Just yesterday my aunt and I were discussing the current
attempts of terrorism on the United States, after hearing a radio broadcast on
power 105.1. It was talking about a couple guys trying to blow up the New York
subway system. I made the statement to her, “no I do not condone terrorism, not
at all, but Osama Bin Laden was a Genius.”
I continued saying, “The people who try to commit these acts of
terrorism now have no aim. They do not target significant places, like the
world trade center, they just want to kill.”
I told her that I thought Bin Laden was tactful in his actions therefore
carrying out a well-planned yet horrible decision. She countered in saying,
“Yes I agree all people like to do these days is kill, however the United
States was lazy. We were not paying attention or even thinking that something
like that would happen; therefore people like Bin Laden slipping through our
fingers.” I told her, “maybe so, but what if president Bush did know what was
going on, just decided not to do anything about it,” therefore Failing the
American Public. Rodger Streitmatter understood this in his chapter 9/11:
Failing the American Public in “Mightier Then the Sword.”
It was
September 11, 2001. I remember it like it was yesterday just as many other
Americans do. I was sitting in my 5th grade class doing our regular morning
curriculum when the principal came over the intercom and instructed everyone to
turn on the news. I remember thinking my
dad went to work that day and cousin was also in the city, both not that far
from the WTC. I remember many of my class mates and myself trying to
frantically contact our parents. I remember the immediate fear I felt along
with many other Americans, the immediate fear that would seem permanent for
years to come.
We as once fearless Americans were afraid of what was to
come. This was because we were kept in the dark. In this chapter Rodger
Streitmatter highlighted how the news media failed to inform us on the ins and
outs of the attacks. As a nation we needed every source of information to be in
effect immediately. We knew who, what, when, where and how progressively over
time, but never knew the why. He
highlighted how the news was a culprit of never fully capturing of how this
affected the public. Instead the press followed how bush was running away from
this issue, and prepped the world for an unnecessary war.
The common phrase “America
the Beautiful” would be an oxymoron on this day. This was a day that we lost three landmarks, The Twin
Towers, and Pentagon. This was a day
domestic air flights completely stopped for hours, jobs were lost nationally (http://www.zonalatina.com/Zldata248.htm),
and kids probably saw their family members die. This was a day that Americans
would have nightmares about; suffer from PTSD (http://www.zonalatina.com/Zldata248.htm),
and a day that the people of this country would lose faith. Although we had
mass media coverage of this horrid day we will never understand, mainly because
we choose not to. After the attacks President
Bush stated, "Why do they hate us so much?
They hate our freedoms – our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech,
our freedom to vote..." and then "I'm amazed that there's such
misunderstanding of what our country is about that people would hate us ... I
just can't believe it because I know how good we are. (http://www.zonalatina.com/Zldata248.htm)
“He attempted to make us feel at ease about the current acts but in all reality
life as we grew to know and love will never be the same!
SOME ARTICLES YOU MIGHT WANT TO CHECK OUT
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/29/george-w-bush-9-11_n_913056.html (George W. Bush lack of concern)
- http://www.seattlepi.com/local/connelly/article/The-aftermath-of-9-11-A-neglected-looted-America-2161582.php (the aftermath)
- http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/09/11/opinion/20110911_Editorial_Timeline.html (N.Y. Times on the Aftermath)
- http://www.zonalatina.com/Zldata248.htm (9/11 Effects on the USA)