For us Americans, September 11 is a day to remember the horrible attack against our country.
It changed American history forever.
*autism intensifies in the background*
An upper class Latin American with a 2 inch cock appears foaming at the mouth seething: "DID YOU JUST SAY AMERICAN?!!? WE'RE AMERICAN TOO!! AND, JUST SO YOU KNOW, WE HAD OUR OWN SEPTEMBER 11 THANKS TO YOUR PEOPLE!!!"
While drinking my vodka with the scary ass vatos of Iztapalapa: "Right, right ..."
But it is a thing you notice!
Especially if you are in contact with or friends with on Facebook those who are more on the left.
Putting aside their extreme autism over our use of the word "American," you always have someone who brings up "the other September 11" whenever that day passes.
Of course, to those not familiar with leftist ideology or Latin American history, you might be asking: "what the fuck is the OTHER September 11?!"
Good question!
You see, left leaning types who feel the need to pander to every issue for social media points and to sit on a high horse feeling superior to others never miss this special day to remind the rest of the world that there is "the OTHER September 11."
That OTHER September 11 is the day at which Chilean President Salvador Allende was overthrown in a coup by Pinochet on September 11, 1973.
And that the coup occurred with the help of the US BACKED CIA.
As you can see here, left leaning types never miss a beat on reminding their 17 followers on Twitter about this every September 11.
Before I joined Twitter, I would notice a guy I am friends with on Facebook named Peter who would post the same thing every year.
Almost like it was a religious moment for him.
Rubbing his hands together at the opportunity to remind the world at some evil shit the US did (ignoring the role of the Chileans themselves as they always do) and to appear intellectual.
While he is a cool dude overall, he was always the person on my Facebook to post about it.
This year, he hasn't.
Guessed not as many people gave a fuck last year.
Still, as you saw in the screenshots above, there's no shortage of others who will do the same on other social media platforms.
Above all, it's simply a small detail to life here in Latin America when you have interacted enough with certain gringos of certain left leaning persuasions.
It's always gringos or almost always gringos who bring it up though.
At least in my experience, I rarely see another Latin American bringing up the topic on this day but I'm sure they exist.
I'm just saying that I have literally only seen gringos (who don't even have Chilean or Latino heritage) bring up the topic on this day.
Still, if we were to take what they are doing seriously, what is there to say?
The Other September 11: The Chilean Coup Against Allende
First, I don't know how Chileans respond to this day.
I legitimately have no idea.
I have never once spoken to a Chilean about if or how Chileans commonly experience this day decades later after what happened.
Do they have events to remember it?
I do know that some Chileans -- especially older ones -- like Pinochet and approve of what he did.
On the flip side, as I wrote about here, you have those who fought hard (and unsuccessfully) to replace the constitution that Pinochet left behind (though it has been so modified since it was established that one could argue how much of the constitution is really of Pinochet).
So, to be fair to Chileans, I just wanted to put that out there.
I don't want to take away from actual Chileans who wish to remember this day in their own way (regardless of if they support what Pinochet did or not).
Obviously, they are completely in the right to acknowledge that historical event however they wish to do so and I can't tell them that they shouldn't.
Second, it needs to be said that some gringos are full of shit.
There are those -- like Peter as I mentioned -- who I do feel genuinely cares about the issue and isn't trying to gain social media points or be on a high horse.
Regardless of if you agree or disagree with his politics, I know he has genuinely shown a true interest in Latin American history and politics and this isn't some issue that he bullshits about for superficial reasons.
Having said that, some gringos truly are like that.
A more common issue that is more widely taken up by left leaning gringos for the social media points and what not is the "Latinx" issue as I wrote about here or how it was written about here.
Those who truly don't care about gender issues in Latin America and don't even know how most Latin Americans see the word "Latinx" or "Latine" and just wish to be "woke enough" for social media.
The "OTHER September 11" is a more obscure issue for most of these gringos to be fair but some do adopt it for the same superficial reasons.
Third, as I wrote here, I don't always see eye to eye with these things on how they frame what happened on September 11.
They do ignore the fuckery of Allende and they do ignore the role of local Chileans (be it Pinochet, the military, business elites, etc) in taking down Allende.
They often frame it as "US BACKED" coup as if those words "US BACKED" were to take away any responsibility or accountability from local Chileans for what happened that day.
Mostly because they feel insecure about applying any responsibility to non-white people given the politics of those who are promoting that narrative and ignorance about the history itself.
To them, there is a consistent history that only deems specific entities as evil and others as perpetual victims with an inappropriate amount of blame applied to the wrong individuals.
That isn't to say that the CIA had no role or no significance in what happened but only that it's not uncommon for those who not apply properly the amount of blame that should be placed on local actors in Chile due to the reasons already discussed.
Fourth, there is one narrative though from those on the left (and sometimes people on the "far-right" bring up) regarding this topic.
Quite often, the far-left and far-right agree more than they realize but do disagree on some very fundamental issues.
And that is that there should be some acknowledgement of US over reach in the world.
When 9/11 happened to the US, you had no shortage of people who claimed that it happened because "they hate us for our freedom" and had people like Bill here canceled for comments that were not unjustified with his "Politically Incorrect" show.
Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher discussing 9/11
Regardless of what you think about his overall politics, he wasn't wrong that night.
And, more importantly, there does need to be something done about the over extension of international involvement by the US elite that treat world politics like a chess game at the expense of the American people (financially, in terms of lives lost in wars, etc).
When you look at 9/11, it was much deeper than just "they hate us for our freedoms."
As you can see here (among literally any other source), the event occurred to try to kick Americans out of the Middle East.
The Bin Laden Papers: Examining the documents seized from the al Qaeda leader's compound
Most Americans would love to be out of the Middle East.
Of course, international affairs is more complicated than that.
Regardless, the bottom line is that I don't entirely disagree with the far-left nor far-right narratives that America should focus more on itself than over extending itself abroad for the interests of a few than the country as a whole.
On the flip side, the average Joe doesn't necessarily know what international affairs is in his best interest to be involved in either.
So it is a complex issue.
But when going back to the Chilean 9/11 and Latin America overall, said thing could be claimed here also.
On one hand, Chile is one of the best countries for quality of living after decades of the Pinochet legacy.
True.
On the other hand, American actions in Latin America -- like with Cuba -- did push that country after the fall of Batista to lean towards the Soviets successfully and almost cause a nuclear war that would've killed a majority of Americans.
On top of that, most of this is coming from "the American" perspective as to what is best for the US and not even taking into account what is best for the people of these countries -- Middle East or Latin America -- that we get involved in.
Though, like I said, some claim that American involvement in Chile against Allende helped push things for the betterment of their people when factoring in how Chile is today, despite its problems of socioeconomic inequality).
Here's the overused phrase once again: "it is what it is."
Fifth, the issue doesn't need to be brought up in the US on this day in my opinion.
Especially with the families of the victims being alive still.
I think it's a bit distasteful (regardless of if the person doing so is just trying to earn social media points or is more genuine about it).
There's nothing wrong with bringing up the issue the day after.
September 12th.
Or, if you wish, knock yourself out on September 10th.
But let the families of the victims go through September 11th without your severe autism being twerked around on social media.
You can show your ass another day.
And all the opinions that come with it (we all got them).
But today is a day for letting them remember their lost loved ones without needing a reminder of the failures of the foreign relations of the US government that, in my opinion (we all got them), contributed to the death of their loved ones and the many fucked up wars that costed us many more lives, returning soldiers in need and trillions of dollars in waste.
That's all I got to say anyway.
For those curious as it relates to the American (yes -- US) September 11th, here's an interview with the man who shot Osama Bin Laden.