9/11 and American culture - Book Report/Review Example

?Culture Metamorphosis post September 11 The traditional meaning of term "culture" in American anthropology is described as a cumulative outcome of the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and represented their experiences and acted creatively and, the evolution of human capacity to classify and represent these experiences with symbols to act imaginatively and creatively. The American definition has had a positive undertone until 9/11. The element of negativity has crept in, post 9/11. The definition of ‘Culture’ has undergone a sea change following 9/11. In his book 9/11 Culture, its author Jeffrey Melnick talks at length about the various attributes which fuel this change. Melnick cites rumour-mongering through the oral route – FOAF (Friend-of-a-friend chain) approach as highlighted in the Babson podcast – and through emails, as a potent weapon used for influencing public opinion – to drive government policy and cover up for lapses having government-corporate links; abstaining from fear psychosis for race relations control – particularly, in respect of Afro-Americans, and using it effectively when deemed necessary, particularly for driving a wedge between cultures – say, Islamist and the Western culture. Under the cover of seemingly justifiable American involvements in the historical Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War, eulogising of the heroes of 9/11 on national television by celebrities of the silver screen [Telethon – America: A Tribute to Heroes] for putting up a show of Black-and-White solidarity for domestic harmony as a comforting translation of racial unity into national unity, is yet another brilliant observation which Melnick makes. ‘Grief’ as an emotion, he points out, was also tactfully exploited through the medium of posters to further the cause of national unity. In a state of unprecedented hurt, anxiety and fear, accent on “We” the American people as a united entity, worked like a balm to counter the shattering of national pride. Touchy issues like choice of the symbol of global capitalism – WTC, as a target; ‘blowback’ revenge of American foreign policy and virtual absence of Pentagon visuals for likely retaliatory posturing, were circumvented smartly by the use of ‘Recall ‘effect of sensitive visual images and their lasting impact on the human mind. The emotional chord of the viewer was played upon, for repetitive screening of the falling twin towers and the video images of valour and bravery displayed by the survivors and the rescue men, in the Melnick narrative on ‘Rising’. Cinema and Television have emerged as two very strong media for gauging and moulding public opinion. In the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy, there has been a flurry of activity and action on the ‘terror’ front, with ‘violence’ as the prime ingredient. Rambo II, Munich, Fahrenheit etc. are a few popular movies amongst the horde of movies made, which belong to the above genre. In the aftermath of 9/11 and the rapid strides made in computer hardware and software technologies, there has been an onslaught of a variety of animated films, cartoons and computer games where the emphasis has been on speed, stealth, deceit, revenge and violence – the key ingredients, of even the most modern films based on terror. Following the ‘Black September’ massacre on 06/09/1972 by the Palestinians and holding 11 hostages to ransom in the movie “Munich”, the protagonist of the movie exclaims: “These butchers didn’t want to share the world with us; which law protects these people; every civilisation needs to negotiate comprises with its own values, particularly when dealing with such uncivilised murderers; we can’t afford to be civilised either in dealing with them!” spells out the tone and tenor of the malaise called ‘terrorism’. It is in tune with children books’ author, Nancy Poffenberger’s poem on the terrorists. Similar sentiments have been exploited very successfully for commercial advantage in a wide range of movies listed alphabetically, in the following web links: A lot of academic research work has since been undertaken within the realm of human behaviour, post 9/11 to highlight the metamorphic sea change that has taken place in the minds of the people, about which Jeffrey Melnick talks about in his path breaking book. While some of his inferences find substantiation by academic researchers, others are still in the realm of debate and discussion. Walters Enders and Todd Sandler have investigated using time-series procedures, whether transnational terrorism changed following 9/11 and the subsequent U.S.-led "war on terror." Perhaps surprising, little has changed in the time series of overall incidents and most of its component series. When 9/11 is prejudged as a break date, the authors find that logistically complex hostage-taking events have fallen as a proportion of all events, while logistically simple, but deadly, bombings have increased as a proportion of deadly incidents.  Deborah J Schildkraut in her political analysis concludes that lingering ascriptivist views have been awakened by 9/11, yet this narrow image of American identity is being directly challenged by a more inclusive incorporationist tradition. This clash of symbolic conceptions of national identity results in divergence between elite rhetoric and mass opinion, with elites promoting incorporationism and ordinary citizens displaying the reawakening of ascriptivist norms. Neil Leach in his article on Diacritics makes a reference of Walter Benjamin making an observation about the capacity of certain dramatic events to act like a flash bulb and imprint particular architectural environments on the ‘photosensitive’ plate of our minds. It is as though buildings sink into the recess of our consciousness as a form of background landscape – almost unnoticeable because of their familiarity – unless some event happens there that leaves them indelibly imprinted on our minds, such as a tragic incident or death in the family. Anyone can observe that the duration for which we are exposed to impressions has no bearing on their fate in memory. The events of 9/11 seem to have had a very similar effect on the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Three classes of introductory psychology students at the University of Pennsylvania completed a survey including several measures of group identification. Importance of country and university were rated higher four days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks than six months before or 18 months after. Scores on a 9-item scale of identification with country were higher immediately after 9/11 than at the other two assessments as analysed in the political psychology by Sophia Moskalenko, Clark McCauley and Paul Rozin. While all the above statistical studies and observations, to quote a few, have a strong academic leaning and have their own weight, the core fact to be borne in mind is that these outcomes are manifestations of a larger problem. Stephen Crofts, in