Questions:
1. Can 9/11 be America's fault?
2. What other than strong should America be?
3. How do emotions effect your responses?
In her article "9/11" and her thoughts in her interview Susan Sontag addresses her concerns regarding America's response to the attacks on September 11, 2001. I don't think I've ever read an article written so soon after the incident that is forthright with animosity towards America's responses. It is clear that she is unhappy with the was the Bush administration handled foreign policy, and that his response to the attacks was no more in her favor. After reading Sontag's thoughts on use of the word "cowardly" to describe the days events I would have believed that she would be one of the "American intellectuals" that her inteviewer refers to who believe that 9/11 was brought on by America's own actions. However, I believe that Sontag's response was well defined and made me understand where she was coming from.
I was only 11 years old Tuesday September 11th, I couldn't possibly understand the magnitude of what was happening around me, but the gravity of the situation was impressed upon me by the solemn veil that seemed to envelope everyone around me. When Sontag goes on to say in her interview that her article was written from Berlin, where she could only feel the grief of America through the television, I was no longer surprised by the tone in her article. Distance has an effect of desensitizing. If I had been immersed in the reality of the impact of the attacks on America, and had I been old enough to make the distinction, I may have responded very similarly to Sontag. You can tell her interview that coming home to New York made a significant impact on her responses to the aftermath.
I would have to agree with what you said about the distance affecting how she feels about the situation. At first, I thought what she was writing was all out of animosity towards the American government. You bring to light the different factors that affected her thoughts and writing. I really liked that. However, I am still not sure whether or not I would react the same way Sontag did. I may have just stayed neutral if I knew of the events happening around me (since I was only a 1st grader at the time). I feel like if Sontag had written her article in a more neutral tone, her argument would be more accepted by the public because right now it sounds just filled with anger.
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