Enough already: Weary Americansseek refuge from 9/11 media fest
by Louise Daly
CHICAGO, (AFP) - The TV retrospectives,the commemorative books and magazines, the newspaper articles,features, columns ... oh, the agony of it.
The first anniversary of the attacks onNew York and Washington is still more than two weeks away, butalready some Americans are turning off, tuning out and runningfor cover.
"I hate to be callous about it, butI think it was more of a New York or Washington thing," saidDonna Walters, a 50-something Chicago tour guide.
"It didn't affect me personally. Ididn't know anyone killed there, and frankly I'm more concernedabout the economy than 9/11 (a shorthand reference to the attacks),as I think are a lot of other people."
Sarah Tyler, an American living in Germany,will be vacationing in Florida when the one-year anniversary rollsaround -- and is doing her best to block out what promises tobe wall-to-wall media coverage.
"The coverage has just overwhelmedme -- I'm fed up with having it rammed down my throat," shesaid, speaking by phone from Berlin, where she works for a non-governmentalorganisation.
"People need to move on."
Even one New Yorker, who had business acquaintanceswho perished in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers,said he would probably only take a passing interest in the mediablitz.
"I'll watch the first five minutesof it ... it was pretty close to home," said Maurice Regan,a 37-year-old contractor in the construction industry.
"But I think it's probably more relevantfor the families of the victims." And they're not alone insuffering from 9/11 fatigue.
In a recent -- informal -- poll of USA Todayreaders: half of the 350 respondents expressed a weariness withthe subject, while nearly all of them said they hoped the televisionnetworks would refrain from bombarding them with images of September11 carnage.
"I saw the images of the planes hittingthe towers over and over that day. I don't need to see them again,"said Janet Braunstein, 42, a freelance writer in Detroit, Michigan.
The national television networks plan blanketcoverage of 9/11 on Wednesday, September 11; NBC has scheduled14 hours of coverage, ABC 15 and CBS 13.
But 12 months after the devastating attacks-- 12 months of collective anxiety about anthrax attacks, airportsecurity, homeland security -- and as much as they regret theloss of life in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, some Americanswould rather use the occasion for reflection than introspection.
Tyler, for one, said she was concerned aboutthe direction of President George W. Bush's war on terrorism,and the widening gap between the Bush administration and its Europeanallies over its counter-terror offensive. "I'm embarrassedto see how US policy has unfolded in Afghanistan, in Pakistan,in Saudi Arabia and ashamed that, in many instances, human rightshave been so clearly ignored and even trampled on.
"What, in the end is the United Statesfighting for? It may be time on this anniversary for some clearanswers."
Like Tyler, Braunstein is concerned aboutthe repercussions of 9/11, notably the latitude it gave the Bushadministration to circumscribe the civil rights.
Civil rights activists claim authoritieshave violated the civil rights of Arabs by arresting hundredsof mostly young Arab men, often on minor immigration violations,subjecting them to secret hearings, and profiling individualsof Arab or Middle Eastern origin at US airports and borders inthe months since last September.
"These actions have long-term implicationsfor all our civil rights," said Braunstein.
"The Jewish people have a long experienceof being singled out like this. No good can come of it."