 |
| Rob's Soapbox | ||
|
Congratulations!
You have finally landed on the one page on this entire site (and on the entire internet for that matter) that is purely without bullshit... my soapbox page. There are a lot of times during our show that, whether it's because of time constraints and other obligations, I don't always get to address some issues that I feel don't get the attention they deserve. There are even more times when I just don't feel like waiting until the show the next day to get some things off my chest. Thus, I have started the "Rob's Soapbox" page. If you have clicked on this page looking for someone to coddle your fragile sense of self-esteem, or tell you what you want to hear or to reinforce your outdated world view, then exit this page right now and go somewhere else. If you are in search of the last forum for reason and common sense left in the world, then sit back, relax, and enjoy. I make only one promise with this soapbox page... if you read long enough and often enough, you will eventually be offended. So here's my latest soapbox. Listen up, 'cause you just might learn something... |
||
|
||
|
July 22nd, 2007 THE 9/11 NON-HEROES Almost everyone who chooses a singular career has defining moments of their tenure. While the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 certainly affected almost all Americans, it did not define all of them. Many people were able to resiliently resume their lives fairly quickly, others with more time, but most people in this country have found that while that day will always be imbedded in their memories (this generation's "JFK" moment, if you will), it is not an event that has dramatically changed, altered or defined their lives in the abstract. Such is not the case for the Rob, Arnie and Dawn show. Not only were we the very first local media outlet in both Sacramento and Reno to begin reporting the events (even before the local "news" stations did more than merely mention that "oh, by the way, a plane just hit the World Trade Center, now let's check the local weather…") we were also, all modesty aside, the far and away best at it. The combination of Arnie's angry ignorance, Dawn's hysterical fear and my stunningly calm, masterfully intelligent insight made for the perfect storm that caused countless people to flock to us for their 9/11 news, both during the actual day and for many mornings afterwards. For 2 weeks we broadcast our show daily from 5am to noon, many of them without commercials. We allowed the communities that listen to us an outlet to vent their opinions and questions while simultaneously keeping everyone informed and doing so without talking like a bunch of eggheads about things most people cared not at all about. In so doing, countless people "found" our show. While we were already the #1 rated show by nearly a 2 to 1 margin, the gravitas we gained from our handling of 9/11 propelled us to a 3 to 1 lead and record setting ratings for many years and earned us a spot of legitimacy not previously reserved for shows "like ours," (y'know, "shock" radio shows that have the audacity to actually say what they think and make jokes at the expense of others). 9/11 literally helped us redefine the landscape and prove that a morning radio talk show can, all at once, be funny, informative, entertaining and a myriad of other things in between. One of the more controversial recurring topics of 9/11 and for years since has been flight 93, the plane that "crashed" in the Pennsylvania field, allegedly after a gang of "heroic" Americans banded together and brought down the plane lead by the now infamous Todd Beamer and his supposed silly battle cry of "Let's Roll!" Utter fiction. I never bought the story, or more importantly, the title of "heroes," and I had the audacity to say so then and now. Once again, as is so often the case when I speak, my position has been proven right. You'll recall that the story goes that the passengers of flight 93, having heard from relatives via cell phones about the three planes which had already hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon, had decided that they were going to do whatever it took to stop their plane from hitting a fourth target. Supposedly, a group of these courageous passengers stormed the cockpit (after uttering the now famous battle cry of "let's roll,"), overwhelmed the terrorist hijackers and sent their plane tumbling to Earth in a heroic show of selfless sacrifice of themselves and saving what we believe now was target #4; either the White House or Capitol building in Washington D.C. We were smothered with these tales, tapes of cell phone calls and voicemails and even a few alleged recordings from the cockpit that showed "something" happened to stop those dastardly hijackers. For weeks, nay, years we have had the memory of Todd Beamer and his lame widow, what's-her-name, forced on us at a level like nothing since the metric system was unsuccessfully force fed to us in the 80's. We were told that these fine people are the heroes of 9/11 and embody the very spirit of what makes America great. To this day, movies and books are produced re-enforcing this belief and no doubt history books have already been written "factually" declaring what heroes these fine passengers were. The only problem, of course, is; that any sane, pragmatic, logical person must come to the conclusion, that regardless of what definition you use to describe the word "hero," there were none on flight 93. There may have been some courageous, well intentioned folks on board for sure, but to use the word "hero" desecrates the acts and memories of true heroes of this great nation and offends the very senses of the greatest country in Earth's history. My hypothesis has always been as follows; While initially many of us thought it likely that Flight 93 had been shot down by our own military in an act of "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," all evidence suggests this not to be the case. In this age of media access, even our own government (one of the greatest in history at lying), couldn't pull off such a hoax of forensic physical evidence. Rather, my point has always been simple; even if we are to believe that passengers "stormed the cockpit," (which I don't, by the way), they are still not heroes, because there was never a chance that Flight 93 was going to get anywhere close to Washington D.C. Engaging in an act to prevent something that has no chance of occurring is not heroic, it's futile. It's akin to believing that because you engaged in some silly ceremony to prevent the sun from exploding, you are the reason we all woke up under the same burning star the next morning. As I said then and still say now, by the time that flight 93 was the only unaccounted for plane in U.S. skies, the order had been given to shoot it down. There was never a chance in Hell that plane was going to get out of Pennsylvania airspace because our military was going to blow it up. When I made such an assertion many of you dismissed it as some type of Harrison