9/11 Anniversary: 21 years later...

[Wendy]

I cannot wrap my head around the fact that it has now been just a bit over two decades since that most horrific day in America. I was one week shy that day of turning 29, all bummed because 30 was a year away.

After that day, it seemed so...petty. I became glad to just be ALIVE. What so many went through is just beyond the scope of comprehension.

However, if you have a brave constitution, while NOT an easy watch, 9/11: One Day In America on Hulu, is worth your time, with interviews from some who made it...and talked of many who did not.

May we all remember tat day and those who endured and those we lost. May it NEVER happen again.

[Contessa Donatella]

Prospect Heights, Brooklyn - There were some children who lived halfway between our place & the main subway we used & they drew things with sidewalk chalk all the time. Well, this is what they drew on Sept. 12, 2001, that's right, the day after the World Trade Center Attack & they drew it back in & colored it artfully for every day to make it look fresh for 3 months.

[j swift]

For whatever reason I was reading the wiki about the cultural impact of 9/11 on the media (remember when the Emmys were cancelled twice?), and it is an interesting contrast that almost all of the soaps either referred to 9/11 directly within weeks, or they changed planned stories that including bombs, yet there has been such little reference to Covid19 in modern soaps. 

I wonder if it is because 9/11 still happened during the height of mass media so we all experienced it in a common way.  Or, if the fact that it happened in New York had more of a personal impact on productions in the city.  Or, if soaps writers think it would be callous to have a character die of Corona virus?

I recall the immediate increase of images related to patriotism, an unquestioned reverence for military and police service, and a negative reaction to any criticism of the government.  It is interesting to see that major news events within the past decade have received a more diverse response as they have been filtered through a broader variety of sources in social and mass media.  I don't love that every catastrophe becomes a political debate, but I can appreciate the idea that one cultural lesson learned after 2001 is that we shouldn't silence the opposition.

Edited September 11, 2022 by j swift