10 years after 9/11, memorial wounds take generations to heal. Heroes of one side, murderers of the other, awe and shock of multiple fold paradigm rolling on the screens. In thinking about the events of September, it’s hard to decide which of the outcomes of things happening is more monstrous. The event itself- 3000 people killed. Having the opportunity to be an impotent witness- watching live on tv? The aftermath?
Ten years of security measures, general suspicions, religious propaganda (on both sides), bombing, war on terror, shock, torture and paranoia. “We have obligations towards our citizens, and we do everything to protect our citizens.” Richard Bruce “Dick” Cheney, vice president of the U.S (2001–2009) supporter and story teller of the War on terror and other narrations – such as Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Death tolls are still rolling because apparently 3000 wasn’t enough. In order to protect some of the citizens more effort needs to be taken. Add another 1,487 dead American contractors in Iraq, 1,752 dead military in Afghanistan. People avenging dead people are agreeing to the implied risks of their act of redemption. Mourning time indeed but for whom?
On the anti-hero side of the 9/11 more than 150,000 people have been recorded killed in the Iraq war to date.80% of those killed were civilians. Seems some people just happened to be born in the wrong country at the wrong time. A statement that is valid for both sides of the murderers and the murdered.
Both anger and fear are justified feelings, but if those feelings are turned into radical political action and one can assume war would fit that description, the outcome seems both unreasonable and irrational.
Emancipating murder out of fear of dying, hope for victory, but if you take out the national propaganda heroism and suicide are separated just by who is making the death announcement: the hospital or the army. Looking at figures, facts and news is quantifying actions into a non -relatable abstract result. For politicians and public alike numbers remain numbers and victims are just people seen in photographs. Very few of us have can even imagine how it would be like if the streets in your city would smell like a slaughter house or how long it takes to clear out the smell of gun powder from your clothes. Actually some are fortunate enough not to even have had the idea of how those smells are like.
Technical human catastrophe of the ideology war machine is going downhill in a snowball effect. For the dead, it doesn’t matter but what happens to the survivors? Will they die of natural causes? Will they live their lives in numbness, paralysis and fear? Will they take action? Perhaps war itself is a natural cause? Well sometimes it’s good to cry out your tears even from behind the glass of a security screen.
Woland is the mysterious foreigner and professor whose visit to Moscow sets the plot rolling and turns the world upside-down. He appears differently to different people. "[t]he first says that the [he] was short, had gold teeth, and limped on the right foot. The second, that the man was of enormous height, had platinum crowns, and limped on the left foot. The third states laconically that the man had no special distinguishing characters." His demonic retinue, which includes witches, vampires, and a gigantic talking cat, his role in the plot, and the fact that Woland was used as a synonym for Satan in (now outdated) German all imply that he is, in fact, the Devil.