Posted by Dan Ewert : 8/21/2002 09:21:00 PM (Archive Link)
On a related note, there are debates going on about how to commemorate the anniversary of 9-11. Specifically, the networks are trying to figure out what images to use. For example, the tapes of the planes crashing into the twin towers have been restricted on most stations… ABC banned it outright. And, of course, nobody ever showed the people leaping from the buildings or the full aftermath of the destruction. People say it’s all too horrible and so they shouldn’t be aired. I say that’s exactly why they should be aired. Americans need to realize that this terrorism problem is ongoing. Americans need to remember what was done to us. Americans need to view the enormity and pain of those attacks. We should by no means white wash it. Even though we won in Afghanistan, the war on terrorism is by no means over. However, when we forget what happened, when we focus only on the pain and the sadness, when we sterilize the images of the event, then our anger dulls and our resolve wilts. And as unpleasant as watching these images may be, it’s one of the few things that will give us the emotional fuel to see this war through to completion.