On 18th Anniversary of 9/11, New York Times Still Can’t Name The Perpetrators
[guest post by Dana]
Today marks the 18th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks:
The September 11 attacks (also referred to as 9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. Additional people died of 9/11-related cancer and respiratory diseases in the months and years following the attacks.
Everyone of a certain age remembers where they were and what they were doing when the towers were hit. Overwhelmed with disbelief and anger, we talked about it for days and weeks and months until we were eventually forced to concede that everything was changed from that day forward. A modern-day awakening to the very real evil that exists, not just “out there,” but here, in our own small worlds where we quietly go about our business. In this, we no longer see through a glass, darkly; from that day forward, now, face to face.
I read that, just days ago, Gov. Cuomo signed legislation making it the law that all New York public schools hold a moment of silence on the future anniversaries of Sept. 11 so that students who weren’t yet born, would know what happened. In other words, “making remembrance the law”:
On Monday, just two days before the 18th anniversary of 9/11, Cuomo established the “September 11th Remembrance Day.”
“9/11 was one of the single darkest periods in this state’s and this nation’s history, and we owe it to those we lost and to the countless heroes who ran toward danger that day and the days that followed to do everything we can to keep their memory alive,” Cuomo said.
“By establishing this annual day of remembrance and a brief moment of silence in public schools, we will help ensure we never forget — not just the pain of that moment but of the courage, sacrifice and outpouring of love that defined our response,” he continued, adding the law is being put in place to encourage dialogue in classrooms.
One hopes that this keeps each and every generation coming up through the school ranks, at least aware of that fateful day. Of course one also hopes that between parents and teachers, there will be every effort made to accurately inform students of what took place, without whitewashing the evil because we are so desperate to go back to that place of innocence that no longer exists. Perhaps, unlike the New York Times, there will be an effort made toward the blunt truth because knowledge is indeed a powerful tool, and one that every American deserves to have. Clearly, though, judging from this morning’s now-deleted tweet, the New York Times is just not there yet:
When are 2,753 deaths not “nearly 3,000 deaths,” but rather “more than 2,000 deaths”? When do airplanes take aim into specific buildings to deliberately kill as many innocent lives as possible? The effort to whitewash the truth on this day is a travesty. After the push back and ridicule began, the tweet was deleted. However, the misleading wording in the article remained:
The tweet has been deleted but the article still says “airplanes took aim…”https://t.co/NMVKQQCXP9 pic.twitter.com/ofvjY9ieyk
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) September 11, 2019
Finally, shame had its way, sort of:
Eighteen years have passed since terrorists commandeered airplanes to take aim at the World Trade Center and bring them down.
Eighteen years later, and what others think still matters more than the hard truth.
Radical Muslim Extremists. Just say it, NYT.
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana