My first thoughts are always against the tide. The day after the towers went down I thought, oh no, people are REALLY going to start treating Arabs like shit. I started lunching at the Afghani restaurant on St. Marks. I figured it would be a show of support and I'd enjoy some good food. And it was VERY good! I'm glad they're still opened. They must be going through a difficult time. Ask Armen about living through the 80's as an immigrant from Iran.
Then, when all of the fundraising started I absolutely knew it was getting out of hand. I just hate mass American cultural movements. They are always reactionary and illogical. It reminded me of how stupid people acted over the Lady Di death or the Elian Gonzalas thing.
Now we have these surviving families complaining about only getting 6 million! Many of us have tragiclally lost loved ones to illness, accidents, whatever. No one handed us millions. The gross part is the way Americans expect more money for families of victims who made more money. It's all about protecting the status quo when it should be about disaster relief.
Meanwhile I'm sure all of those corporate donors are still donating the exact same amount of money to charities as they do every year. Instead of this or that disease/foundation/museum etc. they gave it to the cause that would get them a big pat on the back. My thoughts all along were that we should all be holding benefits... for anything BUT WTC. I just think that when something is so overdone in such a mainstream way, they don't need my help.
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