Remembering September the 11th

In the recent past, we as a culture have often been told to remember 9/11, espeically on the run up to the fifth anniversary. But, what should we remember? Which memories do we honor? Omit? Deify? Distort? Attack? What are the facts, five years later? The previous post is but an introduction.

More on collective memory and 9/11 to come...some thoughts.

Meanwhile, an older piece on collective memory. The politics of how we remember and honor or commemorate our collective tragedies. Here's a thesis on a previous generations homeland insecurity, the Kent State shootings, May 4th, 1970. How were the memories of May Fourth used to provide meaning to the actual historical event? And in those memories told, who benefitted? Who paid? What of community, official, and vernacular views?

Thesis

On this anniversary, how do we remember 9/11? And how do we use what we know? What context are we allowing history to provide, and what are we denying it to manifest? In other words, we remember, for better or worse. And moreover, how do we speak about 9/11 and the so-called war on terror? What are we framing with metaphors of war? A recent George Lakoff piece addresses this in more detail. Dropping the war metaphor and reclaiming vernacular views. High time. We need to move to a more democratically interactive historical construction if we are to truly be a free society.

Stayed tuned...if you want.