In the past 10 years, I have not once delved into the inferno that is 9/11. I was never interested in the talk that surrounded it, I never posed any questions, and I never watched anything on the matter. This year, all that changed. For some reason, I could not tear myself away from the images of the Twin Towers or the words of the ones who suffered. I also never thought I would feel so passionately about an event that happened 10 years ago that I would write a blog post about it. But when I watched a documentary called The Falling Man, I felt somehow obligated to write down my thoughts.Now, I am not going to post the actual picture. Newspapers already tried that and got a strong backlash. But I really urge you to look it up. Here's a link: The Falling Man. What do you notice? Does he look graceful? Do you think he jumped? Or was he thrown from the tower by the impact of the blow?
Believe it or not, this picture was from a sequence of 12 pictures that were all taken by a photographer named Richard Drew. In addition to taking these 12 pictures of this man, he took hundreds of others depicting the terrible choice that some had to make and that some were forced into making. But Drew's pictures weren't the only forms of media that caught the falling people. Several news reporters got pictures and even videos of these people. But why haven't we ever seen them?
Politicians and a few concerned citizens have deemed these depictions as horrifying. After these reports, the pictures and clips started disappearing. They could not be found unless they were thoroughly looked for. And even when they were found, it was clear that some had been airbrushed so as not to include the people falling. A sculpture named The Tumbling Woman was removed from plain sight. In my opinion, this is unfair. The fact that people were falling from the buildings is part of 9/11. It shows the raw, hard truth that some people decided to take their death into their own hands. Instead of burning alive or not being able to breathe, they opted for the 10 second fall. Airbrushing the pictures and making some disappear and not acknowledging that this happened is a great fallacy that doesn't make 9/11 any better.
For more specifically on The Falling Man, click here.
A brave post, Ozakh. I had been looking all week for that documentary but couldn't remember the name, so thank you.
ReplyDeleteI would like to ask you a couple questions: Why did you choose to omit the photo from your post? How does this "airbrushing" apply to other aspects of US History?
Before I read this post, I had never thought about how people might have jumped out from the roasting buildings. It's scary to think that all the images and stories about the people that made that choice are being censored from the public. Thank you for posting this, I feel as if I am better able to respect all those that died now.
ReplyDeleteAlas, you've written again. Another compelling argument. Please continue to enlighten us with your insight. Adieu.
ReplyDeleteMr. Bolos- I didn't post the photo because it's a hard image to take in and I don't think it would be fair to surprise a reader with it. I recognize the fact that some people might find it offensive, but I hope that after they read my post they will understand that the falling people were a part of 9/11 and take the initiative to look up the photo.
ReplyDeleteAs to the airbrushing in other aspects of US History, I feel it happens all the time. For example, we were talking about how the Iraq War has nothing to do with 9/11, yet people still believe it does. The Bush Administration essentially airbrushed out the facts by letting everyone believe that the two had a connection. This is false, but you don't see documents or headlines or any type of media around America saying that. Another example is found in 'The Passing of the Old Frontier' in which it was "airbrushed" to make the readers feel a certain way towards the Natives and the white settlers, just as photos in magazines are airbrushed a certain way to make readers feel partial to their product.