failed to prevent the attacks of September 11th
for example if
rather than finding it strange
he found it sinister
and if for instance he implied
or came right out and said
that these attacks seem to have been
an "inside job"
that those who carried them out
appear to have been assisted
and possibly even directed
by a small
secretive
and very powerful group
hidden deep within our government
whose aim was threefold
one
to provide a pretext
for armed intervention
in Afghanistan
and Iraq
and as many other countries
in the Middle East
or elsewhere in the world
as they happen to feel like invading
two
to turn the mood of the country
away from skepticism
about the way in which
the President was "elected"
toward fear and anger
and blind hatred
and blinding patriotism
all of which tend to make the public
much easier to manipulate
three
to focus the media
on a never-ending War on Terrorism
away from Congress
and the World Trade Organization
and other legislative bodies elsewhere
who are now very busy making new laws
taking away our freedom
A guy could get in a lot of trouble around here
if he happened to notice all these things
and even more importantly
if he happened to mention them
and if he also happened to mention
that all three of these aims
appear to have succeeded
so of course I did not do so
And a guy could get in even more trouble around here
if he happened to say
that the American government
appears to have fallen into evil hands
and that the American people
you, me, Jim over there, everybody
have the fight of our lives ahead of us
and that we need to be strong and smart
resourceful and determined
and working together
to have any chance of getting it back
so of course I did not say that
and I also didn't happen to mention
that most of the American people
have no idea they are in for a fight
that they are so fast asleep
they don't even realize there's a problem
and that it's up to the rest of us
to wake them up
before it's too late
no, I didn't mention that either
As a matter of fact
I didn't mention any of these things
nor would I
because
a guy could get in a lot of trouble around here
I'll leave you with a song. This is a funky, bluesy thing, written by Lowell George of Little Feat
Trouble
you yelled "hey" when your car wouldn't start
then you got real nervous and started to eat your heart out
now you're so fat your shoes don't fit on your feet
you've got trouble and it's tailor-made
now mama lay your head down in the shade
'cause your eyes are tired and your feet are too
and you wish the world was as tired as you
well I'll write a letter and I'll send it away
and put all the trouble in it you had today
well your telephone rang and you went "oh no"
you forgot about this and you forgot about that
and you've got to get back to what you're doin'
goodbye click that so-and-so
you're an island and on your own
and you yelled "hey" when your stove blew up
upset? why yes
the footprints on your ceiling are almost gone
and you're wondering why
well mama lay your head down, don't you cry
'cause your eyes are tired and your feet are too
and you wish the world was as tired as you
well I'll write a letter and I'll send it away
and put all the trouble in it you had today