In two or three days, though, it will have been four or five days ago. Had he given the answer then, when it was accurate, it would have been a horrible thing to say. How can you trivialize this, least of all by suggesting that the passage of a few days should put us beyond it? On 9/11, twenty years ago, we saw people choosing such a death over the horror of their situation; and it remains deeply tragic after all this time.
Five YEARS after thousands were killed, after the Twin Towers were destroyed, the Pentagon damaged, and one aircraft was downed by its own passengers to prevent other massacres, a movie was made about those passengers on that aircraft on that day.
ReplyDeleteThe talking heads criticized that movie for being attempted "too soon."
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0481522/
Actually, the Deep State advising the Chief Executive on such matters has been long understood to rely upon the virtues of timing. From the UK/BBC television show "Yes, Prime Minister":
Bernard Woolley : What if the Prime Minister insists we help them?
Sir Humphrey Appleby : Then we follow the four-stage strategy.
Bernard Woolley : What's that?
Sir Richard Wharton : Standard Foreign Office response in a time of crisis.
Sir Richard Wharton : In stage one we say nothing is going to happen.
Sir Humphrey Appleby : Stage two, we say something may be about to happen, but we should do nothing about it.
Sir Richard Wharton : In stage three, we say that maybe we should do something about it, but there's nothing we *can* do.
Sir Humphrey Appleby : Stage four, we say maybe there was something we could have done, but it's too late now.
When that TV comedy aired, Reagan was president, Thatcher was PM, and the Deep State was funny. My how things do change...