With the sole exception of those mourning their friends and family members who died on that day, and don’t politicize it, it all is so hollow and performative.

The US government, and by extension the US voting population who supported the government’s actions, have committed orders of magnitudes of 9/11s before and after 9/11.

In Afghanistan the US killed tens or even hundreds of thousands of civilians.

In Iraq, at least 1 million people died in that conflict, and that estimate doesn’t even include the rise of ISIS which was a result of the Iraq War.

Even Iran’s death toll can be attributed to the US’s 9/11 response. Not only did Trump use it to justify the Iran War just yesterday, but the Islamophobia that lead to the Iran war was exacerbated by the colossal surge in Islamophobia post 9/11. Even Bush claimed Iran was in an “axis of evil”, and the Pentagon plotted a war with Iran to take place after the war with Iraq, just months after 9/11.

Furthermore, it seems the only people still bringing up 9/11 as a matter of discussion, are those who want to use it to justify far-right talking points and policies. Even the GOP’s and many Dem’s support for Israel and the genocide against Palestine is constantly followed with talks about US victimhood during 9/11.

I so look forward to the day when Boomers and Gen X lose their stranglehold on US politics and media so we can finally shut this performative bullshit down. 9/11 shouldn’t simply be seen as a great US tragedy, it should be seen as the beginning of the collapse of the US empire and the reign of terror the US brought in it’s dying days as a global power.