The day that must not be named (except in every possible political discussion)

A few days ago, the 10th anniversary of the tragic events of 9/11 took place, and I can't say that I proceeded unaffected during the day, seeing terrorists everywhere and actually stopping what I presumed was an attempt to detonate a suitcase bomb, but might have been just a guy forgetting his suitcase in a train station and the police blowing it up just because some paranoid chick was certain that Malmoe was supposed to go up in flames. I remember vividly the 11th of september 2001 as a horrifying day, not just because I was eleven and convinced that purple hair mascara was an everlasting trend, but because of the fear in my parents' eyes when they hugged me and told me that bad men had crashed several planes into buildings in the United States, and that thousands of people were dead as a result of it. I reacted as sympathetically as only an eleven year old can; asking what was for dinner and if I could get a pet. I was already then a very perceptive child. But the one thing that I managed to understand from the news was the fear of doing things which would "let the terrorists win".  This included not eating any foreign food (just wholesome American food like pizza, falafel and hamburgers), helping elderly Pakistani women cross the street and propose any political action that does not lead to the death/misfortune of poor people. Simple, understandable obstacles in life to be avoided, so to say. I don't know the reason I wrote all this, I was just watching the Daily Show and Colbert Report and wondering how a clown like Glenn Beck can have such an influence in this so called enlightened country. How Obama manages not to just walk out of the White House screaming "Fuck this shit, go ahead and destroy this country, I've had enough of you all!" is beyond me.