9/11 fallout (words)

9/11 is an event that has shaped the history and the rhetoric of the United States forever. The date itself is a memorial for the terrifying words, expressions, and emotions people heard that day. The date will never pass unnoticed again. Classrooms, offices, public transportation, and peoples’ minds will be buzzing with those three numbers for years when it is once again September 11 years from now.
Where were you when it happened? What were you doing? How did people react?
Everyone has their story and the details haunt political, social, and economic rhetoric today. The most powerful aspect of that day which will stay with me for years was the words people said in lieu of the attack. Particularly the words G.W. Bush chose as he attempted to reassure a panicked nation. By carefully crafting his speeches in order to appeal to the terrified American public, he chose simple, strong words which appeal and are understood by everyone:
“hunt down and punish”
“national security”
“faceless coward…freedom will be defended”
Although these terms were eloquently presented and the rhetorical appeal of “Homeland Security” was a strong one, it wasn’t what he had promised. Many peoples’ privacy was invaded and his rhetoric wasn’t carried out. As Benjamin Franklin beautifully put it: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” I believe Mr. Franklin’s rhetoric more clearly conveys the realities of Bush’s post-9/11 rhetoric. While Bush verbally promised to protect and defend the nation from another, similar attack, he essentially used his power to spend loads of money on defeating “enemies”/”terrorists(???)” and, what I would consider, borrowing citizens’ liberty to mislead them into believing that they were [temporarily] protected when he instated Homeland Security.
Back to the subject…
The vast majority of the world’s people were on America’s side when 9/11 happened. The terrorist attack seeped its way into conversations world-wide. People of different ethnicities, race, culture, language and tradition remember where they were and what they were doing when the towers fell. After 9/11, a new topic of conversation was created. News castors, talk show hosts on the radio and TV, and everyday citizens of the world refer to 9/11 as a turning point in world history. It was when the world lost security. Teachers use 9/11 as an example in classrooms. Often, we hear pre-9/11 and post-9/11 as a rhetorical way of situating events in time.
9/11 is here to stay. It has and will continue to teach lessons and the rhetorical tools that when along with the events of that day are dated and will be recognized by the generations that experienced the tragedy.