Yeah, I remember Nine Eleven. I was on my way to teach a morning class and by the time that class was over, I was shocked to hear that both of the towers had collapsed.

Almost as soon as it became clear that it was a terrorist attack, the feelings of anger began to well up within me, but the anger I was feeling was definitely not the kind of anger that Bush was modelling for the media to transmit to the American people.

My anger was directed at America's leaders whom I could see were clearly responsible for this horrifying development.

Their meddling in in the affairs of countries on the other side of the world had finally inspired deadly attacks on us, here in America, by people had become enraged at the victimization of their people at the hands of our country's leaders.

But that was not the spin that Bush and Cheney were giving us. They declared that the horrible acts were carried out by a dastardly enemy whose sole motivation was that they hate us...they hate our way of life...they hate our freedom. No real issues involved that could possibly matter...they just hate us.

For the most gullible---and uninformed---and patriotic among us, that was all they needed to know: that some people out there detest us for no good reason, so we must use all of our military and economic muscle make them pay for their hurtful actions, hurt them back so hard, they will be afraid to do such a thing ever again.

And our much heralded Free Press lapped it all up, did their level best to foment a unity of purpose among our people, centered around an inchoate anger toward what they now saw as a very threatening 'Other' that we needed to be at war against.

I was angry because I was quite aware of the reason this attack occurred. It was America's support of Israel's colonization of Palestine, pure and simple. Osama Bin Laden made that perfectly clear within days/hours after the attack.

By establishing America as Israel's very powerful protector/enabler, America's leaders had made Israel's conflict with the people they displaced our problem, thereby putting us all in the cross hairs of Greater Arabia's warrior class.

And make no mistake about it. It was not Islam that was attacking America. It was another tribe's warrior class.

You see, every tribe around the world has its own Warrior Class. We are talking about a specific social group within every tribe that is typically populated by impressionable young men with a lot of testosterone + aged warriors from an earlier era (who have a lot of stories to tell about their great acts of courage) who all strongly identify with the high purpose of being Defenders of The Tribe from all its external threats.

It is this warrior ethic that was responsible for the Nine Eleven attacks, not the particular religion that they all subscribed to. Yes, the terrorists clearly believed that their actions were justified by their religion, but that is what we see in all tribes: America's Christian soldiers believing that their noble actions are approved by God, Hindu soldiers believing the same regarding their sacrifices...it's the same with all soldiers subscribing to every religious tradition.

They all clutch a handful of rationalizations that convince them that their religion approves of their actions to defend the tribe, but in all honesty, they would do it anyway---without any religious orientation---simply because they want to be perceived as heroes of their Tribe, deserving of the loftiest expressions of approval, if they participate in actions that will supposedly defend the tribe from some great threat.

When I listen to the aggressive patriotism that many of America's political & military leaders (like Hillary Clinton) are inclined to express on days like Nine Eleven, I can't help but think about the hard lesson the German people learned about patriotism when they listened to one of the most patriotic individuals of their entire history, Adolph Hitler.

No German leader had ever had stronger feelings of patriotism, or more pride in Germany's achievements/values, than Hitler. But because a sufficient number of Germany's upper class allowed him to seduce them with his professed love of country, the German people ended up suffering the loss of millions of lives, the utter destruction of their cities, and an embarrassing ruining of their reputation as a people for several generations.

That's what happens---all too often---when people listen to those public personalities with swords in their hands who want you to know that they are great patriots who are more than happy to risk your lives in order to pursue some noble cause.

And yes, the ultimate blame for this belongs with those impressionable idiots in the media who do not realize that it is their tribal duty to question the boasts and the claims and the warnings of those who claim to be their tribe's greatest of patriots.

So yes, the anger still lingers and I am reminded of it every anniversary of Nine Eleven, when I have to listen to the crap spewing from the mouths of oh-so-patriotic politicians, like Hillary Clinton.

Can we please not let that war-monger get elected into office?