9/11 “Boatlift” - History is Memory

History is remembering Whether itamp8217s the product of living through events facts learned in the classroom a book imparting a scholaramp8217s research or the wartime experiences of a father or grandfather passed down in a family memories create a shared as well as a personal past The same is true for a countryWhere were you whenamp8230 On December 7th when Mutual NBC and CBS radio interrupted their scheduled football drama and panel discussions to report the attack on Pearl Harbor on November 22 when Walter Cronkite replaced the CBS soaps with the breaking news that President Kennedy was shot on September 11th when TV screens around the world displayed the chaos and collapse of the Twin TowersMonth and day are enough Each generation has its answers More often than not theyamp8217re powerfully shaped by the news mediaamp8217s words images and iconography a sunken battleship a casket carried down the Capitol steps smoke rising over Manhattanamp8217s mountain of rubble and twisted steel Their text pictures film video and voice have comprised as the clichamp233 goes historyamp8217s first draft forever Until todayWhen it comes to the news of course the reasons why are obvious The changes in the business and what it delivers are hardly a secret driven by technology the mediaamp8217s fracturing has doomed an information ecosystem where readers listeners and viewers at a minimum shared a picture of what happened albeit and not surprisingly for American and other democratic cultures often disagreeing on whyHere too however the common forum was crucial What ensued forced the debaters not only to face each other but also the same facts The national inventory of fools fanatics and fabricators still generated their flat earths filled with conspiracies But the fringes notwithstanding most news consumers occupied the mediaamp8217s commons not the partisan playpens that characterize broadcast cable and online news todayIn an election not to mention a decade where silos define the mediaamp8217s landscape and lies are permanently embedded in the political lexicon the consequences for democracy are playing out in real time So too are the effects of the images accompanying the rhetoric Consider todayamp8217s candidates one fist upraised over a grimace the other a radiant smile The pictures speak volumes more than any wordsThatamp8217s why Boatlift deserves attention Few today remember the speeches on 911 but its images are central to the nationamp8217s memory The Boatliftamp8217s video should be the same It tells a story as powerful as the scenes of destruction but with a different message Itamp8217s no less part of our history than the patriotic rhetoric that raised spirits or the vows from all political sides to avenge the attackEven as the disasteramp8217s smoke shrouded the chaos tugs ferries and tour boats all volunteers arrived on lower Manhattanamp8217s shore where tens of thousands massing on the waterside had fled the destruction A single Coast Guard radio call rallied hundreds more boats of all sizes to create a flotilla that rescued a half million people in a matter of hoursIn both speed and numbers the boat lift dwarfed Dunkirk Great Britainamp8217s stored seaborne evacuation of its own and allied forces from Nazi Germanyamp8217s military clutches in May 1940 And yet in the history of 911 itamp8217s at best a footnote In the collective memory itamp8217s barely thatBoatlift isnamp8217t about warriors rallying vengeance or the high politics that produced the global war on terror Itamp8217s about an extraordinary expression of a very ordinary aspect of the American character the capacity to rally together to help each other no matter who is in need without orders and with the creativity that has marked the nation for 250 yearsAt a time when the mediaamp8217s messages reflect the political seasonamp8217s divisiveness 2024amp8217s remembrance of 911 today could remind Americans and add to their collective memory by featuring Boatlift as a story of what they can do Itamp8217s a history that needs viewing againPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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9/11 “Boatlift” - History is Memory

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Kent M. Harrington

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9/11 “Boatlift” - History is Memory

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