"9/11" and "A Few Weeks After" by Susan Sontag

Questions That the Author Attempts to Answer:
1. What was the public reaction to the attacks on September 11th?
2. What was the scene like at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the attack?
Question for the author:
3. How would you describe that attacks on 9/11?

In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11th, emotions were running high as we Americans tried to process what just happened. Ever since this country's creation, we have been relatively immune to see carnal destruction on the home front. So when two airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center, symbols that represented the strength of the American economy, we took a punch in the gut. In here piece "9/11" and "A Few Weeks After", Susan Sontag highlights the reaction of the media and public figures as they tried to console the American people with a "campaign to infantilize". President Bush called this a "cowardly attack". Susan Sontag takes issue with this, and I myself would agree with this.

            I do not know how you define a cowardly attack. Is it an attack out of fear? Is it a cheap shot? From our perspective, we believed it was a cheap shot. We did not see it coming, we could not prepare for it, and it was from a new enemy that we had not dealt with before. It was such a huge blow to our morale that a tiny group could cause this much destruction to world's greatest superpower.

            If anything the attacks on 9/11 were on the opposite end of the spectrum of a cowardly attack. This was an orchestrated, systematic attempt by al-Qaeda to inflict harm to the West and modernity. We may never know why they did it, whether it be to avenge previous injustices caused by the United States in the Middle East or it be on behalf of God. These monsters knew what they were doing.

            Sontag argues that we do not have to be coddled in the aftermath of this tragic event. We must grieve for the innocent lives that were lost. And she is right. We live in a world that is full of evil and tragic things are going to happen to us. We can be made stronger only during the times when we are tested.