The American patriotic narrative – the innocence under siege, the surge of patriotic pride – is, of course, vain however, is the Leftist narrative (with its Schadenfreude: the USA got what it deserved, what it had been doing to others for decades) really any better? The predominant reaction of European – but also American – Leftists was nothing less than scandalous: all imaginable stupidities were said and written, up to the ‘feminist’ point that the WTC towers were two phallic symbols, waiting to be destroyed (‘castrated’). “Consequently, of the two main stories which emerged after September 11, both are worse, as Stalin would have put it. It is what we have been - and what we can be again.” This is not mere nostalgia it is the truest version of ourselves. That is the nation I know.Īt a time when some viewed the rising generation as individualistic and decadent, I saw young people embrace an ethic of service and rise to selfless action. That is the nation I know.Īt a time when nativism could have stirred hatred and violence against people perceived as outsiders, I saw Americans reaffirm their welcome to immigrants and refugees. That is the America I know.Īt a time when religious bigotry might have flowed freely, I saw Americans reject prejudice and embrace people of Muslim faith. On America's day of trial and grief, I saw millions of people instinctively grab for a neighbor's hand and rally to the cause of one another. I come without explanations or solutions. That leaves us worried about our nation and our future together. So much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear, and resentment. A malign force seems at work in our common life that turns every disagreement into an argument, and every argument into a clash of cultures. When it comes to the unity of America, those days seem distant from our own. “In the weeks and months following the 9/11 attacks, I was proud to lead an amazing, resilient, united people. While a given person's office location at the WTC does not definitively indicate where that individual died that morning or whether he or she could have evacuated, these data strongly suggest that the evacuation was a success for civilians below the impact zone.” Of this number, 1,942 or 94.64 percent either worked or were supposed to attend a meeting at or above the respective impact zones of the Twin Towers only 110, or 5.36 percent of those who died, worked below the impact zone. Out of this total number of fatalities, we can account for the workplace location of 2,052 individuals, or 95.35 percent. At most 2,152 individual died in the WTC complex who were not 1) fire or police first responders, 2) security or fire safety personnel of the WTC or individual companies, 3) volunteer civilians who ran to the WTC after the planes' impact to help others or, 4) on the two planes that crashed into the Twin Towers. “The National Institute of Standards and Technology has provided a preliminary estimation that between 16,400 and 18,800 civilians were in the WTC complex as of 8:46 am on September 11.
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