Month: September 2001
We are not unresponsible for the monsters; they are responsible for themselves
“I tried to read this morning’s newspaper this afternoon, but the pre-bombing news seemed irrelevant, like news from twenty years ago.”
Makes that Star Wars Missile defense seem like a really bright idea
“One thing that people keep saying that I really don’t get is to do with how the WTC was a ‘symbol for the West’ and other such comments. Frankly, I (and everybody I have spoken to) thought of it just as building in New York which had no other significance than that it used to…
The shared meaning of the event leads to shared panic, distress or euphoria
“The thinking, feeling, and behavior of a person in a group can be only partially explained in terms of how that person might interact with another individual. Although dualistic thinking and bias occur in both individual and group interactions, certain phenomena such as camaraderie, commitment to a leader or cause, and collective illusions need to…
I told my sons they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres
“What do you say, Harrison Starr? “I say ‘Why don’t you write an anti-glacier book instead?’ “What he meant, of course, was that there would always be wars, that they were as easy to stop as glaciers. I believe that, too. And even if wars didn’t keep coming like glaciers, there would still be plain…
From A Volunteer Downtown
“Last night I did the only thing I could think of to help. I made sandwiches. From where I was, there wasn’t much to be seen, dirt, rubble and a lot of second hand news. Rescue workers weren’t very forthcoming about what they were or were not finding. But having worked since early the day…
Repeat after me: Assholes
“JP reports his office, across the street from mine, is still open because the partners there say they ‘never close.’”
We’re supposed to rally around the president, but he looked like a scared kid
“In the evening, on the way home, I stopped at the Gap at the World Trade Center because I really needed a new t-shirt. I rifled through a pile of them. I went into the fitting room and tried on several. And I finally wound up buying one. That receipt at the top of this…
Things seem calm here but maybe that’s because I haven’t tried to go out again
“I work at a news agency about a block and a half from the White House. I got out of my car a few minutes ago just as the radio news was beginning to report what they say are possibly fires and evacuations at the White House and at the Pentagon. There were crowds of…
I fear we are on the verge of declaring war and our racial biases will come out
“The events of yesterday are not over. We are a country who is seeking strong leadership and direction, and we have yet to see it. A four-minute poorly-written speech delivered nearly twelve hours after events began is clearly not enough to sway my opinion of President Bush. I hope to see Bush inform the country…