First, I want to start off by saying that 9/11 2001 was a tragedy. The total death count as a direct result of the terrorist attacks is estimated between 3,000 – 4,000 people – mostly innocent. Wives lost husbands, children lost parents, and people lost relatives and friends. It was a sad day for everyone watching and even sadder for those who lost someone they knew in one of the attacks. Those who were taken so abruptly have hopefully left behind memories for their families to cherish forever.
The issue I have is that 9/11 2001 is not the greatest tragedy of September 11th and it’s not even really close. In 1944, the Royal Air Force firestormed a German town called Darmstadt causing the deaths of some 11,500 people – mostly civilians and children. These civilians and children were roasted alive and 75% of the city was burnt to the ground. This was the RAF’s way of taking out German military bases.
What about the thousands of Palestinian refugees slaughtered in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps after given a guarantee of safety on September 11, 1982?
Where is the memorial ceremony for that town? For those refugees? Are they just considered collateral damage by ‘the good guys’? We’re required to be spoon-fed the tragic events 24/7 on 9/11 2001 by the egocentric American media and politicians both nationally and internationally but not a word is spoken of the Darmstadt attack or of the Palestinian refugees. It seems to me that something is wrong or that the self-centred and self-serving bias is very apparent by the, ahem….’centre of the universe’. In fact, when you use Google and type September 11th tragedies, it results in pages and pages of the September 11, 2001 tragedy with no mention of any of the other tragedies. Instead of leading the war on terrorism (which has become a joke in itself), the US should be progressive and be leading the march for world peace. I suppose I am fooling myself by hoping for that to happen.
This write-up is not directed at anyone who lost someone personally as those who did lose someone deserve to memorialize the tragic events. It’s a part of healing and is quite sad and the memories of those who passed away should live on forever. Instead, it is aimed at the self-serving politicians, the general egocentrism of Americans, and for every one of those people who lost someone in the even larger tragedies I touched on in this article.