Tony Bennett recently appeared on the Howard Stern show and stated that the 9/11 “terrorists flew the plane in but we caused it, because we were bombing them and they told us to stop. Who are the terrorists? Are we the terrorists or are they the terrorists?” Tony is now being lacerated as a demented, unpatriotic fool. FB space restrictions precluded a response in the status page so I was forced to invoke my Olbermannian rant below.
First, let’s get one thing straight. If there is anything Tony Bennett truly should be lacerated for, it is for appearing with Howard Stern in the first place. It’s not worth lending that loathsome cretin credibility just to sell a few more platters, Tone.
I read the story of Tony speaking out and then made the unfortunate mistake, as I do so often, of reading the response of the vox populi, of which I am a blushing member and elements of which always manage to stir me to a speedy boil.
I mean, if we are going to start lobbing everything from spitballs to the speedy arrival of the seven plaques at one who exercises the free speech in a manner which displeased many, I want in! (Ah, but to launch a fusillade at Rick Perry here and now, but that would be to digress).
Tony Bennett is 85 years old. Many of the grenades launchers ridicule him for his age and insist he be chastised, silenced, ignored or indicted on that basis, much as one would a recalcitrant child.
If I were Tony Bennett and fate granted me 85 years of life and fortune had permitted me to retain as formidable a measure of lucidity, erudition and intellectual capacity as he has, I would use all the power at my command (remember, this is a man who once sang, “a little filthy lucre buys a lot of things”) to rain thunder and damnation on the heads of those who dismiss the opinions of the aged on the basis of that age alone.
Although we, as a society, are most often dismissive of the perspectives of our elders, certain statesmen curiously excepted, that does not mean we are correct in doing so. If we so cavalierly dismiss the opinions and experiences of those who have not only gone before, that is our shame and our loss.
Now there are those who have leveled the charge that Mr. Bennett’s comments reveal him to be some manner of yellow bellied coward as if this life were a John Wayne movie.
Consider: This man served an infantryman and fought at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II which was the crucible on which his life’s philosophy was forged as he explained: “I’m anti-war. It’s the lowest form of human behavior. The first time I saw a dead German, that’s when I became a pacifist.”
Now, I may prefer John Wayne movies to Tony Bennett recordings (actually, nothing could be farther from the truth, but for the sake of discussion let’s play pretend just as Wayne did) but just as I have never given birth, I have never been on a battlefield, therefore, I give the opinions, judgments and perspectives of those who have done so, full faith and credit by virtue of the simple fact that they have earned it. If seeing dead soldiers on a battlefield, whether German or otherwise, shaped Mr. Bennett’s philosophy on war and peace, he has not only earned it, but in this country has the full, unbridled right to sing it from every mountain top free from any fear of being stifled.
Which brings us to the principal comment that aroused such a hue and cry: “They flew the plane in, but we cause it. Because we were bombing them and they told us to stop.”
Not trusting that I possess the acuity or memory equal to that of Mr. Bennett, I looked it up in that repository of credible human information in this early stage of the millennium, Wikepedia.
By their count, the U.S. of A. has unleashed acts of military aggression in the Middle East on eighteen (uhh …that’s 18) separate and distinct occasions in the 10 years preceding 9/11/01.
Whether it’s our terror or theirs, – regardless of whether one’s side is buttressed by God and Exxon or Allah and oil, that’s a long reign of terror that has been inflicted and a generation (not to mention past generations) of hatred we have spawned among those who survived the ceaseless rain of bullets and bombs.
When Mr. Bennett wondered, whether “we” or “they” are the terrorists he was exercising a right to express his own conviction that the butchery unleashed by this, or any nation, upon any other nation, sect, creed, race or religion is demonic regardless of what flag is flown, what God is invoked or in what name or corporate entity is invoked to justify it.
Just as he is entitled to his opinion, those who find those opinions disagreeable are entitled to the same free expression. However, when that disagreement is couched in language filled with bile, venom and contempt we cross beyond civil discourse and decorum and enter a nether region inhabited by the Howard Sterns and others of his ilk; purveyors and profiteers of inflamed rhetoric where civil exchanges are the enemies of ratings and profits and necessarily doomed to a dead end.
Mr. Bennett needs no defense that he is unable to provide for himself. As he has so often throughout his career, he provided a graceful coda to the firestorm with these words:
“There is simply no excuse for terrorism and the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent victims of the 9/11 attacks on our country. My life experience – ranging from the Battle of the Bulge to marching with Martin Luther King – made ma a lifelong humanist and pacifist, and reinforced my belief that violence begets violence and that war is the lowest form of human behavior. I am sorry if my statements suggested anything other than an expression of my love for my country, my hope for humanity and my desire for peace throughout the world.”
Your golden sun still calls to me, Mr. B.
PS Not only that but, the presence of Lady GooGoo aside, it’s a pretty darn good CD.
September 22, 2011
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