Glenn Greenwald recently curb-stomped the Never Forget Goons with this: “Everything about 9/11 Day — like all political rituals — was deeply politicized to its core. It was imbued with political meaning, political messaging, and controversial claims, both implicit and explicit. Almost every speech given that day made claims about the meaning and ‘legacy’ of 9/11, what caused it, and what the nature of the American response was … Everything about 9/11 — how it’s talked about, how it’s described, how it’s commemorated — is all designed to impart very specific political messages, and that’s been true since the day it happened.” The icing on the bullshit cake is that the 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance (“a forward-looking tribute to honor the sacrifice of those who were lost and pay tribute to those who rose in service in response to the tragedy”) is sponsored by JPMorgan Chase — you know, the bank that collaborated with the Nazis, mismanaged (stole?) billions of dollars in Iraq, foreclosed on soldiers serving overseas, and currently operates gold mines in Afghanistan. JPMorgan Chase never forgets (all the money it made butt-raping the United States and the entire world after 9/11)!
JPMorgan Chase has a long, glorious history of honoring “the troops,” or whatever. In 1998, the New York Daily News reported:
While many other U.S. businesses and banks closed down their Paris operations after France fell to the Germans, Chase National remained open and even thrived.
The relationship between Chase and the Nazis apparently was so cozy that Carlos Niedermann, the Chase branch chief in Paris, wrote his supervisor in Manhattan that the bank enjoyed “very special esteem” with top German officials and “a rapid expansion of deposits,” according to Newsweek.
Niedermann’s letter was written in May 1942 five months after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the U.S. also went to war with Germany.
Never forget? More recently, JPMorgan Chase has been mining for gold in Afghanistan:
To Hannam, chairman of J.P. Morgan Capital Markets, Afghanistan represents a gigantic, untapped opportunity — one of the last great natural-resource frontiers. Landlocked and pinioned by imperial invaders, Afghanistan has been cursed by its geography for thousands of years. Now, for the first time, Hannam believes, that geography could be an asset. The two most resource-starved nations on the planet, China and India, sit next door to Afghanistan, where, according to Pentagon estimates, minerals worth nearly $1 trillion lie buried. True, there is a war under way. And it’s unclear how the death of Osama bin Laden will impact the country’s political and economic environment. But Hannam is not your usual investment banker: A former soldier, he has done business in plenty of strife-torn countries. So have all the members of his team, two of them former special forces soldiers who have fought here.
Haha. None of this bothers my unfortunate alma mater, of course, since “critical thinking” is a “bias incident,” probably. Wheaton College is very, very proud of its participation in 9/11 Day:
In 2009, President Barack Obama established the National Day of Service and Remembrance to honor the victims of the terrorist attacks, as well as the first responders, largely due to the advocacy and encouragement of loved ones like McGinty. Volunteers from all walks of life are encouraged to engage in service in all 50 states on September 11.
It’s pretty wild, actually, especially since the Office of Service, Spirituality and Social Responsibility likes to brag about how it promotes “informed political activism.” You know: do whatever Barack Obama says — that’s “informed political activism”:
Or just check out what Wheaton graduate and 9/11 survivor Elizabeth Morton says (on Wheaton’s website):
On September 11, now known as “Patriot Day,” we must not forget the event that changed the world a decade ago, but we must also forge ahead in order to honor all who lost their lives on this fateful day, as well as the countless lives lost fighting terrorism around the globe.
So, so gross.
In all fairness, Wheaton did collect canned goods on 9/11, which were donated to a local food pantry. Hooray! This is probably the closest Wheaton College will ever come to doing anything meaningful on 9/11 — poverty in this country has skyrocketed since 2001. The Kids Count Data Book (which uses 10 indicators — including infant mortality rate, teen-pregnancy rate and the percent of teens who are not in school or working — to track the welfare of kids across the country) found that 38 states have seen an overall increase in poverty in 2011. According to the Data Book, “Since 2001, the number of low-income children climbed steadily from 27 million to 31 million in 2009, or 42 percent of children.” The Census Bureau reported that “the percentage of Americans struggling below the poverty line in 2009 was the highest it has been in 15 years.”
And here’s the most recent poverty news, compliments of Serve.gov:
The ranks of America’s poor swelled to almost 1 in 6 people last year, reaching a new high as long-term unemployment left millions of Americans struggling and out of work. The number of uninsured edged up to 49.9 million, the biggest in more than two decades.
The United States is the richest country in the world — how the hell did this happen?
Maybe we should spend less money on Raytheon “Smart Bombs,” and more money of “food and stuff”? Wheaton would look silly if it suggested this, of course, since Raytheon is Wheaton’s fuck buddy. You know, it’s nice that Wheaton collected food for poor people in honor of Obama’s JPMorgan-9/11 Day or whatever — but maybe instead Wheaton could stop lending credibility to the assholes (i.e. Raytheon, etc.) who are destroying our country and every brown person-place on earth? Or is that too much to ask? Oh well! Here’s some “politically informed activism,” brought to you by Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts:
You’re changing the world, Wheaton! Yay!
Tags: 9/11 Day, 9/11 day JPMorgan Chase, JPMorgan Chase afghanistan, JPMorgan Chase Iraq, JPMorgan Chase Nazis, norton massachusetts, wheaton, wheaton college, Wheaton College 9/11
