9/11 story lacks students who actually remember tragedy
After reading the Sept. 11 article in CM Life, I was amazed at how under-reported and underdeveloped this story was.
There was a glaring problem with it, namely the fact that most people that were interviewed were too young to even begin to understand what happened on 9/11, let alone know the true repercussions of it.
I would even venture to guess that most of those people did not even know what the World Trade Center was prior to 9/11.
While I was only 14 at the time of the attacks, I managed to carry at least a basic understanding of what had taken place on that day.
I had a knowledge of what the Trade Center actually was, having grown up with movies during the 90s that made the towers famous (Independence Day, Men in Black, Armageddon, among others).
I just fail to see the point in interviewing people who really had no idea about what was happening on Sept. 11.
Of course they were all “confused, unsure of what was happening,” because I highly doubt that these elementary school children were even allowed to watch the attacks from their classrooms, much less discuss them in a constructive manner.
I remember the television being turned on just in time to see the South Tower collapse during a live broadcast, and several of my classmates had even seen the second airplane hit the same tower some 55 minutes ago.
Up until that point, the media was considering the first hit on the World Trade Center to be an accident.
Once United 175 struck the South Tower, anyone who was capable of understanding what was happening knew that times were going to change.
You have a campus full of people who might offer a more meaningful opinion on the 9/11 attacks.
Let me just say that I appreciated the commentary from the journalism professor CM Life presented.
It gave insight on how the Sept. 11 attacks fit into the U.S. historical scale.
Professor Hartman drew interesting parallels between the attacks and the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
These were two events which shaped the direction America went.
For better or for worse, the American populace must accept the idea that the Sept. 11 attacks were glaringly significant, if not integral to American history, much like the JFK assassination was.
It seems as though most news agencies are afraid to relive the day, to bring out people’s true feelings about Sept. 11.
It appears that the goal of modern journalism is to sweep the tragedy under the rug, while the dates of other national tragedies (like Pearl Harbor) are commemorated yearly in the most patriotic of fashions.
Your article helps people forget.
Chris Hopcraft Albion Senior
