Judd Handler's Articles

No Title Necessary (My 9/11 Reflections)

My heart goes out to the over 2,800 innocent victims of terrorism and their friends and families. Let it be known that those who died at the hands of the reincarnation of the Nazis did not die in vain, for they are the true martyrs in the millenniums-old struggle of good versus evil.

It has been more than five decades since most Americans knew of such evil in Germany, and although there have been several evil political leaders since Hitler (Milosovic, Pinochet, and Pol Pot come to mind), many Americans are facing the biggest evil, this time in the form of suicidal, modern-day religious crusaders.

The men, women and children who died at the hands of the terrorists are not suffering. Their souls are at peace. They are detached from this world of suffering. They are detached from their mortal bodies. They are floating joyously knowing that they will be one day reunited with their loved ones in the spiritual world. This I am sure of. When we are detached, we are free of suffering. Does this sound too hokey for you? It's important you believe and will something positive, like the ability to channel the energy of a loved departed one. Sure it's expected and natural to grieve, but it's also important to realize that those who died are no longer suffering. It's important we have a strong faith because there are religious fanatics who are trying to will the destruction of Western culture as we know it.

When I first heard of the terrorist attacks on the East Coast, my first thought was if my sister was in the vicinity of the World Trade Center. She lives in Manhattan - thankfully uptown on 106 St. and Broadway. I was able to find out pretty quickly that she was ok. I tried to understand the magnitude of the news I had just heard. Like many, I was in denial and the reality hadn't set in for several hours. I also thought of my parents who are on an extended vacation in Europe. I realized that my fear of premature death of my family or myself was very strong. I'm sure I'm not the only one. This is a terrible and irrational fear. This is one goal of terrorism.

Fear of course leads to hatred and violence. The enormity and scope of the terrorist attacks sunk in for me on Thursday, the night of the 14th. I drove to a suburb of San Diego to see an Indian friend of mine belly dance at a small coffee shop. When I arrived I found that the coffee shop had been closed due to bomb threats. The coffee shop was advertising the event as Middle Eastern night. Later on in the week, a mosque that I frequently drove by in the past to play basketball, in another San Diego suburb, was cherry bombed.

A week after the attacks, I find myself still angry and asking myself, "WHY" a lot. Why is the security of this nation's airports handled by foreigners on student visas making $7.00 hour? Why is the biggest competitor of human resources for airport security workers fast-food restaurants? I am still very upset at my government for allowing this to happen. Everybody knew how bad airport security was -- and still is. So why wasn't anything done?

When the bottom line is more important than the public's safety, that's when capitalism can be just as evil as Soviet-era communism. I wondered if it was bad that capitalism is the backbone of our society? I concluded that capitalism is great because it allows us the freedom to do anything we want with our money. It's our choice. Of course, Americans need to realize that their palm pilots won't lead to universal harmony and understanding. But we are now at war with a group of brainwashed fanatics who are fueled in rage by the prospects of a holy war. Peace is unfortunately out of the question. The ideals of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, which I whole-heartedly believe in, are most likely not being heard by most Americans. Most Americans want to crush the radical Muslim extremists. I can't say I blame them.

Why didn't we take the threat seriously? It's been reported that U.S. intelligence received information weeks before the attacks that something like this could happen. So why was it allowed to happen? Do we even have spies any more? If we do have spies, are they like Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase in the movie, "Spies Like Us?" Is Clinton to blame for the denigration of our intelligence services? Was I fooled into thinking Clinton was good with foreign policy? I guess I was.

Why did the flight instructors in my hometown of San Diego not report to the police, the terrorists who were learning how to fly a plane? Supposedly the terrorists asked the flight instructors to train them in an unusual flight pattern, one that was used to level the World Trade Center towers. Why were many of us so naive, especially our government? I couldn't believe that at least two of the terrorists went to San Diego area community colleges.

Now that we are in a global coalition against terrorism, can we trust the governments of Pakistan, Mexico and Italy, and many other countries where extremist Muslims live? Can we trust those governments as well as our own to round up all the anti-Western "Islamic" fanatics?

