Excerpts taken from the paper “Shifting Sands: The Developing Myth of 9/11”.
© 2003, 2006 Klaus Guenther. All rights reserved.
Note: This writing sample is excerpted from a longer academic paper entitled “Shifting
Sands: The Developing Myth of 9/11”. Throughout the paper, the date “September 11, 2001”
and its variants refer to the historical date and events, while “9/11” refers to the developing
myth. Endnotes are original and refer to the bibliography which is not supplied in this
excerpt.
Ground Zero
The historical events of September 11, 2001 will remain a very strong presence in the
minds of those directly affected by the tragedy. However, as time goes by, details fade from
the collective memory of the nation, and hence opinions are bound to change. Internationally,
this can be seen especially clearly. But even within the United States, the fluid memory starts
forgetting.
In a Time article published the day after the attacks, Nancy Gibbs took on the idea that
America was weakened by the attacks on these prominent American landmarks:
If you want to humble an empire it makes sense to maim its cathedrals. They are
symbols of its faith, and when they crumple and burn, it tells us we are not so
powerful and we can't be safe. The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, planted
at the base of Manhattan island [sic] with the Statue of Liberty as their sentry, and the
Pentagon, a squat, concrete fort on the banks of the Potomac, are the sanctuaries of
money and power that our enemies may imagine define us. But that assumes our faith
rests on what we can buy and build, and that has never been America's true God.i
From the very moment of the attacks, the American TV stations interrupted their
programming and brought only news of the attacks and their progress. Over the course of the
next few weeks, rerun after rerun of attack footage and the collapse of the twin towers
dominated the news. No movies were broadcast, no commercial breaks, and no sports events.
A nation grieved. Prayer vigils were held in churches and places of worship around the
country. America wept and prayed and hoped for survivors.
Shortly after September 11, American country musician Toby Keith wrote a song he
entitled ´The Angry American”, later renamed “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue”ii. In it,
he vowed to bring the perpetrators of the violent acts to justice.iii In an interview toward the
close of September 11, a young man expressed his disappointment that the US was not
dropping bombs already, and the newscaster interpreted that as an indication that the
American public had lost confidence: “America’s confidence has been crumbled – falling as
hard as the [Twin] Towers.”iv
This opinion was very prevalent all across the United States, and when the bombing
did begin nearly a month later, in October 2001, nearly everyone agreed it was the right thing
to do. v In a 2003 interview with Launch given during the Iraq war, Toby Keith stated that
though he was unsure of whether he supported the subsequent war in Iraq, he certainly
supported the war in Afghanistan, and he definitely supports the troops, whether or not he
agrees with the war.vi His opinion is shared by a majority across the US with notable vocal
exceptions, such as Michael Moore and others in the entertainment industry and the media.
Merchandise released shortly after the attacks had dedications to New York, the
NYFD (New York Fire Department), or the NYPD (New York Police Department). Many
items were released with a notice that proceeds would go to the Red Cross or victims of the
attacks. An example of a dedication can be found in the liner notes of a 2001 album release:
This album is dedicated to the spirit of New York and D.C. You have always been the
face of this nation. It has been amazing to watch you become the heart and soul of this
nation. Forever free.vii
A typical note concerning donations reads as follows: “100% of Ty’s profit from the original
purchase of this America Beanie Baby will be donated to the Disaster Relief Fund of the
[Logo: American Red Cross / Together, we can save a life]” This was accompanied by a
dedication: “In memory of those who lost their lives in the national catastrophe that took place
on September 11, 2001. We mourn for them and express our deepest sympathy to their
families. God bless America”viii This reflects the surge of patriotism that America experienced
immediately following the attacks.
