Talk of the Town

These two articles by John Updike and Susan Sontag both illustrate the horrors of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and how the people and government responded.

The first article interpreted the attacks on the twin towers from Updike’s own perspective. He describes the scene in such a way that the reader feels as if they too are looking out the window onto the horrifying sight and feeling the realization as sharp as a knife to America’s core. He further goes on to question America’s policy about freedom for all. “Can we afford the openness that lets future kamikaze pilots, say, enroll in Florida flying schools?” he asks. Almost ten years later, we are still questioning our openness. Obviously we have imposed measures such as stricter airline checks and background checks on people, but are those enough? My favorite part of this article though, was a piece of the last sentence: “…but New York looked glorious.” This demonstrates that through all America went through on that appalling day, we were still able to stand strong and protect our country’s rights for our people.

The subsequent article by Susan Sontag was also about the attacks but took a more political approach to the matter. She starts out by debating what makes an attack cowardly or courageous. One thought that struck a chord was that she claimed that kamikaze pilots should not be considered cowardly; those who kill “beyond the range of retaliation, high in the sky” are the cowards. Sontag then goes on to talk about the fact that “everything is not O.K.” and that our then-President Bush was not dealing with the matter appropriately. I agreed with her most when she said, “the public is not being asked to bear much of the burden of reality.” The government is just telling the people to sit back, relax, and just wait for them to sort it out. I also agree with Sontag that this is not the idea of democracy. As she says, we are constantly told that everything is fine, and that America is as strong as ever. No one doubts that America is strong, but is sheer strength all that our country has?