Tony Bennett’s September 11 remarks draw strong scrutiny

They flew the plane in, but we caused it. We were bombing them, and they told us to stop.
Tony Bennett • Discussing September 11, 2001 with Howard Stern on Monday night. As you might guess, the legendary singer regretted saying this after the fact, because it drew a ton of controversy. “There is simply no excuse for terrorism and the murder of the nearly 3,000 innocent victims of the 9/11 attacks on our country,” he said in a statement released Tuesday night. “My life experiences — ranging from the Battle of the Bulge (in World War II) to marching with Martin Luther King — made me a lifelong humanist and pacifist, and reinforced my belief that violence begets violence and that war is the lowest form of human behavior.” So, in other words … he stands behind his basic point (violence begets violence), but admits he worded it really poorly. Check. source

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Ten years have passed since a perfect blue sky morning turned into the blackest of nights. Since then, we have lived in sunshine, and in shadow. And although we can never ‘unsee’ what happened here … we can also see that children who lost their parents have grown into young adults, grandchildren have been born, and good works and public service have taken root to honor those we loved and lost.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg • Reflecting on the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001 during this morning’s memorial at Ground Zero. Obama and George W. Bush — the two presidents whose legacies were most affected by the events of the day — also reflected on the moment in their own ways. Obama read Psalm 46 from the Bible, while Bush read a letter that Abraham Lincoln sent to a mother who lost five sons in the Civil War. A reflective morning, with equally reflective words. source

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One of the first real sites to take on social media in a tangible way — where it encouraged offline interaction as much as online — was Meetup, which started up nearly a decade ago. The roots? September 11, 2001. Really. “A lot of people were thinking that maybe 9/11 could bring people together in a lasting way,” noted CEO and co-founder Scott Heiferman. “So the idea for Meetup was born: Could we use the internet to get off the internet — and grow local communities?” Nine months later, a site which has proven an important tool for social and political organization went online, turning a negative into a positive — and likely building the roots for many social media sites that came after. A fascinating story. source

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21 Sep 2011 10:04