Posted by Dan Ewert : 9/05/2002 11:59:00 PM (Archive Link)
As you know, the one year anniversary of September 11th is approaching and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Not the date itself, mind you, or my personal feelings concerning the event. I’ll blog about that on the 11th. No, what bothers me, is all the attention surrounding it. The networks will be full of sentimentality, ceremonies without number will take place. A big topic in the news lately has been just how the media will show honor to the day. Our national grief, for the most part, will be shared while huddled around the TV. I suppose what bothers me about this is that it almost seems like manufactured sentiments and that the media is to decide how we feel about the 11th. If our own emotions are out of step with their presentation, then we’re out of step with the proper national mood. I don’t really want Dan Rather telling me how I should feel about things. I don’t want Peter Jennings giving me a practiced stern gaze while discussing the tragedy in a classic anchorman cadence. I want something raw, something unprocessed and something that hasn’t been made slick and glossy. I want grit. I don’t want art but the rough unhewn material from which the art is made. I don’t know… I suppose I have my own memories and feelings of that day and I don’t want them polluted by what the media wants me to remember and feel.