This Saturday marked the 9th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 plane crashes. Over the past few years I have been educated with more information than I was provided when I was 9 years old, but at the same time my mentality hasn't changed. In a bad way.
I still remember what I was doing at the exact moment I learned of the event: I was reading a comic at my desk before school had officially started. "Class, something really bad just happened for America," my teacher carefully circumvented the issue, "Some parents may come to pick their kids up, but there's no need to worry. Everything will be OK."
As soon as I got home, my parents didn't educated me much further into the event besides the knowledge that 2 planes had hit important buildings in New York City. I didn't know why, and it didn't occur to me that many people had just died. Watching TV, I could see that this was something BIG for America. The words 'terrorism', 'Osama bin Laden', and 'Afghanistan' became new words in my vocabulary. But still, no one told me what had happened. Why it had happened. Who did it. What was going to happen next?
From the beginning, my mindset towards the 9/11 attacks was more apathetic than average. While now I understand the implications and events of that day, I still don't think I have the reflection and remorse that I should. Even on the subject of terrorism, I have adopted the mindset of 'making a subject a big deal as an individual makes it a big deal for everyone'. I choose (unfortunately) to push it to the back of my mind.
In the jumble of it all, an interesting point was brought to my attention concerning the way that America chooses to recognize this memorial. Instead of remembering the people who died in the crash, the media throws in references to terrorism, national security, and Islamic extremism. While all of these are relevant to the 9/11/01 event, the references seem to contaminate the memorial.
While I understand your point about the amount of attention given to terrorism, national security, and Islamic extremism when regarding the September 11th attacks, I do not believe it is safe to generalize the way America as a whole chooses to recognize the catastrophic events of this day. You write, “Instead of remembering the people who died in the crash, the media…” My first response is that the media is only one aspect of American society. While the media may sometimes focus on something that one may find distractive in the grand scheme of things, part of its job it to cover news as extensively as possible which would include reporting on the sentiments of hatred and mistrust that surround that day, as well as terrorism and the root cause of it. If the media were to leave out references to terrorism, then why bother reporting the story at all? Second of all, there are a countless number of memorials all across the country dedicated to those who lost their lives in the September 11th attacks. Whether it be in the form of a physical structure, a waving flag, a prayer said in a home, or a public memorial service, I certainly do not think that America has forgotten about the victims of the attacks. Rather, I think that the media has encouraged and inspired Americans to come together in unity to remember those whose lives were lost.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I am satisfied with the way the media covered 9/11. I think that if all we had to remember from that day was what was recorded in newspapers, video clips, and photos, it would give justice to what our country endured on that horrifying day.
This excerpt from one of my previous blog reflections directly addresses the media’s focus on the evil nature of the events surrounding the attacks and the so called “Bastards!” who were responsible. I have bolded a few lines that relate to your thoughts and portray my thoughts regarding how the media has been successful in honoring the victims.
“The September 11th exhibit at the Newseum brought me back to that chilling day. At the time I had not understood the huge impact 9/11 would have on our nation. Now, I am extremely appreciative that the museum offers a place to display newspapers surrounding the event, as well as the “Running Toward Danger” video. From the exhibit I realized the profound effect that news reporters have on the public. Headlines such as “Our Nation Saw Evil,” “Attacks Shatter Nation,” and the striking “Bastards!” inspired immense support among Americans. Fear and despair, stimulated by the media, brought our nation together in unity and strength. There was one front page in particular that captured my attention. The headline read, “An inferno engulfs the World Trade Center.” A photograph underneath depicted the twin towers being eaten alive by burning red flames.
I knew I needed to see this video. Watching the film and hearing the accounts from eye witnesses rendered me speechless. I cannot imagine how it must have felt for reporters who witnessed this calamity firsthand. As the video showed footage of the plane hitting the tower, tears formed in my eyes. When I was reminded that it wasn’t debris falling, but people, those tears started streaming down my face.”
My post in its entirety can be found at http://noceilingswp.blogspot.com/2010/09/reflection-newseum-unleashes-emotions.html
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ReplyDeleteGiuliana,
ReplyDeleteYou claim you were satisfied with the way the media covered the 9/11 catastrophe, but what about all of the political incorrectness, demagoguery, and discriminatory statements that ensued over the course of the media frenzy? The media ruthlessly attacked the Radical Muslim Terrorists at fault for the attack, naturally, but in the process got carried away and turned Americans against Muslims and Arabs as a whole, in my opinion. They dropped the "radical" and started to simply declare "Muslim Terrorists" the enemy, and even at times drop the "terrorists." Overall, I was completely dissatisfied with the media, and to this day I still find them at fault for the ever growing Anti-Islam, Anti-Arab sentiment. I agree, they did a great job in covering the tragedies of the day, and capturing the grief that all of us as Americans shared. However, I feel that in their grief, they turned the country against an entire demographic of people.
