My most memorable mediated experience was September 11, the day the twin towers collapsed. I was halfway around the globe, at the time of the event, with my family. We received a phone call from grandma who lived in New York. She told us that two planes had crashed into the twin towers. Our first reactions were of disbelief that something like that would happen. My grandma had heard about the event from my uncle and aunt who were in Manhattan at the time. Everything was chaotic. Trains weren't running. People were all trying to call home. My uncle and aunt ended up walking back home because the trains all stopped running. Then the next day we saw the morning news and realized it was worst than we had thought.
In the news, images of the flaming World Trade Center were shown repeatedly. The anchor said that there’s limited information about what’s going on, but rudimentary judgment was made that it wasn’t an accident. I didn’t know much about America, World Trade Center at that time since I was just a fourth grader. But I did get a horrifying feeling from the news that if it wasn’t an accident, then it must have been a carefully planned attack. I started to wonder what if it happens to Taiwan too?
My understanding of the event changed after I immigrated to America in 2003. I started to see a lot of writings online about the event; I spoke with classmates who told me their personal experiences during the September 11 attacks. We even got assignments in school that required us to research about the event. I also learned that the person behind the attack was Osama bin Laden and that the reason for the attack was because of America’s excessive military intervention in the Middle East. My understanding of this event went from knowing just the surface, to becoming more in-depth due to the different information I learned through group communication and interpersonal communication with classmates.
Mass media was of mass importance in this situation. People needed to know what was going on. The mass media provided the messages of the 9/11 event to the public through channels such as: newspaper, radio, broadcasts, etc. Newspapers and news channel were channeling out analysis of the event. This was when the name Osama Bin Laden became known to every American.
Culture communicates messages too. Some people believe that Muslims are responsible for the 9/11 attack because they have the same cultural background as Osama bin Laden. According to Baren’s “What Is Culture,” “The Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee reported more than 500 post-9/11 incidents of threats, beatings, arsons, shootings, and at least six murders.” In fact, most of the Muslims have nothing to do with Al-Qaeda, and the attack. But people see their religion, skin color, etc. and all of a sudden it reminds them of the 9/11 attack. Because of the background of the terrorists that launched the 9/11 attack, people began to make an association between Muslims and terrorists.
References:
Hanson, Ralph E. "Chapter 1." Mass Communication: Living in a Media World. Washington, D.C.: CQ, 2008. Print.
S. Baran , "What is Culture?"
World Trade Center Attacks:
I agree with you that "mass media was of mass importance" in this situation. I remembered the trains stopped running and people were panicking. Everything was so chaotic. There were people who were calling home to tell family that they were safe. There were people who were calling their friends and family to see if they were safe.
ReplyDelete