Ebb and Flow by BK

The year of the tragedy. Tragedies. Tragically. Tragic. All of its heads surfacing to roar at us over this past year, peaking on September 11th in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania. I guess. Tragedy, unfortunately, breeds bedlam. At the moment of impact, many furthered their careers by quickly placing blame -- which, of course, is instinctive for people -- in an attempt to pinpoint the problem. And with all of the hysterical see-I-told-you-so posturing going on - from Jerry Falwell to Michael Moore, to name just two perverse activists -- I don't see why I shouldn't have my turn. The following details a handful of moments that funneled right into the morning hours of September 11, 2001: * Although not an aficionado, one need look no further than into the hollow, shell-shocked eyes of "Glitter" star, Mariah Carey. A longtime, chart-topping songstress, Mariah has been hospitalized twice this year for nervous and physical collapses. Just one week before posting curious prophecies onto her website -- which were subsequently silenced by her PR people -- she performed an improvised striptease on TRL, while a week prior to that she (justifiably) launched a salt shaker at Mira Sorvino¹s pointy head. * Why the stress, Butterfly? You do, in fact, have it all, no? Maybe too much. Like a cat sensing an earthquake, perhaps you feel the rolling waves of earth below, and acted out accordingly. and Conceivably, Mariah unknowingly knew too much, couldn¹t take too much more. Crack. * Oh no, you say? Take a look at the promotional photo for "Glitter": her constricting strap-like asymmetrical dress; enlarged, saddened pupils staring out at a distance at only something that she sees; a coke whore falling further than the definition allows; the hysteric locked up until further notice. * Animals acting out. Numerous amount of pit pull attacks on the elderly, the queer, and the young. From the curiously high number of shark attacks to dog attacks to terrorist attacks, animals (like Mariah?) were globally suspect. * The gays. Whenever, whenever something's slightly amok, look no further than your closest queer. Examples: Pit bull Bane mauls lesbian Diane Whipple, acting out. As well, another homosexual-laced serial killer behaving badly, acting out. OK. The bullet points above are arguably not appropriate oracles for the assaults on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. OK, maybe they are. But it makes as much sense to finger religion, airport security, atheists, and national intelligence as much as it does to single out Mariah, Bane, or your nearest lifetime partner. Hindsight is as superfluous as it is dangerous; things happen, bad things happen. Blaming religion, while ideally very feasible, is like holding the invention of fire responsible for the collapse of two of the tallest structures in New York City. And blaming Mariah is similar to faulting--well, really, hasn¹t she been through enough already? The year 2001 is pockmarked and stitched with condensed, large pockmarks of stuning catastrophe Tragedy is this year's breakthrough performance. Tragedy, this year's black? Yes. But like all things in fashion, though, it unexpectedly goes away. By BK

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