Giuliana, I am glad that you find the media has done an adequate job memorializing the 9/11 attacks, but I would like to point out that maybe our differences in opinion come from the differences in the amount of outside information we have on this topic. I know that you live very close to New York City, and therefore probably know some people that were directly affected by the event. I think the event may linger on your mind differently because I have not been directly affected, and have no parents or close (adult) friends who have shared their meaningful thoughts on the attacks with me. All of my opinions on the 9/11 attacks have been formed through the media so I am very aware of its power to persuade the masses.
ReplyDeleteAs Jamie points out and I similarly find fault with in the media, the media was very hasty in pointing fingers at "radical Muslim terrorists". As my (generation's) first major encounter with Muslim's, the media powerfully formed a negative image of all Muslims for me. I have very liberal parents who were affronted by the nazi-esque scapegoat treatment of Muslims and they quickly taught me that the media's hateful portrayal was not altogether representative of the whole.
However, while my parents corrected my fragile opinion of Muslims that had been tainted by the media by discussing it with me, the damage was done to the 9/11 attacks (as in planes crashing) because it was not addressed. My first opinion was formed by the media, which chose a hateful view of the extremists, rather than a reverent view of the victims.
My point is that the media is powerful in forming first opinions and these opinions linger no matter how educated we become later. It's when the event first occurs that we need supplement with the media.
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ReplyDeleteSince I have a lot to respond to for both of your comments, I’m going to pull out quotes from what you guys wrote and just refer to those directly. But first, I would like to clarify what I wrote in my initial comment before I am misquoted or misunderstood.
ReplyDeleteFrom my first comment in response to Elle’s post, I wrote, “While I understand your point about the amount of attention given to terrorism, national security, and Islamic extremism when regarding the September 11th attacks, I do not believe it is safe to generalize the way America as a whole chooses to recognize the catastrophic events of this day.” My reason for saying this was that it seemed like you, Elle, were saying that nine years later America chooses to recognize the events of this day without “remembering the people who died in the crash.” You wrote, “In the jumble of it all, an interesting point was brought to my attention concerning the way that America chooses to recognize this memorial. Instead of remembering the people who died in the crash, the media throws in references to terrorism, national security, and Islamic extremism.”
In response to this, I have two things to say. One, you implied that “America” and the “media” were synonymous. Maybe you could clarify?
ReplyDeleteTwo, I acknowledged that the media did in fact make references to terrorism and Radical Muslims, as both you and Jamie brought up. I then went on to defend the ways America has memorialized the events of that day over the nine years and emphasized my belief that America has not forgotten to honor the victims of the attacks.
My comment that I was “satisfied with the way the media covered 9/11” was mainly in reference to how it covered what happened to our people, how it affected us over here on this side of the sea. I wrote, “I think that if all we had to remember from that day was what was recorded in newspapers, video clips, and photos, it would give justice to what our country endured on that horrifying day.” I believe that these things focused on the tragedies that occurred, captured the grief of our nation, and the way our nation came together as a whole to cope with the attacks.
My line, “When I was reminded that it wasn’t debris falling, but people, those tears started streaming down my face” was written about the footage recorded on 9/11 and acts as an example of the focus the media put on what our people went through. Here, I’m not referring to any outside influence or reason for the attacks, but solely the results the attacks had on our people.
Jamie, you wrote, “I feel that they [the media] turned the country against an entire demographic of people.” I strongly disagree with that statement. It is a bold generalization to make that all Americans were turned against Muslims and Arabs and I, for one, do not fit into that generalization.
ReplyDeleteElle, you wrote “My first opinion was formed by the media, which chose a hateful view of the extremists, rather than a reverent view of the victims.” While I agree that the media did include hateful sentiments in their reporting, my opinion stands that the media most definitely also reported stories of the victims, and did so with honor.
Elle, you also wrote, “My point is that the media is powerful in forming first opinions and these opinions linger no matter how educated we become later.” Yes, I agree that the media is extremely powerful and affects public opinion; however, it’s not fair to say that people can’t change their minds as time goes on. While people may hear things in the news and immediately believe what they hear, people will also often change those beliefs once they discern the truth from the false and become enlightened by new information. This goes with anything, not just what was said in the news after 9/11, but what we go through in everyday life.
I apologize if this sounded abrupt but I wanted to respond to everything that was said and since there was a lot, I thought the best way for me to do this was to respond to direct quotes.
Guiliana you stated: “One, you implied that “America” and the “media” were synonymous.”
ReplyDeleteNice catch ;)
In my mind, the media has a lot of influence over the general public in America. Therefore, what the media chooses to display is in turn the general public’s opinion. This may not be true, and it certainly cynical, but I still do not hold much stock in the general public’s ability to make opinions independently of the media.
Your second point: “I think that if all we had to remember from that day was what was recorded in newspapers, video clips, and photos, it would give justice to what our country endured on that horrifying day.”
Which I understand, of course. Yes, of course if you were to look at the clips/news/photos then you would understand the level of grief in the country. But then the media took it too far and made those snide little references to terrorism and lumped all Muslims into one ball of hate.
More of your quotes: “my opinion stands that the media most definitely also reported stories of the victims, and did so with honor.”
I don’t remember any of these, as a 9 year old. Do you?