I haven’t been posting as much for the last few days. My head has been way inside the books on my Toussaint Louverture Project. I have been following the Richard Clarke thing, and I may or may not have something to say about it. But as I’ve been listening to the 9/11 Commission hearings today, I’ve been thinking a lot about Silencing the Past by Michel-Rolph Trouillot. Trouillot’s book is about the writing of history, and about what gets written and what gets left out. He spends some time, too, on the idea that until certain things happen, those things can be inconcievable to the population at large. In his example, the idea that black people could have even the desire to revolt, much less actually organize and stage a revolution… this was an unimaginable thought to most of the white world in 1791. In the same way, the idea that someone would use airplanes as bombs was unthinkable to most of us until September 11, 2001. I find it perfectly understandable that stricter measures weren’t taken to prevent those attacks. How would you have made the argument prior to that day that we needed to bolt cockpit doors or confiscate box cutters? The momentum of opinion hadn’t been generated; the urgency was lacking. What I do find unpardonable, though, is the Administration’s obtuse insistence on destroying Iraq, and their subsequent pattern of lies and distortions to cover up what they must know to be indefensible acts.

• No Related Post

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2004 @ 6:41 pm Nothings
RSS 2.0 Both comments and pings are currently closed.