October, 2002

Some Consequences of September 11
Tom Mayer, Department of Sociology

The destruction of the World Trade Center and the concomitant murder of three thousand human beings was a terrible crime. The magnitude and the suddenness of this horrendous deed have deeply impacted American consciousness and induced major changes within American politics. I will argue that the political changes induced by September 11 are by no means novel, but activate long standing tendencies within American society.

I will also argue that our government’s response to the crime of September 11 has made matters far worse. A unique opportunity to exercise constructive leadership and move the world in a positive direction has been lost. One year later the political consequences of September 11, for the United States and for the world, seem almost entirely malign. I discuss four of these consequences: accelerated imperialism, eroding democracy, legitimized racism, and hollow values.

Accelerated Imperialism

By virtually any definition the United States has long been an imperialist country. Imperialism, however, comes in many varieties. Since September 11 the arrogance and aggressiveness of the American polity have grown enormously. United States political leaders now claim the right to attack any state they accuse of direct or indirect involvement with terrorism. Over the past year our leaders have publicly discussed the possibility of militarily assaulting as many as 60 different states. They adamantly interpret terrorism to exclude any past, present, or future activities of the American state no matter how violent.

In its current unilateral mode of operation, the United States government routinely disregards the United Nations, ignores international law, and tears up inconvenient treaties. Our leaders claim the right to make preemptive attacks, with preemption being hardly more than a sanitized word for military aggression. As I write these words President Bush and his associates are preparing an unprovoked attack upon Iraq, a country with no demonstrable link to the crime of September 11. Over the past year rhetorical arrogance about the supreme virtues of American society has exceeded all bounds, and our leaders frequently indulge disrespectful diatribes towards the rest of the world. Such bullying passes for world leadership.

Russia is currently the second largest military spender, but the military budget of the USA is about six times the size of Russia’s. Indeed, our military budget exceeds that of the next 24 countries combined.

Eroding Democracy

In the absence of jeopardy virtually any society can afford to be tolerant. The reality of democratic freedom is only tested during times of crisis. In the crisis emanating from September 11 American democracy has performed rather badly. In the name of combating terrorism important freedoms are being dismantled. Political groups can now be placed under surveillance, infiltrated, and even disrupted merely for opposing government policy. The rights of non-citizens have been severely abridged. They can now be arrested and detained just for engaging in constitutionally protected speech. If suspected of harboring a terrorist, a non-citizen can be tried in secret by a military tribunal.

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the right of privacy, is under siege. Since September 11, secret searches and wiretaps have become increasingly possible. The FBI and other government investigating agencies can easily subpoena student records, medical files, private financial documents, mental health records, library lending files, and many more previously protected documents. Evidence suggests that a phalanx of private informers – styled as ultra-patriots – is being recruited and trained. Even the possibility of torture has received serious consideration in cases involving suspected terrorists.

Legitimized Racism

American culture, forged in the context of African slavery and its Jim Crow aftermath, is profoundly susceptible to racism. In recent decades overt discrimination was fortunately rendered politically incorrect. Since September 11, however, we have witnessed a resurgence of official and unofficial racism. Throughout our country Muslims and people from the Middle East or South Asia are treated with suspicion, contempt, and sometimes open hostility. Racial profiling by the FBI and INS has become routine and unconcealed.

In the first three months after September 11 about 1,200 Arabs, Muslims, and South Asians were arrested. Through racial targeting over 8,000 immigrants from the Middle East and South Asia have been subjected to interrogation. Deportation orders for about 6,000 Middle Eastern and South Asian people are being expedited. Arab culture and Islamic religion are regularly bashed in both mass media and scholarly publications.

Hollow Values

Although American leaders like to harangue the rest of the world about values and morality, it is painfully obvious that we currently lack a moral or political vision that can inspire other people. Endless consumption? To most thoughtful human beings it seems morally vacuous and environmentally destructive. Electoral democracy? Our electoral process is choreographed by wealth, steered by media images, and subject to gross manipulation. The higher levels of American government are strongly influenced if not controlled by the rich. Equality? This seems a distant memory or perhaps a bad joke. By most measures economic inequality in the United States now exceeds that of any other advanced capitalist society; not to mention our endemic racial inequality. Family values? American families are internationally renowned for their violence, sexual abuse, and instability.

Notwithstanding this overarching reality of moral uncertainty and political oligarchy, we have, since September 11, experienced a deluge of flags and flag waving. The slogan "united we stand" appears on television ads, billboards, stamps, and bumper stickers. But exactly what do we stand united for? Being number one? Maintaining American power? Obedience to the imperial state? Pretense of moral virtue? Reliance upon the flag inadvertently advertises both the substantive hollowness of American values and the political inarticulateness of the American people. Opinion polls – those alienated plebiscites conducted by the mass media – substitute for political dialog and public deliberation.

Nor can the flag be a benign symbol of affection for American society. For the subaltern subjects of the American imperium, the stars and stripes has become emblematic of cultural, economic, and military domination plus our endemic national narcissism. Internally, flag waiving silences dissent and mandates blind patriotism as the principal civic virtue. The current tidal wave of flags cuts off serious discussion about the pressing problems of American society and about non-violent paths towards preventing a recurrence of September 11.

The Futile War

Terrorism is certainly a crime, but war is not the way to defeat it. Despite our immense military prowess, the United States will not win the so-called war against terrorism. Exclusive emphasis on other people’s terrorism blinds us to our own violence, which has usually been far more destructive. Blindness to our own violence will, in turn, provoke more terrorism.

Private or non-state terrorism is a classic weapon of the weak against the strong. Terrorism does not enable the weak to defeat the strong, but it does establish a certain parity between the two. It allows the weak to injure the strong and thus to establish a certain equality with the latter. Retribution by the strong may be a thousand times more deadly, yet the capacity to injure goes both ways. This affirmation of equivalence, of a mutual human vulnerability, is the enduring attraction of terrorism. The willingness of the terrorist to die is token of his good faith. He seeks not personal advantage and, by sharing the fate of the victim, the terrorist lays claim to a common moral universe.

If the United States insists on being the imperialist overlord of the world, it is setting itself up for more terrorist attacks. Immunity to external influence and military invulnerability invites the terrorist response as the only possible self-assertion by the dominated. Al Qaida could be destroyed, but the terrorist impulse will continue.

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