When we began this podcast in June of 2020, we brainstormed a lot about what we wanted to do with the show and how we wanted to go about it. Among the many topics and formats we discussed, one idea in particular has consistently been on the “we definitely need to do that” list. We wanted to record short personal monologues from each of us that could be released in between full episodes, partly as a way to keep our content coming regularly, but also as a way to think more thoroughly about the lessons we’ve each learned throughout the course of our lives. After all, the show is about finding the truth, and what better way to search for it than to start from within.
Well, without further adieu, Dialectic Peoples Presents Bits of Truth. The first release in this series of monologues is a personal reflection about the September 11th attacks, precisely twenty years later to the day. As the speaker on the first piece, I admit that I had some trepidation about delving into such a heavily charged topic. Arguably, much of modern American political polarization (and certainly the overarching era anti-terror geopolitics) stems from this single fateful event. The moment the planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and crash landed in Shanksville, PA, the paradigm shifted – American empire was challenged directly through shocking violence, and it responded by launching two decades of war on terror.
Now, in 2021, in the immediate aftermath of the Unites States withdrawal from Afghanistan – with arguably very little to show for it – one might consider the events of the past two decades, and wonder aloud: what was the point of all this? Have we learned anything from twenty years of war?
September 11th was a wake-up call for the world. For me personally, it was a lynchpin moment in my own political awakening. Have a listen to the first part of Bits of Truth, and hear my story and reflection on the meaning of September 11th.
– Brandon Lewis