I know some of you already know about this, but ABC is planning to put a miniseries “docudrama” on the air about 9/11. They claim it’s based on the 9/11 Commission Report, but it’s actually pretty far off base. This week, a number of activist organizations have been spearheading campaigns to get it yanked off the air.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I’m pretty miffed that the ABC news organization, with which I’ve had some contact, and for which I have had a great deal of respect, would cheapen themselves by airing tasteless and inaccurate crap about a national tragedy that America is really not over yet. Futher, although I actually read the 9/11 Commission report, I know that the vast majority of Americans haven’t, and this is really going to confuse the giant proportion of us who don’t do our homework. A lot of people are going to mistake ABC’s bullshit partisan propaganda (written by a Republican operative for political purposes) for accurate reporting, and ABC knows it.

On the other hand, I’m not sure I feel resonsible for millions of my countrymen being lazy. Normally, I would say I didn’t feel the need to protect American viewers from stupid propaganda, that they’ll see through it. But I’m losing faith in John Q. Public pretty fast, and I think he’s losing bits of his brain like Ray Liotta in that hilarious scene from Hannibal. So, I’m conflicted.

Here’s what I did. I ignored most of the “Hey, sign this petition” emails I got from various organizations. I did sign a petition, though, in part because the link and the plea came from a family member. I include both, in case you want to hustle over there and sign it (do hurry if you decide to do it–this thing is set to air on Monday for maximum exploitation):

Have you heard about the “docudrama” ABC is planning to air next week about 9/11? It was actually written by a Republican operative. They’re presenting it as factual, but an FBI agent quit the project saying “they were making things up.” The program, as it stands, is designed to make it look like the Clinton administration was responsible for 9/11 . . .

ABC is starting to reconsider, thanks to an outpouring of calls and letters — I just sent them a message through TrueMajority. There’s only a day or so left, though. Check it out, and sign on: http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/dontdistort911?rk=Q7AbtWn1YRfvW

I signed it, and I added a brief paragraph of my own. I’m paraphrasing–my capture didn’t work.

I was born during the Vietnam War. I grew up cynical and conflicted about my country until the day after 9/11. The way my country came together made me feel truly proud and patriotic for the first time in my life. I hung an American flag sticker in the back window of my car. I wrote letters to the New York Fire Department. I was proud of our heroes. When the current administration instead drove a wedge between the united people, I felt something precious was taken from us all. I took down that little flag the day we invaded Iraq. I don’t understand why a respected news organization would tarnish itself by presenting fiction as fact, and issuing partisan propaganda. Making the divisions of our formerly united people deeper hurts us all. Please reconsider what you’re planning to do.

I stopped short of saying it was something Fox would do.

Anyway, if this is something you’re concerned about, feel free to use the link above to sign a petition about it. If not, that’s okay too. Finally, if you haven’t read the 9/11 Commission report, it’s not a bad idea to peruse it. I don’t currently trust my government enough to take it as gospel, but I think it’s important to check out what our government tells us happened in any case. Here is the link to the official site.