Ford-esque movie plotline that would "never happen." Now in a new book (which I received an advance copy of) called "Cheney: The Untold Story of America's Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President," by Stephen Hayes, Dick Cheney himself reluctantly admits that the order had, in fact, been given. In fact, when the plane went down in Pennsylvania, the entire administration staff assumed that our military had shot it down, because Vice-President Cheney himself, acting on orders from President Bush had commanded that all planes that failed to communicate with and abide by orders from the FAA, be shot down to prevent further casualties. The order was so stunning to the U.S. military that, according to records, the military aide who took the order from the Vice President asked Cheney to repeat it three times. Vice President Cheney now acknowledges that the order to shoot down Flight 93 had been given long before the plane plummeted to earth and that the truth of the matter is that Washington D.C. was never in danger from the plane. Had it not hit the ground in Pennsylvania, we would have simply blown it up. It serves neither Cheney nor anyone else in the Bush administration in NO WAY to allow this information to seep out, but the truth is that the overwhelming preponderance of circumstantial evidence has weighed down the government to the point where it must now admit to what it can no longer avoid. At the time, one can understand why the administration publicly grabbed hold of the possibility that some American citizens had perhaps fought off the hijackers of Flight 93. In the aftermath of 9/11, we, as a nation, were so stunned, angered and devastated by the attacks that the people of America were thirsty for any show of American strength. In the absence of our ability to launch an all out military response within 72 hours of 9/11, the storyline of brave normal Americans protecting the nation by overpowering terrorists was simply too juicy to ignore. In the weeks that followed 9/11 not only was the tale of these heroes not only not ignored, it was hailed and repeated over and over again and became the very thing that this nation hung its' hat on as a symbol of our collective strength. "Let's roll," bumper stickers were printed by the millions and Todd Beamer's name was repeated ad nauseam until it became part of our collective nation's dialogue. The key to any great marketing campaign is repetition, and no one markets better than the U.S. government. This brings us back to the issue of non-heroes. The true heroes on 9/11 were the first responders, many of whom perished while rescuing others. Since 9/11, the true heroes have been those who have volunteered of their own volition to place themselves in harm's way to protect the freedom and rights of the rest of us, regardless of whether or not you agree with how they have been utilized in their missions. Heroism is placing yourself and your life on the line in a noble and just cause that produces positive results that would not have otherwise occurred were it not for your courage. A man who jumps into the ocean to rescue his drowning son and in so doing allows his son to die and perishes himself is not a hero, he is a failure and an idiot. Intentions (or a lack of thinking things through) cannot be permitted to define "heroes." Similarly, someone who engages in courageous behavior to execute an outcome that is already inevitable is also not a hero. If the outcome has been pre-ordained, than any behavior which does nothing to affect that outcome, no matter how seemingly brave, is not heroic nor worth hailing. The passengers on Flight 93, now that we have the context of history and facts, may have been well intentioned and brave, but they were not heroes and they did not alter the course of history. Had all the passengers on the plane simply sat quietly in their seats, Flight 93 would have been shot out of the sky by our military and no one, save a few America-hating hand-wringers would have questioned the order. In the end, the result is the same; everyone on the plane dies and further terror to our nation's capital is averted. Rather, I believe that the actual events allowed the administration to stumble into the perfect scenario. Since many passengers on Flight 93 had used cell phones to call loved ones and, in the course of their conversations and/or recorded messages, had indicated that some of the passengers were planning to "re-take" the plane, the administration had the makings and tangible circumstantial evidence of their "heroic passenger" story of American strength. All they needed was to piece it together publicly. We know now that the order to shoot down the plane had been given and we know now that when the plane crashed, the entire working government believed our military had shot it down; this confirms a time line that at the very least suggests that our military planes were right there, right near Flight 93 at the time it hit the ground in Pennsylvania. Since we have all but ruled out our military actually shooting down the plane, I submit to you that the presence of our fighter jets resulted in the terrorist pilots coming to the realization that they would not be completing their mission and therefore lead them to either fearfully attempt evasive maneuvers or simply plunge the plane into the Earth in a cowardly act of suicide. Those desperate to believe that we, as a nation, didn't get our asses kicked that day and that loved ones didn't all die in vein will have you believe that a swarm of passengers broke into the cockpit and scared/forced the terrorists to crash the plane (coincidentally into an empty field, mind you). I, not afraid to admit that America lost a battle that day and not terrorized by the fact that thousands of Americans were paralyzed by fear and murdered that day would rather believe the truth. The truth is that, as usual, in a time of overwhelming fear, pandemonium and chaos, this nation was, once again, protected from further death and destruction by the most brave amongst us; not the men and women on Flight 93 but the men and women that don the uniforms of fire departments, police departments, the various branches of the U.S. military and every other agency that places the country before themselves. Continuing to lie about, dismiss or even failing to completely and fully acknowledge this truth is an abomination and an embarrassment. Heroes are defined by results, not intentions. The non-heroes of 9/11 need to assume their place in the annals of forgotten sophistry and allow those who truly answered the call to take their place amongst the millions before them who did, in fact, affect the course of American history. Might I suggest this; the next time you meet someone who lost a loved on Flight 93, tell them that you are sorry for their loss and leave it at that. The next time you meet a first responder or member of the U.S. military shake their hand and thank them for what they do, knowing that as you walk away, you've just touched a true hero.
|
||