How Not To Remember 9/11: Cornell's Day of Disgrace
By Joseph J. Sabia
The Cornell Review | September 13, 2002


A shorter version of the following piece was submitted to the Cornell Daily Sun as a letter to the editor on September 11, 2002. Sun associate editor Jen Roberts informed me:

"Thanks for your submission. The Sun reserves the right to use discretion regarding the material it prints, and we've decided not to print your letter."

The Cornell Daily Sun is becoming quite brazen in its policy of censoring conservatives who support the War on Terrorism. Fortunately, my column provides a forum where I can present these "dangerous" ideas (which are supported by about 90% of Americans).

To the editor:

On the one-year anniversary of September 11, Cornell University perfectly exemplified why no one in the real world takes the Ivy League seriously. Cornell's September 11 Memorial Convocation was notable not for what speakers said, but by what they did not say. There was no call for renewed patriotism and pride in America. There was no reminder that Western Culture provides the best hope for the freedom of peoples around the world. There was no discussion of the evil that Islamists have perpetrated on innocent Americans. Indeed, the ceremony was virtually devoid of any American flags, save those carried by a contingent of College Republicans.

Instead, Cornell University President Hunter Rawlings treated students to a bizarre ceremony that resembled a diversity workshop or an anti-war protest. The two themes that ran through each speaker's remarks were (1) the evils of any war, and (2) the subordination of liberty to multiculturalism. Any reasonable-minded student had to feel trapped in a time warp, taken back to the 1960s anti-war era.

Cornellians had to endure Reverend Kenneth Clarke, Director of Cornell United Religious Work, droning on about how America must "see itself through the eyes of other nations" and how we are facing similar circumstances as nations who have been victims of our "colonialism and imperialism."

Then, Father Mike Mahler, a noted liberal extremist in the Cornell Catholic Community, distorted Catholic teaching on war by knowingly omitting all references to Church teachings on just war. Instead, he focused only on anti-war statements made by the Vatican, thereby painting a false and misleading picture of the Church's position.

Students were left with the view that Americans were somehow getting what we deserved and that if we respond to national security threats with military force, we would be immoral and hypocritical. Moral relativism, though chic among university-types, is, nonetheless, a disgusting product of intellectual laziness. As William F. Buckley has noted, there is a difference between pushing an old lady out of the way of an oncoming train and pushing her into the path of an oncoming train. Sure, in both situations an old lady gets pushed, but the actions are not morally equivalent.

The Cornell Daily Sun joined the moral relativist crusade with a horrific September 11 editorial that stated:

"Sept. 11 has made Americans more fearful about the future and more paranoid about the day to day. It has forced Americans to accept a rhetoric of good and evil, and numerous members of ethnic groups have suffered discrimination because of it."

Forced to accept a rhetoric of good and evil? What are they talking about? The Islamists who slammed commercial jets into the World Trade Center and Pentagon were evil, as are members of al Qaeda and Iraq's government. America is good because we defend liberty, tolerance, and private enterprise. 90% of Americans grasp that truth. Why can't Sun editors?

And as for the "numerous members of ethnic groups suffering discrimination," give me a break. America was the victim of a savage terrorist attack and Sun editors are worried about Arab air travelers getting dirty looks. If you want to see real oppression, travel to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, or Iran.

Sun editors then went further, saying:

"Sept. 11 may be the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor but that does not mean, for instance, that the country should reflexively resort to measures as un-American as the Japanese internment camps."

First, to sum up the contributions of America's "Greatest Generation" as interning the Japanese is both pathetic and, sadly, typical of liberals. These Americans saved the world from Nazi totalitarianism by risking their lives to defend their country and the Left can't stop whining about internment camps for even five minutes.

Second, temporarily interning the Japanese during WWII was slightly less reprehensible than, say, slamming commercial jets into buildings and murdering 3000 people.

September 11 should not be memorialized by tributes to nonexistent Arab victims of American patriotism or by claims that all world cultures are morally equivalent. (Note to Ivy League elites: Not everything is about racial diversity and multiculturalism. September 11 is about far bigger issues: war, liberty, good, and evil.)

So, to you liberals: Hold your loopy teach-ins, enjoy your apricot-cream coffee, slurp down your kiwi sorbet, attach your goofy white surrender ribbons on your backpacks, and hold your anti-war protests, but know this: Real Americans love this country, support our military, and will defend liberty to the death. You peaceniks are merely a sideshow. America will prevail in spite of you.


Sincerely,


Joseph J. Sabia


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Joseph J. Sabia is a Ph.D. candidate in economics at Cornell University.

Give that man a cee-gar! [beer]