Perverted Heroism

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 7:19pm

I watched a fantastic documentary on Annie Leibovitz the other night.

It led me to reading a lot of articles and such on both her and on Susan Sontag, which led me to a very provocative quote of Sontag's that appeared in the September 24, 2001 issue of The New Yorker, which follows:

Where is the acknowledgment that this was not a 'cowardly' attack on 'civilization' or 'liberty' or 'humanity' or 'the free world' but an attack on the world's self-proclaimed superpower, undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions? How many citizens are aware of the ongoing American bombing of Iraq? And if the word 'cowardly' is to be used, it might be more aptly applied to those who kill from beyond the range of retaliation, high in the sky, than to those willing to die themselves in order to kill others. In the matter of courage (a morally neutral virtue): Whatever may be said of the perpetrators of Tuesday's slaughter, they were not cowards.

What amazes me about the comment largely stems from the fact that it was made so soon after the attacks. Even today, there seems to be a fear of talking about the day and the horrific attacks without a bit of sentimentality attached to it.

Even now, over seven years since, I almost have a sense of fear and vulnerability in even trying to talk about the day and the events from an intellectual standpoint, in essence stripping away the emotion of a day that holds so much emotional power for so many of us.

How she was able to do so so soon speaks to many things I think. Her detachment from the events, her pragmatism, or even a certain insensitivity to the times and the people?

But, I am rambling...the idea that intrigued me in the quote itself lies in the idea of the men not being cowards. Certainly in our society, to suggest that the men who actually flew the planes into the building were acting not out of cowardice but out of a perverted sense heroism can lend to the person being considered un-American/insensitive/etc.

But, what I think she was getting at, is that dying for a cause has a certain heroic aspect to it. Even if the cause itself is vile and corrupt and not noble. And there can be no doubt that the acts were evil and despicable, because innocent people lost their lives.

So maybe they were cowards.

But were they also heroic?

Can their attacks be at the same time undoubtedly evil AND perversely heroic? Are the two mutually exclusive? Certainly not a heroism even close to the noble heroism of the souls who died that day fighting to save those which were hurt and trapped, but instead a kind of heroism gone horribly wrong...

And is that even an acceptable question to ask a mere seven years after the fact? Is that a question better left to historians to whom the events aren't so real?

Updated On: 11/16/08 at 07:19 PM

[Yawper]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 7:55pm

The attacks on 9/11 can be perceived many ways. Sontag was not alone in her thinking at the time.

A major difference in perceptions can be found depending upon how closely people had been watching US foreign policy over the decades.

Is anybody who fights for what they believe a coward? Updated On: 11/16/08 at 07:55 PM

[Jane2]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 8:02pm

They were heroes to whom? Certainly to those who hired/appointed/asked/allowed them to do it and to those who believed in their cause.

[Q]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 8:11pm

"ABC decided not to renew [Bill] Maher's contract for Politically Incorrect in 2002 after he made a controversial on-air remark on September 17, 2001, in which he agreed with guest conservative political commentator Dinesh D'Souza that the 9/11 terrorists were not cowards. He then went on to say, "We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly."

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 8:16pm

Hmm. I guess since I was only 13 at the time, I only noticed the overflowing of patriotism and missed the intellectual discourse.

[Yawper]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 8:31pm

Yes, brainwashing is easier when it starts young.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 8:33pm

Updated On: 1/10/09 at 08:33 PM