The Weekly Standard’s David Skinner weighs in on the “outrage” expressed by such dailies as The New York Post over whether or not, as the Post would have it, “”…street vendors dishonor our heroes at ground zero” but hawking NYPD and FDNY merchandise across the street from the site of the 9/11 tragedy. As Post columnist Steve Dunleavy seethes, “‘Hucksters within sight of the viewing platform are offering for sale baseball caps, wool hats, scarves, and other items carrying the logo of the heroic FDNY and NYPD for small change. For 4 or 5 bucks apiece, you can pick up one of these unauthorized, essentially counterfeit, items.'” Skinner’s response? So what:

Pace Dunleavy, ground zero is neither a den of thieves nor hallowed ground. If anything, it is what it is: a hole in the ground and one of the weirdest tourist attractions ever. So much so that the city is now distributing tickets to force some rational scheme on the men, women, and children waiting in the cold for hours to have a moment on the viewing platform.

The New York Post and others seem to be laboring under the unilluminating idea that a dividing line can be set up. On one side, there’s all the grubbiness of life and the city, while on the other there is the purest sadness and heroism. But such lines can’t be physically set down and preserved, nor should they be. It is in word and deed that we honor best, in ceremony and history, in politics and testimonials. The country has made only a down payment on the years of remembrance and analysis and description and recovery that lie ahead. Beating up on street vendors with the grief mallet doesn’t accomplish anything.

Besides, if we didn’t have street vendors in New York peddling cheap, touristy merchandise, then the terrorists would have won…