Maggie Gyllenhaal – Cute, but Dumb

This young woman deserves the strongest, sharpest rebuke possible, not just by filmgoers – i.e., don’t go to see the wretched piece of work — but especially by those of us who were most directly affected by the terror attacks.
I lived 4 blocks from WTC and lost my home that day, and was fortunate that I did not lose my life. Remarks such as hers are an insult to the memory of the American martyrs of that day, and as one who lives daily with the aftermath, I am disgusted, not only with her remarks, but with the lack of response to those vile sentiments by the organizers of the Festival.
Those of us who survived that day and who live with its consequences especially have the duty to express our revulsion and disgust with this woman’s unlettered, ill-informed, and grossly insensitive statements to the Festival, and to demand an apology from Ms. Gyllenhaal, from the producers and creators of the movie at issue, and from the Festival for not immediately distancing itself from this individual.
Ms. Gyllenhaal has issued a statement that compounds her error and adds insult to injury. As a survivor of 9/11, I am incredulous at the studied intransigence of this immature young girl, and I urge those of you who share my outrage to visit nytimes.com/movies and post to that forum, as well as your favorite Weblogs – and in addition, call the New York City Council and urge them to continue the pressure they have applied to Ms. Gyllenhaal’s orginization for her to issue a true apology, rather than the mealy-mouthed, insincere nonsense she has already inflicted upon us.
Ms. Gyllenhaal would do well to remember that freedom of speech does _not_ mean freedom from the _consequences_ of one’s free speech. If a public figure makes public (and inflammatory) comments in a public forum, it is not undemocratic to expect that those comments will engender a wide range of freely expressed responses. Her intemperate remarks have served only to increase the suffering of those of us directly affected by the terror attacks, and her arrogant refusal to apologize for the damage her remarks have caused reflects poorly on her, her colleagues, and the TriBeCa Film Festival – an event born from a desire to bring life and hope back to my devastated neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.

Of course we were partly to blame for 9/11. We have been sticking our noses into other country’s affairs for 100 years. How many killings and coups are we responsible for in other countries? Also, we trained El Quaeda how to use terror against the USSR. No one is saying that we wanted the people on 9/11 to die, but don’t act like poor little America was sitting here minding our own buisness and got attacked.

Joseph Smith and Maggie Gyllenhaal are examples of the kind of trash that gives Americans a bad name. The only ones responsible for the attacks are people like them that spew this garbage and make terrorists think that America is an easy target. Most Americans are not as stupid at celebrities and the sheeple that blindly follow. Al Qaeda(not El Quaeda,which isnt even close to how it is spelled)