9/11

Learning

In this class we were able to discussing and reflecting on 9/11 and it´s different perspectives and ways to look at it. 

We were focusing more on the Muslim perspective and discrimination, and the opinions that people from the US would have. But as we were talking about this, we looked at a subject that was still relevant and that, was more international. It was "Why don´t other countries like Colombia, make memorials on the level that the US had for 9/11? and "Why don´t other countries see other terrorist attacks in the same manner?". 

And we came to the conclusion that, other countries don´t make memorials like the US does for 9/11 because, maybe in some of these countries, terrorist attacks are frequent, and sadly the people in these nations have been able to be accustomed with these attacks, and therefore they don´t see these attacks as out of the ordinary, as people see as terrorist attacks in other countries. 

Many people grief and have some sort of memorial for 9/11 because, it was an attack on the Unites States of America, on a scale which was never done before, and this was the most stunning aspect. Because not only was the scale of the attack, large enough to create an enormous effect and influence, but it occured in a nation which was a world power and that was seen as the safest place on the planet. No one could even imagine such an atrocity on such a powerful nation even with all the problems it had been having.

Back to the topic we were discussing, first we talked about the opinions that people in the US might have. We thought that people in the US, started to think that they were unsafe in their houses or at the mall or at school. We hypothesized that people in the US would come to the conclusion that if terrorists could bomb the Twin Towers and especially the Pentagon, which were supposed to be really secure places. Why couldn´t they just blow an entire neighbourhood. The Pentagon was extremely important in this argument, because not only was the Pentagon a major iconic site, but it was were all the military and to a major extent  governmental processes would take place. It was the headquarters of the United States. And it was seen as the most secure building or group  of buildings in the world.

One factor of the perspective of the people in the US, that kept coming up was that, Americans   in general, thought that all the Muslim people were responsible for the attack, and started to discriminate against them. 

It was this discrimination of the Musilms that we also discussed, we talked about how the Muslim community, that was as innocent as the people in the Twin Towers were being discriminated against and how this was a serious problem that was extremely rascist. We even heard of a case, of when a Muslim man entered the metro after 9/11, and only because he was Muslim, 3 other people saw him and left. This we thought was a serious offense because not only is this rewinding society into times were everyone was rascist but it also, started incriminating innocent people, just because of their religion. 

We also saw the perspectives of the islamic people, which were either regretful of the terrorist act, and hoped that someday Palestine and the US would be at peace with no conflict, and others who supported the terrorist attack, and who had ideas similar to this quote from an anonymous person, "There will be no peace in the US until there is peace in Palestine."

Another subject that we studied was about why people made conspiracies, and the only conclusion we were able to come up with was; people create conspiracies because they cannot take in what they are hearing and that they just can´t believe the events that happened, and they have to search for reasons on why this event became possible. Usually these people are relatives or close friends of the members who died in these types of attacks and who can´t cope with the event, or people who are against the government, and who think the current government is inefficient.

One thing that I didn´t think of before we had this class, were the problems of the Muslim community in Palestine, and those who suffered from the discrimination. Before this class I only thought of the American perspective and how it affected the way that we travel now. This class really opened my mind on all the different perspectives in every matter, and I learned to question all that I read and hear.

The discussion made me feel how damaging rascism is and how such an attack may impact a person, and his/her life. It made me see that assumptions like the US being the safest place in the world are overrated. This lesson made me think about the problems that Palestine is having with the US, and it made me think about the innocent Muslim lives that are being affected by problems like this on a daily basis. This class reminded me on a quote from a palestinian student; "Your 9/11 is our 24/7". This lesson also made me think about the knowledge and planification of the terrorists, because they bombed US iconic sites, on 9/11 and the emergency number in the US is 911. This just shows how elaborate the plan that the terrorists had, was. This also shows us that terrorists don´t have to be illiterate people justing blowing up buildings and killing people, just for doing it, it shows that some terrorists have and education, but use it negatively.

Opinions

Three opinions were raised:

That the discrimination to the Muslims was as bad, as the attack on the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, because it is an attack on innocent people. It is not fair at all to judge the people because they have no one has the right to incriminate someone, just because of their religion of appearance. What is the difference between the innocent people who died in the Twin Towers and the innocent people who are being discriminated against for being Muslim, besides the fact that one of the two is dead.

Another opinion was that, other countries should have a memorial like the US has for 9/11 because, any life that was taken by any terrorist attack, should be remembered, and that no country should ever begin to get used to terrorist attacks, because as soon as this happens, the fight against terror becomes, a minority.

Finally the last opinion was that, there was no other terrorist attack until now that was on the same scale as 9/11. This is because no other terrorist attack had such after shocks. No other terrorist attacks, forced the air transport laws to change, no other terrorist attacks brought with it such discrimination, and no other terrorist attack, opened the eyes of the whole world showing them that people will do such extreme things to put forward their point, and cause such an immensely potencial influence of the power that terrorists have.

In my opinion, I share all these opinions and, the reasons behind them, because it is not right for people to be accustomed to violence, and fear, it is not acceptable that a nation may not celebrate and remember the life of the innocent individuals who died in a terrorist attack. It is every human´s right to believe in whatever they want to believe in and to not be discriminated for it. Undoubtly there has been no terrorist attack that could equal of even come close to the scale of 9/11, just because of the aftermath, after shock and influence that 9/11 had on the world.

I was not surprised by any of my classmates reactions, or answers, because they were able to explain everything they thought, thoroughly and they were able to say it with an elevated level of knowledge on the subject, giving room for a class discussion and presenting the whole class with valuable perspectives.

The Class 

I enjoyed this class very much because, we talked about significant events in the world, and what were the different thoughts and perspectives around the world. These sorts of topics and events, in my opinion are the most interesting, and are worth looking at, in more depth. This is why I was glad when I heard we were going to talk about 9/11.

I believe that next time we do something like this in class and we have to do a presentation about it, we could do something more creative than a powerpoint. So we could show our thoughts on the subject in a variety of manners.