How close is revenge to reverence? Apparently the new spirituality in America is something not too far removed from weaponry.
The USS New York was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center
It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.
Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept 9, 2003, 'those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence,' recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. 'It was a spiritual moment for everybody there.'
Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the 'hair on my neck stood up.' 'It had a big meaning to it for all of us,' he said. 'They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back.'
The ship's motto? 'Never Forget'
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Just adding the hyperlink so people can click through to the article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12140834/
what an apocalytic image (and mordenti knows why it's especially compelling for me): to be an innocent bombarded by ships named after the locations of collective trauma suffered by americans. referring to your earlier discussion of dark knight: isn't what's being written about in the article operate according to the same inner logic that motivates dark superheroes (and villains) as well? they are moved by some deep and insuperable trauma to commit acts of total vengeance in ways that they cannot completely control and thus cannot be held responsible for their actions. an armor forged by the fire of trauma. scary. - john k.
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