Miami Student

Issue date: 9/11/07 Section: Editorials

By Kelly Morton/The Miami Student

Looking back on the events six years ago today, the images of the September 11, 2001 attacks remain indelibly etched upon the popular imagination. The events of that fateful Tuesday morning, like the John F. Kennedy assassination four decades before, profoundly altered our generation's frame of reference. September 11 has served as a figurative, cultural and political turning point. It is difficult to underestimate the impact the tragic event has had on the way America views itself and its role in the world, as well as the way the world views America-both in the immediate and long-term wake of the attack. For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the politics of national security reentered the political lexicon prominently, and the United States altered its foreign and domestic policy in dramatic ways in an attempt to meet the new threat of radical Islamic terrorism-at home and abroad. Very quickly, Americans found themselves involved in two international wars, attempting to balance civil liberties with the desire for increased security and tending to the silent wounds of a divided society-which often times has felt itself to be dissociated from the consequences of the War on Terror.

The events of September 11 opened America's eyes to the world beyond the U.S. border. The outpouring of support and complete solidarity with the United States in the immediate aftermath of September 11 showed Americans how the world can come together against unthinkable acts of violence. Unfortunately, in the six years since September 11, the United States has also seen how the rest of the world can view the country in a negative light and some American college students traveling abroad often become involved in expressions of dissent against U.S. policies in the war on terror. Interaction with foreign populations has shown the college-aged generation how U.S. policies can directly affect the entire globe in a way never similarly considered before September 11.

September 11's effect on the media has been quite profound for the college-aged generation. The desire to know all of the news, all of the time was a result of September 11 and technology has allowed people to fulfill their desire. The anxiety over events possibly being linked to terrorism, whether it be the Minnesota bridge collapse or the 2003 Northeast Blackout, is partially bred by the media and its insistence to speculate about terrorism all of the time-even if evidence is thin. The lack of in-depth investigative journalism since the September 11 attacks illustrates how the press has become lazy in its coverage by publishing sensational speculation over investigation rooted in fact.

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