Pearl Harbor

6 Pages 1423 Words

I don¹t think it is an understatement to say that this is the second Pearl Harbor,² Senator Charles Hagel from Nebraska told the Los Angeles Times on September 11, 2001. “Pearl Harbor, the sequel, erupted on September 11, 2001 when hijacked planes destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and parts of the west wing of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.” Borders into the United States were closed and the FAA shut down all airports across the nation. People all over the county woke up to what at first glance appeared to be video from a blockbuster Hollywood movie like Armageddon, or Independence Day. In reality, what we were watching was the horrendously real aftermath of the complete destruction of the World Trade Center towers. In recounting the events of 9/11 no one had any idea how bad it really was. Rather, people stayed glued to their television sets in hopes of a light at the end of the tunnel. What they received from the newscasters inside their televisions was confusion and disbelief. More than a month later we are still holding our breaths for some sort of a beam, even a small one. A huge fireball erupted Šseconds later it became the attack heard around the world, a New York city fire fighter told Christine Frey for her article in the New York Times on September 13, 2001. Since 9/11 the media has constructed its own Hollywood, its own Broadway, and built its own arena for the biggest show of ideology under one roof.
On September 11th, senator John McCain called the events of the day, ³clearly an act of war.² On September 13th, president Bush declared war in a press conference and ³vowed to use all our resources to conquer the enemy (L.A. Times, 9/13, Column A).² But who was the enemy? In all efforts to cover the casualties of the attack and to play and replay the World Trade Center towers being blown up, the media failed to indicate just whom it was we were now at war...