we live in the television age, real time cnn live coverage

was 911 a world changing event? in the sense that it was a shock to the America, in that our little corner of the world was not 'safe' anymore. Welcome to the world, and its a dangerous place. (and somehow it limited the number of 'safe' places one could travel) eg. Ive always wanted to travel in North Africa, Turkey, India and now I would think twice)

It was a shock because of the magnitude of the terrorist attack and the symbolism of the targets. (although we really should have been shocked in the first attempt to bomb the WTC in 93).

And prior to that the most destructive terrorist attack was the Air India bombing (flight out of Vancouver, that exploded over the Atlantic (near Ireland) killing over 300 people (and two baggage handlers in Tokyo, from another bomb that was supposed to blow up a second Air India flight). The Sikh separatists that were responsible still havent been brought to justice, one is serving time for the Narita bombing, and another is being brought to trial only now (after 15years).

If you didnt know that, and thought that Lockerbie was the worst terrorist incident up to that time, it just proves the point that if no Americans die, its not as newsworthy an event. (not to belittle the tragedy of Lockerbie, but to demonstrate how the US news media work.

(hell prior to 911 the front page of the news dealt with whose the SURVIVOR, or Monica and Bill, OJ)

The idea of crashing a hijacked airliner was not new either, Algerian terrorists planned to crash a hijacked airliner one in 94 into the Eiffel tower in Paris.

Not to belittle the tragedy of 911, but in comparison in 1914 one man was killed and 10 million or more died in ww1. The bombing of Hiroshima killed over a 100,000 and a further 100,000 died of the effects of radiation (similar for Nagasaki) This was if anything, probably the most significant world changing event of the last century, since it changed the rules and implications of warfare forever.

But TV was not around to show the people dying, or running from the cloud.

one comment you could hear a lot around 911 was that it was 'like a movie' (it almost lasted the typical time it a movie does) except Bruce Willis never showed up.

petr