Last night I performed at a comedy show. I know, a comedy show on 9/11 is pretty fucking ironic. And the person who ran the event decided that it would be a good idea to destroy the mood by talking for a couple minutes about where she was on 9/11. Which got me thinking.
Is it regular human mentality to feel obligated to talk about tragedy? Or is this purely an American ideal? Was it necessary to directly talk about 9/11? Couldn’t she have trusted the comedians to mention it in some comedic form (in good or bad taste) or another?
It seems that when it comes to American tragedies, specifically 9/11, that Americans are REQUIRED to talk about it, or else we are heartless terrorist-supporters. For the past week all I read on blogs, read on Facebook, heard on teevee, was about 9/11. People proclaiming to the world how they felt that 9/11 was a terrible tragedy. And I get that there is a ratings appeal to talking about tragedy, that it helps the blog hits. And that there is a new generation of tweens who have no fucking clue who Osama Bin Laden is. But seriously?
Fuck that.
There is a reason I was excited to do a comedy show on 9/11. Because I’d be able to get through this tragedy like I get through ever other disappointment in my life: By making some jokes and laughing.
Now let me throw my obligatory 9/11 jargon: Never Forget.
Never forget. Never surrender (to Alzheimers).
Some of you may remember that phrase being used for the Holocaust. But it has been so long since WWII that logic dictates that we reappropriate that phrase for another tragedy. And that we over-use the phrase to the point where it not only becomes cliche, but loses all meaning. Kinda like how the word “Nazi” is regularly used to describe someone who corrects your grammar. Or you know, anything ever uttered out of Glenn Beck’s mouth.
I understand that we are a country still healing. But that doesn’t mean that there should be only 1 way to be an American citizen, 1 way to feel secure about your patriotism by making sure you discuss this tragedy with everyone you know.
Fuck it. Next 9/11 I’m going to a country that drinks away tragedy; Ireland.
Saida Sultana
09/14/2011
It’s not the fact that you performed at a comedy show on 9/11 that is ironic, it is the fact that someone as unfunny as you was performing in a comedy show at all!
Chicky
09/14/2011
Ohhhhh dang! If we ever do a Roast of HipsterJew writers, we will be sure to call ya up.