Over time, this kind of patriotism has slowly begun to erode. However,new myth is
forming. Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert describes the birth of the myth: “I was very
impressed by the restraint of the media and especially the self-imposed censorship of the TV
stations, not to show images with details of the attacks that were too shocking, for example of
the dead and the injured.”ix The power of what happened was recognized by Gibbs:
[I]t was clear that some things had changed forever. The attacks will become a
defining reference point for our culture and imagination, a question of before and
after, safe and scarred. […] When one world ended at 8:45 on Tuesday morning,
another was born, one we will always trust in but never see, in which normal people
become fierce heroes and everyone takes a test for which they haven’t studied. […]
Once […] we have begun to explain this to our children and to ourselves, what will we
do? What else but build new cathedrals, and if they are bombed, build some more.x
Shock was felt around the world. Web sites have recorded the international outpouring
of condolences.xi The German weekly magazine Der Spiegel ran a four part series about the
attacks and their immediate aftermath.xii In these articles, they detailed the horror and the loss
of life.
Yet in an article published in the Wall Street Journal, signs that Europeans, and
Germans in particular, were becoming unhappy with America’s response became evident.xiii
This duality of opinion is very well represented in the initial reactions from the German
chancellor, Gerhard Schröder:
This is a declaration of war against the civilized world, against all civilization, was my
first thought. … Through strengthened international cooperation, all had to be done to
prevent further attacks and to guarantee the safety of the citizens.xiv
and Dirk Spoeri, a computer science student quoted in this article: “The terrorist attacks […]
weren’t a declaration of war against civilization, ‘but a strike against American economic and
military dominance.’”xv
This statement is in stark contrast with the above quote from Gibbs: what the terrorists
attacked were “the sanctuaries of money and power that our enemies may imagine define us.
But that assumes our faith rests on what we can buy and build, and that has never been
America’s true God.”xvi
In a sense, this very difference defines how the myth of 9/11 develops in these two
cultures. The cultural identity is polarizing around the myth, while simultaneously the cultural
identity is creating the myth.
[…]
While governments may sometimes be slow to respond to a myth, society instantly
adopts it and modifies it to fit within the existing framework. We can see this happening in
Europe. However, the myth will develop differently in Europe and the United States, as
Europe did not directly experience the events. This is similar to the effect that the World Wars
had on both sides of the Atlantic, when only the Europeans directly experienced it.
With the move to a global collective identity, differences between individual cultures
will slowly disappear as the collective memories are merged. However, 9/11 has only begun
its journey, and the destination is not yet clear
Excerpts taken from the paper “Shifting Sands: The Developing Myth of 9/11”.
© 2003, 2006 Klaus Guenther. All rights reserved.
Notes
i Gibbs 2001
ii Kieth 2002
iii The lyrics say among other things, “Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list” (Keith, 2002), referring to
the notorious “Most wanted” lists maintained by Federal law enforcement agencies.
iv WB20 2001
v “[In] the immediate aftermath of the attacks, pollsters found that by a huge proportion, 80%, Americans were
ready to go to war, and prepared for the body bags that go with it.” (Gibbs 2001) Michael Elliot wrote on
September 11, “I heard the first demand for retaliation before I had even got into New York”(Elliot 2001)
vi Kieth 2003
vii Brooks 2001
viii Ty 2001
ix “Ich war sehr beeindruckt von der Zurückhaltung der Medien, vor allem der Selbst-Zensur des Fernsehens,
keine Bilder mit Details des Anschlags zu zeigen, die allzu shockierend sind, etwa von Toten und Verletzten.”
(Olmert 2002)
x Gibbs 2001
xi cf. http://home.pressroom.com/epicovers/wtc/ and countless others
xii Brinkbäumer 2001a – 2001d
xiii Thurow 2001
xiv “Das ist eine Kriegserklärung gegen die zivilisierten Welt, gegen jede Zivilisation überhaupt, habe ich sofort
gedacht. […] Durch eine verstärkte internationale Zusammenarbeit musste alles daran gesetzt werden, weitere
Anschläge zu verhindern und die Sicherheit der Bürger zu guarantieren.” (Schröder 2002)
xv Thurow 2001
xvi Gibbs 2001
