The Mishandling Of 9/11 Remembrances
[guest post by Dana]
Tomorrow marks the 15th anniversary of 9/11. And what better way to commemorate one of the most horrific moments in America’s history than with a “twin tower” mattress sale:
Mike Bonanno, owner of Miracle Mattress in Houston, has since apologized for the tasteless ad, stating that it was produced by employees without his knowledge.
“We will be silent through the 9/11 Anniversary to avoid any further distractions from a day of recognition and remembrance for the victims and their families,” Bonanno said in a news release. “We take full responsibility for our actions and sincerely regret the hurt and pain caused by this disrespectful advertising campaign.”
“There is very little we can do to take away the hurt we have caused, but we can begin with silence through the Anniversary and then do our best to follow up with actions that reflect the seriousness of our mistake,” he said in the statement.
While most of us certainly agree that the commercial was not in good taste, it’s nowhere in the same leagues as the college professor who willfully tore down students’ “Never Forget” 9/11 remembrance posters. According to Professor Margot Lovett, members of the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) student group failed to obtain the necessary “permission from student government” to hang the posters. Therefore, she claims she had to tear them down. And just so you know, Professor Lovett also believes that U.S. imperialism was to blame for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Note that as Lovett confronts YAF students who are documenting her actions, she doesn’t simply remove the posters and hand them back to YAF members to use later, instead she crumples them up:
In spite of Lovett’s rationale for tearing down the posters, Kyle Chiu, the Vice-Chair of Saddleback College YAF, claims the group has been hamstrung by school officials:
[C]ampus leaders refused to grant their club active status because officials want to change some parts of the group’s bylaws. With that, he said, a previously approved 9/11 memorial slated for Sept. 8 was canceled.
“The funny thing is that these are the exact same documents we submitted last year with no problem at all,” Chiu said. “This technically keeps us from active status, thus giving the Student Development Office what they feel is justification for canceling our event. An event the same office approved a couple weeks before.”
“Due to the cancellation of the 9/11 Never Forget Project, all of the reservations for equipment, space on campus, as well as official notifications to campus groups were forfeited,” he added.
YAF released a statement announcing that they would proceed with their 9/11 Never Forget Activism Project on Monday, in spite of it having been cancelled by school officials. Let’s hear it for pushing back against the man!
Let’s face it, we all know that the day Professor Lovett goes out of her way and marches across campus tearing down Hillary Clinton posters, or any other pet cause of the Social Justice Warriors, will be the day that her purple hair turns white.
–Dana