Moral Authority

But his humanitarianism will remain inhumane as long as he fails to understand that the moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute.
Maureen Dowd

The media would have us believe that Cindy Sheehan has absolute moral authority for having lost her son in Iraq. In the demented calculus of the MSM, a person is granted special powers and authorities when those they love fulfill their obligations and duties to country in a most spectacular fashion, most especially when those actions serve to embarrass the current administration. By any account Casey Sheehan is a hero who lay down his life in a way any man could only hope to emulate in the same situation. Is there anything more impressive to a free people than when a young man sacrifices himself for his friends; family; country?

So by the same standard of course the media would allow the self same moral authority to the still-grieving families of 9-11. Right? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. In their rush to capitulate to the terrorists and our soft-headed former allies they have said this:

[T]his is not really a campaign about money or space. It is a campaign about political purity -- about how people remember 9/11 and about how we choose to read its aftermath, including the Iraq war. On their Web site, www.takebackthememorial.org, critics of the cultural plan at ground zero offer a resolution called Campaign America. It says that ground zero must contain no facilities "that house controversial debate, dialogue, artistic impressions, or exhibits referring to extraneous historical events." This, to us, sounds un-American.
EDITORIAL DESK July 29, 2005, Friday
A Sense of Proportion at Ground Zero
(NYT) Editorial 497 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 22 , Column 1

In case you weren’t sure or haven’t yet enjoyed a refreshing caffeinated beverage this morning, the key word is un-American. So a loco gal from sunny California tragically loses her son, and she’s anointed the ”Moral Authority” of our generation. She lost a grown son who volunteered twice to serve his country in the struggle that will define our lifetimes. She endured the tragedy of losing a son who opted to serve, who chose to be a part of the struggle.

This in contrast to the innocent victims of 9-11. People who went to work one morning and never came home. Who went to work and were burnt to death, crushed, blown out of windows, forced by flames and killing smoke to leap to horrible deaths hundreds of feet below.

Heroes, of course, abounded on that dark day. Regular folks who disregarded their own safety to see to the needs of others, often perfect strangers. These plain Americans preferred to do the right thing in place of ever seeing their families and loved ones again. I have heard many say that they despair of America, that we’re too soft and decadent. I do not despair. Do you know why?

Whenever regular Americans from any part of this great land are called to action, they step up with a magnificence that brings tears to my eyes time and again. Regular Americans have proven in every part of this troubled planet that freedom and faith can stand against the darkest of tyrannies. Can stand against the siren call of material gain in place of moral fiber. Can and will overcome even attacks at the core of our great experiment.

This is to say nothing of those who ran toward danger as part of their profession. So many brave men and women were lost that day it beggars the imagination. How could any brave men and women remain after such a red harvest? And yet they do, in a profusion that speaks volumes about who we are as a people.

What is the un-American activity of which the families of the 9-11 victims stand accused?

The 9/11 memorial at the World Trade Center should be a place for remembrance of those we lost and 9/11 should be allowed to speak to each visitor to Ground Zero, uninterrupted. At Dachau, I saw no debate being held about Chilean refugees. At Gettysburg, I saw no Holocaust "art" center overlooking Little Round Top. At Martin Luther King Jr.'s memorial in Atlanta, I saw no "public square" where the discussion might include the merits of segregation nor would anyone need to be reminded how wholly inappropriate such a discussion at that marker would be. 9/11's history should not be up for grabs and holding political discussions at Ground Zero is not appropriate for that site or any memorial site. Placing unrelated activities upon hallowed ground is disrespectful to those who fell at such places and everyone who remembers them.
Tim Sumner at 9/11 Families for America

Horrors! I shudder to imagine the land that would consider it a sin to stifle speech on the site of our shared national tragedy.

Umm, actually, in this context I’m pretty okay with it. If somebody wanted to place a lectern in front of my mother’s grave to talk about how nasty mothers are I would want to punch that person in their crooked nose. Here we have eggheads and soft-headed intellectuals slavering to explain to us plain Americans how truly horrible we all are. How perhaps the terrorists had the right idea. How everyone in the building were little Eichmanns and deserved what they got. Oops, that last one already happened.

Another of the “lunatic” family members speaks:

After four years my Brother has never been found and is most liklely been placed in a dump site with many others. That in itself is a very painful thought I and many people who have lost loved ones live with. All of these remains that can not be identified should be brought back to Ground Zero and laid to rest. Ground Zero is Scared Ground and should be kept that way. Why is it all about Politics and money? I also write this in memory of my Mother Madaline Asaro who did not live long enough to submit a comment for herself.
Sally Asaro, Greenville, NY, 9/2/2005 9:28:14 AM, sister of Carl F. Asaro FDNY

Yikes. This is clearly an out of control nut that just has no respect for free speech. It is people like this who are crumbling the foundations of our grand republic.

Like hell it is! What ever happened to decency? Even decency in the public sphere? Must we desecrate every grave on the altar of political correctness? Must we abandon all hope of honor for the mighty fallen of 9-11?

For, make no mistake, this is what the critics wish. The manifest strength, honor and courage displayed that day are anathema to the elite who see us all as squirming little ants hardly worth a second glance. We mustn’t forget our place in the grand scheme of things, after all. The unremitting goodness of those heroes stands in stark distinction to the craven killers and serves as a daily reminder of just who’s fighting for what’s right in this struggle.

Cindy Sheehan=absolute moral authority

The families of 9-11 = ?