[spectre] Susan Sontag on WTC and Anerica

[Jeremy Welsh]

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 The following article, reported in Bergense Tidende today (24 sept) was
published in The New Yorker magazine last week. Susan Sontag takes issue
with the American media & establishment over its portrayal of recent
events.



                                                            The
disconnect between last Tuesday's monstrous
                                                                  dose
of reality and the self-righteous drivel and

outright deceptions being peddled by public figures
                                                                  and TV
commentators is startling, depressing. The
                                                                  voices
licensed to follow the event seem to have
                                                                  joined
together in a campaign to infantilize the

public. Where is the acknowledgment that this was
                                                                  not a
"cowardly" attack on "civilization" or

"liberty" or "humanity" or "the free world" but an
                                                                  attack
on the world's self-proclaimed superpower,

undertaken as a consequence of specific American

alliances and actions? How many citizens are aware
                                                                  of the
ongoing American bombing of Iraq? And if
                                                                  the
word "cowardly" is to be used, it might be more
                                                                  aptly
applied to those who kill from beyond the
                                                                  range
of retaliation, high in the sky, than to those

willing to die themselves in order to kill others. In
                                                                  the
matter of courage (a morally neutral virtue):

whatever may be said of the perpetrators of

Tuesday's slaughter, they were not cowards.

                                                                  Our
leaders are bent on convincing us that

everything is O.K. America is not afraid. Our spirit
                                                                  is
unbroken, although this was a day that will live
                                                                  in
infamy and America is now at war. But

everything is not O.K. And this was not Pearl

Harbor. We have a robotic President who assures us
                                                                  that
America still stands tall. A wide spectrum of
                                                                  public
figures, in and out of office, who are

strongly opposed to the policies being pursued
                                                                  abroad
by this Administration apparently feel free
                                                                  to say
nothing more than that they stand united
                                                                  behind
President Bush. A lot of thinking needs to
                                                                  be
done, and perhaps is being done in Washington
                                                                  and
elsewhere, about the ineptitude of American

intelligence and counter-intelligence, about options

available to American foreign policy, particularly
                                                                  in the
Middle East, and about what constitutes a
                                                                  smart
program of military defense. But the public is
                                                                  not
being asked to bear much of the burden of

reality. The unanimously applauded,

self-congratulatory bromides of a Soviet Party

Congress seemed contemptible. The unanimity of
                                                                  the
sanctimonious, reality-concealing rhetoric

spouted by American officials and media

commentators in recent days seems, well, unworthy
                                                                  of a
mature democracy.

                                                                  Those
in public office have let us know that they

consider their task to be a manipulative one:

confidence-building and grief management.

Politics, the politics of a democracy—which entails

disagreement, which promotes candor—has been

replaced by psychotherapy. Let's by all means
                                                                  grieve
together. But let's not be stupid together. A
                                                                  few
shreds of historical awareness might help us

understand what has just happened, and what may

continue to happen. "Our country is strong," we are
                                                                  told
again and again. I for one don't find this

entirely consoling. Who doubts that America is

strong? But that's not all America has to be.

                                                                  —Susan
Sontag

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