Posted by
The Chopping Block on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 7:15:02 AM
For politicians and other editorialists to continually refer to 9/11 as a "tragedy" is to relegate the incident to the annals of history like the Johnstown Flood, hurricane Andrew, earthquakes etc.
It is important to understand that words have as much subtle meaning as they do definition. The definition of a tragedy is “a disaster, either nature caused or human caused." I submit that I am not arguing that the results of the attack on the twin towers were not disastrous, but I am saying that the term “tragedy” evokes more than that. It emphasizes the "unfortunate-ness" of the incident. The word "tragedy" evokes sympathy for the victims, rather than outrage at this attack upon our soil. The picture evoked when a speaker uses the word tragedy is one of “we are so sorry that this happened,” or “ This was so unfortunate”. For example, I don't think the american public saw the attack on Pearl Harbor as a tragedy.
The twin tower attack was an attack by our enemies on American soil and we act like it is a tragedy. We should act like we were attacked. Even to this day, people speak with sorrow and unhappiness that this happened. Where is the rage and the anger at our enemies. They declared war on us and we cowered down and talked about memorials to the victims.
How pathetic is that.