When I read a few weeks ago that MSNBC would be airing NBC's actual coverage of the events of 9-11-2001 on the sixth anniversary, I was unsure how I felt about that decision. Is it indeed "living history" as they billed it or unjustified sensationalism? Will it it be any more painful than watching the myriad memorials that are sure to air anyway? After watching the 3+ hours of unedited footage, I still don't know if it was necessary, helpful or hurtful, but it certainly was fascinating.
Being a bit of a news junkee and having been at work when the events unfolded six years ago I wanted to check out some of the coverage. Obviously, I have seen the unspeakable images many times since they occured, yet I found it morbidly spellbinding. I was pinned to my couch for the entire three hours. It was interesting to watch journalists, some caught in the middle of the news itself, struggle to process the information as it flooded in and to comprehend the images they were seeing. I am often critical of the overdramatic nature of news coverage, but this was an instance when there was no hyperbole. I believe it impossible to overstate the drama that was all too real. Watching the attacks progress, the information trickle in and the confusion reign gave me the uneasy goosebumps that six years have failed to dispel. The wound is still raw and watching the horrific images and frightening realization of the magnitude of the story unfold did nothing to salve that wound. Right or wrong that was likely MSNBC's intent all along.
3 comments:
I wish I would have known about the special on msnbc. Not for me, but for Austin. He is so full of questions and to be quite honest... there are some things I don't know how to answer. He knows the basics but he keeps pushing for more in depth answers. I hate to scare him of what this world is coming to but then again maybe he should be aware. It would have been nice to sit and watch it with him. Parenting is such a tricky thing :) A
Indeed. Today I am filled with a mix of anger, grief, and sadness. And yet, I am grateful that I knew no one who was killed. I think if I did, I would be so much more enraged.
I could not rewatch what aired all over television six years ago. While you were at work, I was at work but had the benefit of a television that left myself, my coworkers, and our customers transfixed in a horrified state of awe and shock.
It is absolutely heartwrenching. What fuels my mix of anger, grief, and sadness is the state of our country and this war today. The people who died on September 11, 2001 have not been avenged. Our country is not safer. More Americans have died.
It is not that there are not other travesties occuring in the U.S. or other countries that bears consideration and action. It is the continuous travesty of this war that is an insult to our people and our country.
Did you have a chance to tape it for me? I could only watch about 15min. before I passed out from lovely viral / bacterial infection...YEA!!!
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