I was at home in New Jersey when the attacks occurred, and after 11 months in Germany, I encountered a United States so different from the one that I had imagined in occasional bouts of homesickness.
The proximity of my parents' home to Manhattan and a year of exposure to New York's international symbolic value (for example, in advertisement slogans such as "Manhattan -- America's Dream of Ice Cream") allowed me to invest in that city whatever nationalistic impulses I possessed. The collapse of the Twin Towers -- on live television -- wounded not only an urban skyline but also my imagination, my understanding of myself.
When news reports began calling the event an attack by Muslim fanatics, I thought, "Not crazy but rather determined believers in a cause." After each new journalistic discovery or presidential speech, I would speak to a friend or family member in order to complicate the simplicity of "good vs. evil, crusade, infinite justice." I was more aware than ever that TV news channels have their own agendas in shaping public opinion. When CNN showed "Palestinians celebrating on the street" and then cut to footage of "Ground Zero," I thought of an editor in a control room pushing a button to push our buttons.
For days I flipped the channels in search of international and Muslim responses. If these were shown, they were shown after primetime and only on cable channels. Most Americans would not have been aware (in the first few days) of the effect of the attacks on Western Europeans and on Israelis, let alone on former Communist or Middle Eastern opponents such as Russia, China, Iraq, and Iran. When President Bush divided the world into those "with us" and those "against us," "the American people" (whoever and wherever they are) disregarded the complex political situation in which Pakistan found itself and did not hesitate to support military maneuvers in Afghanistan (as if the bombing of more innocent people would work to stamp out rather than to inflame terrorism). If the "Attack on America" was directed at perceived American cultural and political arrogance, then wouldn't an arrogant and righteous response (again, "infinite justice") encourage Muslim extremists to continue their particular brand of resistance?
I was appalled and yet not surprised when American nationalists began to attack Arab Americans. These thoughtless and misinformed acts only illustrate the extent to which America's founding myths such as equality and liberty are only myths. And yet, without these myths, these words which have the power to fulfill themselves, we are nothing but white, Christian men, but the history behind the history is neither exclusively white nor Christian nor male. I was equally appalled to hear that American high school students are generally unaware of any reasons Islamic countries might have for "hating" the U.S. It then occurred to me that the only difference between their response and mine was the never-ending relativism that I encountered in college. There was no ultimate solution to any question, no simple explanation of a problem, but rather each potential answer created new problems.
The group or groups that planned this assault on the U.S. attacked the idea of America, the pop-cultural imperialism of America, and although I agree that the U.S. should respond, a misdirected demonstration of power and military force will not end terrorism. I don't think it would hurt Americans to step outside themselves, to imagine and even to understand the thought processes of their attackers. What kind of beliefs backed by what kind of ideology could inspire intelligent people educated in "the West" to fly planes full of passengers into buildings full of workers on a beautiful day in the end of summer? Before we call them lunatics or murderers and blame their blind faith in Islam, we should remember that they were people with families and earthly attachments. They loved something -- perhaps something we do not understand -- enough to do what they did. This IS disturbing.
While the American government deliberates the institutional response, individual Americans should prepare themselves through education ("Know thy enemy ..."). Every American schoolchild should receive unbiased exposure to Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and some of the other large religions and should be encouraged to think critically about various worldviews. Teachers should talk about terrorism, not to cause terror in their students, but to allow children to grow up with an awareness of the world's complexity.
America is beautiful to those who love it, but in order to ensure its survival, we must, when we look in the mirror, see not only ourselves and the fruited plains but also the SUVs and the oil and the gasoline. We must see clearly the economic, political, and cultural relations in which we are entangled.
