Predictions & Observations
As a result of the events of late there will be many newborn baby girls named Hope. Maybe some named Faith, too.
In the months of May and June 2002 there will be a small boomlet of births. Statistics from record-keeping departments will bear this out. Many have taken comfort in loving during this period of crisis. Others have felt a need to expand their families, in some cases to create a new family member to replace one lost.
Once City Hall in Manhattan settles down to some sort of normalcy, there will be a great onrush of couples seeking civil wedding ceremonies. A rush to the altar (well, to City Hall) is a natural reaction among those who have been "on the fence" regarding marriage.
The feeling of love and a need to officialize relationships is so much greater after a tragedy of this sort, which effects the emotional lives of so many. All throughout the NY and D.C. metropolitan areas, marriages will be on the increase for the next few months.
The Holiday Season will be more somber than in past years. Many cards will be sent with images of the World Trade Center, and words of remembrance. Donations made to relief and asistance funds will replace gift-giving on the part of many companies.
Commercial after-effects, crass though they may be, will be in abundance. Models of the Twin Towers will be a hot novelty item, probably cached in some "may their memory live on" verbiage.
Patriotic and rah-rah march music CD compilations will suddenly be on sale, put together by canny music business marketers, to sieze the opportunity of the day.
Some card companies and other concerns closely tied into gift giving (like Hallmark, Amazon, eBay, 1-800-Flowers, Fingerhut, Lillian Vernon, et al) will announce a percentage of the sales of the holiday period will be donated to relief and assistance funds.
Patriotic-themed car decals and bumper stickers will show up in K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Target, 7-11, et al.
Peaceniks, Pacifists, and Anti-War groups will be on the rise again. Let us hope that those of a more hawkish bent perceive these groups as pro-peace, not as anti-American.
One of the great tragedies of the Viet Nam era was the polarization of those of differing opinions. Branding the others in an extreme method was a common symptom of those times, i.e., "Doves" were slandered as cowardly anti-American unpatriotic commies (sometimes lumping all hippies into that group, too), versus "Hawks" tattooed with labels such as pro-war, violent, fascist, imperialist pigs.
A sad result of this was the split among people into supposedly separate, antithetical groups: those with peace signs versus those sporting American flags. The true fact is that both groups were expressing concern and different degrees of honor and patriotism.
Weblogs, newspapers, and magazines will lessent the updates and attacks on the stupidity George W. Bush and his inability to utter more than five words without a stumble. Bush's handlers will attempt to restrict W to pre-planned, written utterances only, trying their best to limit his off-the-cuff comments.
Gary Condit will be all but forgotten, except possibly in his home area. Isolationist (and generally assholic blowhard) Pat Buchanan will lose his little pulpit as the obvious need to become closer to our allies gains in acceptance. Ralph Nader will probably not make another attempt to raise his awareness and spoil the elections.
Al Gore will realize that any bid for the White House will be difficult if these times and sentiments remain in place for any extended period. Gore will also need to find a running mate with a higher profile in the military/defense side of things. Lieberman, Gore's odd choice of a Jewish running mate, can abandon all hope of becoming the Veep or any aspirations he might have had for the Presidency.
John McCain may be the biggest gainer in the event that Bush's stupidity, and his total reliance (read: puppetry) on his handlers becomes more apparent and a news story. Bush as a bozo in tough times could end up being a disaster to the GOP, and McCain is the likely knight in shining armor coming in on the white horse with the red, white and blue saddle.
Rudy Giuliani will end up with a cabinet post, or some position of national prominence.
Attendance in churches, synagogues, and other places of prayer will rise significantly.
If there is another attack by the terrorists, the US will rush into an assault on Afghanistan or other middle-eastern areas, to answer violence with violence and to make a show of bravado and of commitment to fighting the battle as a combat endeavor. Terror, the attack of the unknown, will be met with a response of tradtional warfare, showing that the US is fighting on the basis of the old paradigm. The terrorists will have the upper hand in this non-matching battle effort.
Standard warfare acts such as bombings and combat will increase the jihad sentiments, and further the sense of America as an agent of Satan, bringing about ruination and abomination to spiritual followers of Islamic faiths. This, too, will fuel the fury of the other side, while putting American lives in jeopardy.
Saddam Hussien and Moammar Khadafi must be very happy right about now.
