Ok, so substitute "go through life attending Church each day" in place of the fast food and video games quote. Makes no difference.
Given your earlier "points" about "blind patriotism," I fail to understand how you can then turn around and call putting a flag on a UT helmet a "classy" act.
Quit throwing up your religion and your supposed grasp of history as a defense. I'm an Army officer with a graduate degree and a published author. American history isn't exactly perfect, but it is a story of a people who were willing to risk it all to have a life better than the one they had elsewhere. The world is a mean, violent place. Ask those that have had to live under the Taliban, the Khmer Rouge, or through Stalin's purges.
You're right that war doesn't solve everything. Unfortunately, it is necessary at times. No one who has seriously read any history at all can deny this. If you think that war is never necessary, you should turn in whatever diploma they gave you because it isn't worth the paper it's written on.
And, to be frank, 9/11 was an act of war. It wasn't as simple as President Bush made it out to be, but it was (is) war nonetheless. Read Bin Laden's 1998 fatwa where he says it is the duty of all Muslims to "kill Americans and plunder their possessions wherever you find them." Bin Laden doesn't represent all Muslims, but he has followers. A lot of them. I've seen them up close, and they will chop your head off because you "believe in the Kingdom of GOd as demonstrated by Christ."
I think that we pretty much botched our response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Afghanistan has been neglected and invading Iraq was a strategic mistake. And while you are right that our freedom doesn't come from war, it is definitely secured by it. That's not to say that all American military actions have been well thought-out or effectively executed, but the only reason why we have a country where you can attend the church of your choice without fear of repurcussions or repression is because there are men and women willing to stand watch against those that would take your freedoms away and impose THEIR value system on you.
Maybe you're right that many somehow use 9/11 commemorations for something that they shouldn't. However, the service of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines will FOREVER be linked to anything related to 9/11. Those guys are the ones who carried the fight to an enemy that had planned and resourced that act of mass murder in the caves of Afghanistan. Isn't it great that we have men and women who, unlike you apparently, are willing to sacrifice so much for their country? Sacrificing even for guys like you who don't think that they merit acknowledgment on the anniversary of 9/11. Isn't it great that they will STILL be willing to die to protect your right to go to your precious church in comfort and security, regardless of how much they might dislike your views?
Oh, and I agree that "It is a day to commemorate the loss of lives in the towers and the Pentagon," (I went ahead and captialized the "P" in Pentagon because I wasn't sure if you just mistyped or if you didn't want to pay that building the respect it deserves). Maybe you missed it because you were too busy "studying" history, but the Pentagon was full of military personnel . . . it is kinda like the headquarters for our defense establishment. So, in the end, maybe we should pay some homage to those service members who were killed that day in the Pentagon (captial "P'), too.