Are all the nuclear weapons of the world accounted for? The night of the attack, I felt extremely paranoid. I can hear quite loudly the waves of the Pacific Ocean crashing through my window. The waves seemed a lot louder than normal. Last Tuesday, I actually thought a tsunami would swallow up my apartment complex. I began to fear the unthinkable - Armageddon, in the form of nuclear, biological and/or chemical warfare.

How can we round up all the terrorists and their supporters in this country, much less over the world? How can we be so sure that a taxi driver of Middle-Eastern origin isn't a covert supporter of the radical Islamic cause?

Why do we have such an erratic Middle East foreign policy? We seem to be appeasing both sides - the Israelis and Palestinians. If we weren't allies with Israel would this have happened? I'm 99.99 percent sure it still would have happened. This policy obviously isn't working. Hopefully now, people realize why Israel deals with terrorists the way they do - because they're terrorists! When a race of people is committed to your destruction, a foreign policy of political correctness can't work. Why are we still playing a boyish game of cat and mouse with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein? We're not hurting him; we are starving his people. I am sure Saddam had something to do with the terrorist attacks. He is aiding in the sprouting of an evil seed. The seed of evil is an impoverished, largely uneducated and brainwashed group of radical Muslims that have nothing to live for except for what they believe to be the afterlife: paradise with their fellow radical martyrs. You just can't deal rationally with these kinds of people.

Why are Americans so ignorant with what's going on in the outside world? Is it because when you're number one, why should you give a shit about other countries? This arrogance has led to our suffering. Maybe if the American public were more knowledgeable about extreme Muslim elements, our political leaders would have been forced to listen. How many Americans realize that within the last couple of months, a fellow American was beheaded by a radical Muslim militant group in the southern Philippines?

Americans need to take time out of their day to read foreign news sources, or at least our best domestic news services like the New York Times. We have plenty of time to do this. We email each other immature pictures and jokes all day, every day. Americans and the rest of its allies will soon hear for the first time of former Soviet-blocks that are Afghanistan's neighbors: Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and others.

Why did this have to happen? Why did this have to happen? Why did this have to happen?

I was enjoying my life so much before the 11th. Is that terrible of me for saying that? Is that selfish? I don't think so, but often I find myself thinking that I'm not crying enough for the innocent victims. Guilt is terrible and paralyzing. It's hard to keep my usual positive energy. A return to normalcy as everyone is saying is impossible. I believe in a return to productivity, but to deny your emotions is not raising the human consciousness, which is what a horrific incident always does. It forces us to think differently about the material world around us and to assess what's really important to us.

Before this incident, I felt like I had a good grasp of what was really important: my family and friends, the Pacific Ocean, the smell of jasmine flowers, my guitar ... I realized that I also had a negative attitude towards the U.S. government. Now, I realize how much I took democracy for granted. Sure, America isn't a utopian democracy, but it's one of the best models of the civilized world, and that's why 3,000 innocent people from many nations died on September 11. The lunatic fringe of Islam has been ignored and impoverished for decades, if not centuries. They hate everything we stand for. They have started an ideological genocidal campaign against us. Fundamentalist Islam has spread like a Western U.S. summer fire, but there were no firefighters to put it out. I'm afraid we can't totally extinguish it. After the U.S. and its allies are successful in crushing most terrorist cells, there must be an attempt made to establish stable and forward-thinking governments in places like Afghanistan. Just like America rebuilt post-World War II Europe under the Marshall plan, the U.S. and its allies must devise a way to make sure that impoverished and vulnerable nations don't flare up with further Muslim extremist tendencies.

Like many Americans I am vulnerable to emotional exhaustion and am trying to stay positive. My heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims of the attacks on September 11, 2001. My heart goes out to my best friend Jason who lives in Denver. Jason lost a couple of his childhood friends from New Jersey, who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald in the World Trade Center. Their lives have not been taken away in vain. They are the ultimate sacrifices for a new consciousness for the world. They are the ultimate sacrifice in the ongoing struggle of good versus evil.

The positive will come out of this. It already has. We have seen how the rest of the world has come together in support of America. We have seen how New Yorkers have come together. Our government will be more determined from now on in protecting our lives. The battles and war may be long, but we should all know that extremely positive times lay ahead.

God bless America and God bless the world.