Why 9/11 Changed Nothing, by Paul Harvey.
This article really brought new light to an attitude that seems to be commonly heald by our generation today. According to Harvey, 9/11 wasn't the defining moment that we seem to think it was. It was another step in a cycle of wars our countries has faced. He gave the civil war as an analogy, of sorts. The tragic event: slavery, as apposed to the loss of American lives. The result: a civil war, or a war on terror. The cause: Freedom for thousands of people.
While I agree with him on the principle that this is a cycle, I don't think it's correct of him to assert that it changed nothing. I'm sure the civil war changed the attitudes of many people on slavery. Many lives were lost in both incidents. 9/11 instilled a new hatred in people's minds, along with a new fear. It may have been another turn of the wheel, but I believe it's safe to say much has changed since then.
Enich,
ReplyDeleteThanks for this, both the link and your reflections. I heard someone else being interviewed, but not who it was: some one who has recently written in the New Yorker. Anyway, this guy said that the changes since 9/11 are more trivial than profound. Trivial: TSA in the airport. Not profound: the trend toward greater social and economic inequality continues. Maybe the next step is to identity specific changes and then consider what sort they are. LDL