September 11, humor, and memory
Mon 11 Sep 2006, 9:59 am
I had no intention to write about today’s anniversary of the September 11 attacks, but Michael Sauers’ link to onegoodmove’s posting of the first post-9/11 Daily Show reminded me what a relief that show was to watch at the time.
Which, in turn, reminded me of the astoundingly good post-9/11 issue of the Onion, whose every article and graphic, from the profane “logo” they gave their coverage to U.S. Vows To Defeat Whoever It Is We’re At War With; from Point/Counterpoint: We Must Retaliate With Blind Rage vs. We Must Retaliate With Measured, Focused Rage to Talking To Your Child About The WTC Attack (“As your child may or may not know, much of modern Islamic fundamentalism has its roots in the writings of Sayyid Qutb…”) it was spot-on humor about our thoughts, feelings, and frustrations.
I’m not sure what the library angle is here, except perhaps to note that I’d probably have a hard time finding a library that is archiving these important expressions of our national mood just a little less than five years ago. But perhaps with The Internet Archive around, that’s OK.
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- Comments? 3
Oh, man, that Onion graphic made me laugh out loud at the time, and it still does. Brilliant, and much needed, then and now. Thanks for the reminder.
Comment by Jenn — September 11, 2006 @ 1:50 pm
I was in Milwaukee after 9/11 for a few weeks, just hiding out at my boyfriend’s place, unwilling to go home to rural Vermont to be by myself. I rememeber they had the Onion on newsstands and I had never paid too much attention to it before, but I laughed until I cried at almost every article. It’s one of the semi-positive moments I have in my memory of that whole awful time.
Comment by jessamyn — September 13, 2006 @ 2:20 pm
Yes, I think one of the things that made the Onion issue so great was that–for me anyway–it was unexpected. I wouldn’t have thought the Onion was up to handling that situation with such a perfect tone.
Take the article, Not Knowing What Else To Do, Woman Bakes American-Flag Cake. Done poorly, it could be snarky and nasty, but re-reading that article today makes me want to cry.
Also laughing and crying all over again over John Stewart’s “They said to get back to work. And there were no jobs available for a man in a fetal position under his desk, crying…”
Comment by Steve Lawson — September 13, 2006 @ 2:31 pm