I was eleven years old when the Twin Towers came down and didn't quite understand what was happening. I was off-track so I got to watch the news all day. I knew that it was the biggest attack on America since Pearl Harbor, and I knew that some towers that I hadn't heard of crashed down in New York City. Although I was a bit disturbed by the images, I wasn't able to put feelings to the event. I didn't cry about September 11th until high school.
Since 2001, I have been able to understand more and more about what happened that day and how it affected our country and my generation. The attack happened relatively near the turn of the century, and the first decade of the 21st Century is just about over. What will people remember about this decade? What will people look at in twenty years and say "That is sooooo 2000's!" My friends and I talked about this a few weeks ago and we came up with a short list:
-9/11
-Pres. Bush and the shift to Pres. Obama
-Emos
-YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, Google, etc.
-iPods and other mp3 players
-Huge shift in fashion industry to more covering (but tighter) clothes
-The explosion of the media
-Society's attitude shift to "Think Green"
I'm not an anthropologist or a historian, so I can't say with an expert opinion what 9/11 had to do with those things, but I have a guess. 9/11 reignited the discussion about religion, spirituality, and emotions. Whereas the 20th century was about getting things done, so far the 21st century has been about seeing how we feel about things. For instance, the music, movie and other art industries became less about spectacle and more about connecting to people's emotions. Scientology became a "trendy" religion in Hollywood. When has that ever happened before? This trend was not confined to the entertainment field; spiritual and emotional therapy is becoming a bigger part of mainstream medical and athletic practices. Remember when yoga became popular? People remembered that people have emotions. I think 9/11 reminded America that we are not invincible and that we need to take measures to take care of ourselves. The War on Terrorism, which was started after 9/11, became focused in Iraq. The war in Iraq, however not connected to the 9/11 attacks it was, it was connected to the attacks in people's minds, which is what ended up counting.
All in all, Looking back, I can see a few things that came about as a direct result of the 9/11 attacks. And I think those are mostly good things! This has been a great decade to grow up in. I want to know what you all think will be remembered about our decade and what was influenced by what happened on September 11th. I wanted this blog to more of a forum and less about me talking about what's happening to me and what I think about it. So shoot me some comments! I want to start discussions!
Coming up soon: Should we call next year "two thousand ten" or "twenty ten"? I'll tell you what I think and why.
2 comments:
Start up a discussion, eh? Well then, do you think 9/11 was an inside job?
What does 9/11 mean to you?
Was it actually good that it happened?
1. I don't know if it was an inside job, nor do I care. :D
2. For me, it was a wake up call that we desperately needed. We are not invincible, nor should we think we are. We're not as powerful or united as we used to be -- we should be aware of that.
3. Personally, because of the above reasons, I think it was sort of good. A tragedy, yes, but it was a kick in the face we needed.
Your thoughts?
(btw, I vote for twenty-eleven. It's easier to say and will roll off the tongue easier.)
I remember my first college roommate waking me up the morning of 9/11 and telling me that "they" had flown planes into the WTC. I thought he was joking; it's absolutely the sort of thing he would joke about. He was a real trickster.
Anyway, I think your idea of 9/11 producing a culture of feelings and introspection is interesting. I think that what it has left us with has mainly been a culture of fear and reactionism. As a culture, our media has promoted fear and threats, and as a culture, we have focused on reacting to those threats, however likely or unlikely they were. Remember the whole craze of buying duct tape and plastic sheeting? I think a lot of legislation that passed in the past 8 years was legislation based on fear - fear the terrorists would "win", fear of (nonexistent) WMDs, and fear of the unknown (in various forms). This might also tie into your idea of people examining their feelings and turning to religion / spiritual and emotional therapy. It stems from fear of the ultimate unknown - what happens after death.
Anyway, I don't want to be too pessimistic. And I do think we're moving past that as a society now. I think we are still deeply involved in our feelings and our spirituality, and that is only a good thing, and I think we are slowly moving out of our reactive fears and moving into hope and love.
Also, for me, it probably depends on the context / situation, but in general, everyday conversation, I'll probably say "twenty eleven" more than "two thousand eleven".
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