his review of “9/11 Culture” deals with the ‘fall out’ effect of 9/11 and the manner in which the anguish has been expressed by the American populace in the form of grief, anger and loss. The single determining reason which drastically altered the entire canvas of the definition of culture itself has been the American invincibility factor, which was torn to shreds. Imaginative and creative representation which should have been the hallmark of a true culture has been defiled by opportunistic and destructive acts ushering in a ‘confrontationist’ era! In consonance to the Newton’s Law of Motion – “To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”, the public ‘reactions’ which have been logged, post 9/11 can be broadly categorised as left of centre responses (LCP) and right of centre responses (RCP), respectively to ‘actions’ of the U.S, preceding 9/11. The LCP responses are those, wherein the heart of the witness has governed the respondent’s head and statements made. Conversely, RCP responses are those wherein the head has overruled the heart and statements made thence. Both these categories within themselves have their own ‘flexible’, and ‘inflexible’ and rigid versions which highlight the unique personal experience of the person whose experiences have been recorded for academic evaluation. An analogy drawn from nature is that of the coconut. In order to reach the nut, one ought to pierce the outer sheath, followed by the fibrous covering – these two layers can be likened to the LCP. In order to reach the soft core, one need to break through the hard casing of the nut – this pair can be likened to the RCP. In order that one gets a fairly balanced view of a situation, one ought to go to the core of RCP, which in effect, tantamounts to penetrating three different layers of resistance. The 9/11 incident, was one of its first kind. The public who witnessed it would have been aghast at what they saw. By its sheer magnitude, it was nightmarish, fearful and shocking. In such a scenario, the respondents would be veering more towards the left of centre responses, primarily governed by their hearts, with more of shock value. They would have had more of inflexible emotional appeal. Even the inflexible right of centre responses could be suspect for lack of consistency. Having penetrated three layers of psychological resistance, flexible and near-centric RCP responses made with a cool and clear mind, free from emotional encumbrances, could be the only far and few ones which would qualify for a careful and detailed study and scrutiny. Audio visual influencing of the minds in the post 9/11 situation would also have led to muted and conditioned responses. In the light of observations made by Melnick, it is debatable as to how many amongst the respondents would qualify to don this category. The inferences drawn also would then have a bearing on the quality of responses offered. While a large number of inferences drawn, post 9/11 might still be valid, some hard core realities have surfaced which have totally altered the cultural fabric. The written word and the audio visual media – films and television, in particular, have emerged as the best proponents of artistic expression of the subtle nuances of 9/11 in a wide variety of ways and thrown up new challenges for both, the government and the governed: 9/11 has become an “answer” – a way to talk about, say, proper gender roles or racial and ethnic conflict in U. S history – is a major cultural phenomenon of our time and will be treated not as a hurdle to leap over but rather as a ‘cultural formation’; a location where important social institutions, rhetorical practices and personal behaviours overlap and combine to create a threshold level of cultural energy that comes to help define its historical moment in some manner. 9/11 has become a language, which has its own vocabulary grammar and tonalities. Without undermining the profound influence on certain forms of American cultural expression, more particularly Hollywood film and underground hip hop dance form, it has established itself as language spoken across the media. 9/11 has become a cheap ‘shout-out’ for establishing authority, seriousness of purpose and marketability. 9/11 legitimatized “us” means U. S – the politically unified and culturally homogenized “heroes” and “victims”. 9/11 implied as the 24th hour, it has successfully promoted subtle cinematic imagery to glorify the “Never Say Die” spirit of the Americans in rebuilding the “Towers of Light’ after the collapse of the twin towers in the film “25th Hour. 9/11 has become the wizard with obsessive compulsive corporate disorder of American cultural life by providing an answer of its ritualistic invocation to every question being raised. 9/11 became fodder for creative thought and action in various domains like animated computer games like – “Osamagatchi”, “Cokehead 2”; films like The Aristocrats, “V” for Vendetta, 25th Hour etc.; David Ree’s Clip art comic strip collection - Get Your War On; Television play South Park etc.; Bon Jovi’s hit song composition: I hijacked a rainbow and crashed into a pot of gold. “9/11 as an answer to every question now” is very well in short story writers,Sherman Alexie and Judy Budnitz offering called “Preparedness” in which the readers are encouraged to imagine the American people united in life-affirming responses to the potential trauma of invasion and the ongoing injuries of government surveillance. Sherman Alexie’s short story: Can I Get a Witness throws up 9/11 as an open question and attempts to seek multiple answers, ideologically driven by “the idea of innocence” in the context loss and grief, post 9/11. 9/11 has begun to function as a generative and beguiling question throwing up the possibilities of a wide range of answers. The biggest benefit in the form of daily speech in 9/11 rumours lent support to weaving of stories which people told each other, mostly for the pleasure of telling and the community building that such telling enables. BIBLIOGRAPHY Babson, . Web. 29 Apr 2011. . Crofts, Stephen. "9/11 Culture by Jeffrey Melnick."M/C Reviews- CULTURE AND THE MEDIA. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr 2011. . Enders, Walter, and Todd Sandler. "After 9/11, Is It All Different Now?." Journal Of Conflict Resolution 49.2 (2005): 259-76. Web. 29 Apr 2011. Kushner, Tony, Script. Munich. Dir. Steven Speilberg." Perf. Bana, Eric, Daniel Craig, and Marie-Josee Croze. 2005, Film. Leach, Neil. “9/11”.Diacritics 33.3/4 (2003):75-92. Web. 29 Apr 2011. Melnick, Jeffrey. "9/11 Culture ." N.p., 2009. Web. 29 Apr 2011. Moskalenko, Sophia, McCauley, Clark, and Rozin, Paul. “Group Identification under Conditions of Threat: College Students' Attachment to Country,Family, Ethnicity, Religion, and University before and after September 11, 2001.” Political Psychology 27.1 (2006): 77-97. Web. 29 Apr 2011. Schildkraut, Deborah J. “The More Things Change…American Identity and Mass and Elite Responses to 9/11.” Political Psychology 23.3 (2002): 511-32. Web. 29 Apr 2011. Read More