How America HASN'T Changed

After the September 2001 terrorist attacks, I hoped that Americans would at least try to find some good out of it all by changing for the better and making America a stronger, prouder, more sober nation. Nothing could have prepared me for how quickly that spirit of community and caring - what Arianna Huffington called the spirit of September 12 - would dissipate, or how readily we were willing to go back to where we were before. Particulars:

I thought Americans would take freedom more seriously and get more involved in public affairs. Instead, people shied away from serious debate about the future of our nation and the well-being of its citizens. The most obvious example is the recent midterm elections; voter turnout was at an embarrassing 39 percent, and more than half of those who did vote voted Republican. They endorsed Bush's greedy supply-side economic plan and his xenophobic foreign policy.

Since fifteen of the 9/11/01 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, and since the attacks were made possible by wealthy Saudi families giving money made from oil sales - oil sales to, in part, us - to al Qaeda, I hoped Americans would drive more fuel-efficient cars and re-invest in public transit to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. In fact, sales of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles went up, an attempt to raise fuel economy standards for car manufacturers was defeated in the Senate, and the current House Republican leadership is against mass transit subsidies. Although Amtrak is twice as energy-efficient as the airlines, it was the airlines who got that $15 billion bailout from Congress in the fall of 2001 - Amtrak got nothing, and the national passenger railroad remains on the verge of extinction.

I hoped Americans would get involved in their local communities after all that volunteerism at Ground Zero, but most Americans can't be bothered - still - to get to know and work with their neighbors. After September 11, 2001, in fact, the construction industry built more houses with more luxuries like saunas and more electrical outlets for sophisticated entertainment systems made it even more possible to enjoy the things people normally go out to see - a ball game, a recital - without ever having to leave their houses. As with the time before 9/11/01, civic life was out - insularity was in.

Volunteerism? Sure. The Republicans in the House, loathe to spend money on anything that would help anyone other than themselves, have chosen to defund AmeriCorps, the national public service program, on the grounds that taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill for someone else's charity.

I thought our popular culture would benefit as well; there would be more intelligent movies and fewer action flicks, no more reality shows on television - 9/11/01 was the ultimate form of reality broadcasting - and more intelligent and more socially aware popular music. Today, Britney and Christina refuse to go quietly, reality television has gotten even more lucrative, and action movies laden with special effects that are short on plot and dialogue remain the standard Hollywood fare for a global (and American) audience, because everyone, no matter what language they speak, can respond to the international language of "BOOM!" If that isn't an argument for Esperanto, I don't know what is.

On September 10, 2001, we were obsessed with stories like Gary Condit, shark attacks, and Mariah Carey's nervous breakdown. After the following day, I thought we wouldn't be obsessed with such nonsense. I was right. Except that we're even more obsessed with different kinds of nonsense: Ben and Jen, Kobe Bryant, and Scott Peterson. And, of course, what happened two weeks ago at the MTV Video Music Awards (you know what happened; I won't repeat it). We're not keeping an eye - queer or otherwise - on Osama bin Laden. As Florida senator Bob Graham repeatedly says, we should call him "Osama bin Forgotten!"

Finally, I thought Americans would act more humbly toward other nations, many of which suffered greater atrocities than the September 11, 2001, attacks. Instead, we're occupying Iraq, we're ticking off nations left and right with our ignorant arrogance toward issues like global warming and the International Criminal Court, and we're generally acting like we love to be despised and feared. It says a lot these days that, among famous Americans, Muhammad Ali is one of the few who's being humble.

Two years after the World Trade Center was blown to kingdom come and the Pentagon almost became a quadragon, we Americans seem to be ready to go back to the way things were on September 10, 2001. The whole thing reeks - pretending it's September 10 in a September 12 world. I don't like it one bit.