Talk of the Town

Talk of the Town

 

The two different authors who contributed to this article, John Updike and Susan Sontag, took vastly different approaches to discussing the horrific event that plagued our country on September 11. I was only four years old when this destruction happened. I personally don’t remember the event but since then I have visited ground zero several times as well as learned about the event in school. After gaining more knowledge, I can only imagine how horrific it must have been to live through this.

While reading Updike’s portion of the article, I immediately felt like he had some sort legitimacy because he witnessed the event first hand. I think that people who saw the destruction can have a better understanding and view of the event. They were able to see and live through things that were not aired on TV and that the viewers didn’t get to see.  I found it very interesting when Updike talked about “risk being a price of freedom.” I think this idea hold’s very much truth in our society. When we give people freedom to do, say, and believe what they want, we give up the ability to control what happens all the time. With everyone having freedom, the rest of the world has to deal with the risk that one person will use the freedom to harm others. At the end of the day, I think that the risk is worth the freedom. I think Updike put it very well when he said “freedom is mankind’s elixir, even if a few turn it to poison”

Susan Sontag took a different approach to the dealing with the event. I found her part of the article very political and accusatory compared to Updike’s portion. While I think that Sontag makes some very interesting and legitimate arguments, she is taking a very cynical and distrustful view on the situation. One of the arguments Sontag brought up that I found especially intriguing is when she touched on America always putting on a front that it is “strong” and “unbreakable” even when it appears to be quite the opposite. I am in New York right now and just today I visited ground zero, now called the Freedom Tower. I have to disagree with Sontag’s view about how bad it is for America to put on a strong face in times of adversity. In this case, I think that building the Freedom Tower in the place of the twin towers is a great thing. I think it symbolizes that America does recognize and grieve for the loss on 9-11 but that we have used it to learn from and to better our country. Sontag also made some comments about our “robotic president” and compliant public figures. I don’t think that when 9-11 occurred that there was time for the government to show weakness. In order to protect our country and our safety, the government had to put on a united front and a brave face. While I give much respect for Sontag for questioning the nature of our beliefs, in this particular case I think that America’s perseverance and unity in handling the events of 9-11 is the reason that we are still a strong and powerful country to this day.