Hello loyal Readers,
It has been a while since I’ve last blogged. I hope you all had a relaxing Winter Break. Today’s blog will be a response to the novel my ASTU class has been reading called “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Foer. By approaching the themes in this novel from a broader perspective, I seek to locate parallels between the dominant American response to the 9/11 attacks and the trends and policy platforms arising in the ongoing 2016 presidential race, specifically those connected to Republican nominees.
Foer’s work aims to provide a fictional account of 9/11 attacks that avoids asserting the neoconservative perspective that dominates the political spectrum in order to promote a more humanized perspective. However, the existence of fear and anger, which empowered many Americans to seek retaliation, can still be glimpsed in influencing Foer’s novel and its characters. Foer likely includes this to reflect the reality of the times he is writing about. A key example of this can be seen in Oskar’s fear of Muslim people and their head garments despite his statements that he “isn’t racist”(Foer, 2005, pg. 36). Little remarks like this are often overlooked and evoke feelings of sympathy for the ‘innocent’ little boy, but it is, in fact, these “innocent” remarks that manifest into a fear-based culture, especially in our children and youth. When the World Trade Center was hit the whole world watched as thousands of first responders and civilians were killed. Following the initial shock and sadness of these horrific attacks came a violent response as the United States later joined by NATO in the mission to destroy the terrorist organization of Al-Qaeda. They way that this war was portrayed by the media exacerbated the idea that retribution, fueled by anger and fear, is the most valid response. This drawn out war slowly spread and conflict heightened in the Middle East. For nearly a decade and a half, caskets returned home to the United States as its soldiers fell. As time goes on and the conflict’s complexities became increasingly hard to decipher, the blame, initially targeted at fundamentalist groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS, transcended into the current trend of hatred toward the entire Islamic population known as “Islamophobia”.
I do not wish to assert that the 9/11 attacks do not give people reason for immense grief, concern and assertive action. I do argue that the ripple effects of 9/11 have become ingrained in many Americans, and at their worst can manifest in harmful, racist, and fear-based actions and policy. A current example of how politics take advantage of tragedy and use fear to support their objectives can be seen in the monstrous support of racist and dysfunctional Republican nominees such as Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson.
The platforms on which many of these nominees stand promote harsh generalizations that are leading to mistreatment and misrepresentation of entire communities and societies. Donald Trump’s ideals polarize the United States against many other nations disregarding natural laws and presenting an alternative in which American citizens are held to a higher standard than others. And even within the United States, foreign people would be viewed as second class, destroying decades of civil rights movements and achievements. In fact islamophobia is not the only example of this, Trump and others have also slandered any and all Mexican’s labelling the majority of them as murderers and sex offenders. This mentality is exactly what Foer was and is trying to counteract through his novel. Unfortunately it’s stronger than ever today, and something needs to change.
Thanks for reading,
Chase T-R
Works Cited
Jonathan Safran Foer. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. New York: Mariner Books, 2005.