I just arrived at school, and Mrs. Hockin’s Grade 3 classroom, usually filled with tired, backpack burdened tweens, buzzed with chatter. My friends and I discussed what we had heard only minutes ago on the news, the disturbing footage of the twin towers crumbling to the ground. An event like this burns in the memory.
On September 11, 2011, the United States suffered four suicide attacks coordinated by terrorists from the Muslim militant group al-Qaeda. 19 suicide bombers hijacked 4 passenger planes, deliberately crashing two airplanes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City, and one plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pensylvania, after passengers tried to regain control of the plane before it hit the hijacker’s planned target of Washington, DC.
The crash of the twin towers resulted in 2606 casualties, while the crumbling of the Pentagon caused 125 casualties, and the wreck in Pensylvania 40. United by this common tragedy, the Western World pulled together. Flags were displayed at half-mast, symbolizing the mourning of the Western nations.
This national crisis resulted in the War on Terror. The US government invaded Afghanistan, searching for Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Queda who admitted responsibility for the attacks. The War on Terror is an ongoing issue, with American troops still fighting overseas ten years after it was initiated in 2001. Currently, President Barrack Obama claims to be working towards ending the war, pulling out 33 000 American troops by the Summer. Even still, the War in Afghanistan seems to continue on with no end in sight.
Diverting our attention to the media, 9/11 had profound effects on photo journalism. People with cameras on hand snapped pictures of the dramatic, flaming collapse of the Twin Towers. As a result, journalists and non-journalists alike contributed to the photo journalism network, regardless of the quality of their equipment. This resulted in a sobering collection of devastating photos documenting the events of 9/11.
As a consequence of the attacks, evening news programs had to divert their attention from domestic to global news. With profound issues like the US’s War on Terrorism, from 2002-2005, television news programs focussed 135% more on Terrorism and 102% more on foreign policy as compared to broadcasts from 1997-2000.
Millions of distraught Americans began to look to blogs for perspective on the unnerving incident of 9/11. With copious amounts of viewers navigating for updates on major news sites, blogs provided a convenient alternative with more accessible and up to date news (their lack of editors made information more current). These blogs ranged from analytical to emotional, giving voice to and clarifying the confusion that the masses were feeling at the time.
A decade later, families still cope with the gaping holes left by those who were killed in the crash. Unable to find the video mentioned in Jenny and Emily’s presentation, I instead came across hundreds of YouTube clips dedicated to lost loved ones, each giving a unique testament to the impact of 9/11. Similarly, People magazine devoted an article to the children of 9/11 on the event’s 10th anniversary, interviewing 9 year olds who never knew their fathers because of the incident.
Whether you’re from Vancouver, New York, or Afghanistan, it can be said with confidence that the attacks of September 11th made a significant impact on the way the world perceives history, so much so that people separate the chronology of modern-day events into before or after 9/11. This profound tragedy caused shock world-wide, and as a result media, communication methods, foreign policies and political goals were very much transformed.
-Karalee Congo