Thomas Friedman and Roth on "9/11":

The prospect of the upcoming election has made Thomas Friedman change his mind about a few things. For one, he's tired of living in a "post-9/11 world" in which the events of September 11, 2001 dominate the political narrative. He's decided that 9/11 is over, and that it "made us stupid" : "I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again."

It's a reaction that echoes not only the Onion Headline he cites - "Giuliani To Run For President Of 9/11" - but also something that the Philip Roth said in an interview with the French newspaper, Le Figaro, back in 2002. At the time, it seems, Roth's comments were considered too inflammatory, and the interview quickly disappeared from the web.
Here are two excerpts:

JEAN-LOUIS TURLIN: Have we properly assessed what happened on September 11?

PHILIP ROTH: I really don’t know, and I don’t care. That interests me as a citizen, but not as a novelist. September 11 is not something that I can draw on in an imaginative level. The only story that I can take from it is the kitsch in all its horror — not the horror of what’s happened, but the great distortion of what’s happened. It’s almost embarrassing, the kitschification of 3,000 people’s deaths. Other cities have experienced far worse catastrophes. America itself has inflicted some in its past, even if it was for the right reasons — I’m not a pacifist. One wouldn’t dream of slighting these people, it is awful, but we need to keep a sense of proportion about these things. What we’ve been witnessing since September 11 is an orgy of national narcissism and a gratuitous sense of victimisation that is repellent. And it doesn’t stop. Even now, it’s impossible to watch a baseball game without having to listen to “God Bless America” beforehand or without being asked to remember “our heroes.” I feel like saying: stop, dignity demands that you stop it.
...

TURLIN: It has been said many times that with September 11, the United States lost its innocence.

ROTH: What innocence? That’s so naive. From 1668 to 1865, we had slavery in this country. Then, from 1865 to 1955, a society marked by brutal segregation. What innocence? I don’t really know what people are talking about.

What do you think?

More via Radio OpenSource, via The Telegraph