Jared Noble Professor O’Connor HUM-1001 March 27, 2021 My Birth Year was… The year I was born, 2001, was a year that contained one of the worst tragedies in American history. On September 11th, the world trade center was attacked, and two planes crashed into and collapsed the twin towers. The effect of this tragic event on the American people was astronomical and the media reflected this directly. The reason I chose this to write about is because people still talk about it constantly all the time, and it will forever be a mediashaped memory of American history. According to the American Psychological Association, “‘To the extent that the media continues to talk about 9/11, the more our memories of the attacks are solidified,’ says Hirst. ‘We as a society came to believe that we have to talk about this all the time. We decided that this will be important, with an accompanying memorystrengthening effect.’” Something that they compare this phenomenon to is the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986. People can very specifically recall how many planes were hijacked and where they hit and at what time, while others forget that the Challenger even exploded if they hadn’t seen it live. A quote from B. Murray Law describes it best, “Seeing it on TV is riveting and having a friend tell you about it is not riveting. You feel like a part of history saying you saw it live, when really it was the 16th replay.” This is insinuating that watching the the towers fall was such a polarizing site, that the media played it over and over again to keep on reminding the public what had occurred. September 11th, 2001 was an day that that will stand still in time for as long as people continue to remember those who lost their life from the collapse, and those who lost their life trying to help others in the aftermath. Bibliography (Association, www.apa.org, 2011) https://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/09/media-memory
