Ryan Garza, Flint Journal
(https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2011/09/ten_years_after_sept11_attacks_1.html)
Following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, Americans were left reeling. Though a total count would not be known for months, 2,734 people were declared dead as a result of the attacks (cdc.gov). The events were also the first of their kind to be perpetrated in the United States, and Americans were left with feelings of anger, sadness, and fear. Many Americans chose to respond to the attacks and these emotions with new obvious displays of patriotism. Flags flew outside homes and businesses, signs, hats and t-shirts were adorned with phrases like ‘Proud to be American’, all in an effort to unify the country in a display of strength.
There were also definite impacts on our popular culture following September 11. Patriotic songs soared into the top music charts as new anthems for freedom. Whitney Houston’s rendition of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’, originally released in 1991, reentered “the Hot 100…shot up to #6 selling over 1 million copies (and) earning an RIAA Platinum award”
billboardchartrewind.wordpress.com
(billboardchartrewind.wordpress.com). The now-infamous song ‘God Bless the USA’, originally recorded in 1984 by Lee Greenwood, made a “Hot Shot Debut” at spot 16 in both the Hot 100 and the Billboard Hot Country Singles charts (billboardchartrewind.wordpress.com). While movies and television shows cancelled or delayed releases depicting a terrorist villain for a period after the attacks, just a few years later came a number of titles such as The Hurt Locker, War of the Words, and 24, depicting American protagonists in a war-torn setting exacting justice on often foreign enemies creating chaos (Ellis, vox.com). The shift in popularity of these kinds of films and shows following 9/11 perhaps suggests “Americans wanted patriotic affirmation, but not images of potential consequences…(T)hose films began to establish a pattern of portraying torture and war as unfortunate, but necessary” (Ellis, vox.com).
Also born of the terrorist attacks was a new fear and mistrust for anyone believed to be an outsider in the United States, especially those perceived to be from the Middle East. What was originally patriotic displays of unity and resilience gave way to what could be called “hypernationalism”, which can be associated with intolerance of minorities and their ideologies and religions, and with warmongering (Li and Brewer 727-8). New restrictions and targeted screening processes were put in place in airports, and there was massive support nationally to initiate military action in the Middle East, a move that had little support outside of the United States. Li and Brewer found that the presence of “heightened patriotism” in those with a common purpose was also linked to “heightened nationalism and less tolerance for internal diversity” (729). The consequential actions of both the United States government and its most fervently patriotic citizens following 9/11 would support this theory.
Works Cited
BillboardGuy. “The 14 # 1 Singles of 2001 and Remembering September 11, 2001.” Billboard Chart Rewind, 26 May 2020, billboardchartrewind.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/the-14-1-singles-of-2001-and-remembering-september-11-2001/.
CDC. “Deaths in World Trade Center Terrorist Attacks — New York City, 2001.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11 Sept. 2002, www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm51spa6.htm.
Ellis, Lindsay. “Movies, Patriotism, and Cultural Amnesia: Tracing Pop Culture’s Relationship to 9/11.” Vox, Vox, 9 Sept. 2016, www.vox.com/2016/9/9/12814898/pop-culture-response-to-9-11.
Li, Qiong, and Marilynn B. Brewer. “What Does It Mean to Be an American? Patriotism, Nationalism, and American Identity after 9/11.” Political Psychology, vol. 25, no. 5, 2004, pp. 727–739. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3792341. Accessed 30 Oct. 2020.