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Notes -
I was 16, and in journalism class.
As everyone was glued to the TV, my instinct was to write a poem. I did so in the moment and recited it quietly, without being asked, in front of the class. I don’t remember the poem but it had an impact and I wish I had saved it. My teacher was army national guard, and we talked one on one four about 45 minutes.
My first instinct was to join the marines but I was talked out of it by my parents. Within a year I was living in the Middle East.
9/11 had a huge impact on my life. I learned a new language, learned about Islam and deepened my knowledge of Christianity and Judaism. Poured myself into learning the history and culture of the region. Became more religious at first and eventually became an atheist and remained that way for almost my entire adult life. Studied history of the region in university.
It set up an odd dynamic to my life given the changes in culture that have happened in the last 25 years. People who know me even a bit know that I’m very educated, both formally and self taught, in multiple areas that relate to the region and its people and its enduring legacy.
They, being largely “well-meaning” liberals tend to think because of my expertise and first hand experience assume I tend to have sympathy towards certain groups and movements.
They are extremely mistaken, as if they have trouble conceiving of someone increasing their dislike of various groups in line with increased knowledge.
I grew very quickly to detest Islam, even as I got along very well with individual Muslims, and had an entirely pessimistic view of the Muslim Middle East and the greater Umaah.
I noticed how it increasingly alienated me from other atheists who only ever seemed to criticize Christianity. I noticed how cowardly they were as atrocities in the name of Islam continually stacked up and up into the millions of casualties in the decade that followed and these people basically said nothing.
Honestly, knowing what I know now, if I was sent back in time to Sept 12th, 2001 in a bid to change the course of history I’d be a nonstop advocate for nuking the Kabaah.
I feel like it would have saved my fellow Americans a lot of trouble in the long run, even if we couldn’t have brought ourselves to do it out of some misguided sense of decency.
How would nuking the holiest site of a quarter of the global population, not to mention more than two million innocent men women and children. In an American ally no less for the actions of a few thousand radicals in the mountains of Afghanistan save the US trouble. It would turn the world against America. And easily be a worse atrocity than anything Muslims have done in recent memory. It would be a great evil and barbaric tribalism. Not mention stupid seeing as the Saudi government is a cooperative ally of the US.
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