Indifference towards 9/11 doesn’t exist in the United States or anywhere around the globe, and even 13 years later, it’s effect of making the world aware of terrorists and having a perennial excuse to blow them up(and anyone in the way, too) is still intact.  The day that changed the world for good and plunged the US into war for over a decade goes down in infamy and thanks to the media we’ll never forget it or heal from it.  Since then, we’ve grown to immediately be fond of the police and firefighters, although now we’re afraid of a police state.  Thankfully it’s for our own good and the government knows best, and just like every true American, is willing to spend everything to make justice.  Still, 9/11 raises questions like how did WTC7 even fall, and how did something so horrifically perfect occur in the greatest nation in the world?  An easy and rational question to ask as just another citizen is to wonder why the media obsesses over showing us dead bodies on TV and if it’s right to use these kinds of events to affect our imaginations in a permanent and grim fashion, and also why it could be beneficial for them to do so.
	The news was there to inform us the day 9/11 happened and they did a great job of it, and to ensure we were all fully informed, they even showed us the video footage enough times to remember basically every detail not limited to those who chose to jump out of the buildings.  When the news reports, at times it can be very important and beneficial to the public.  It’s important we knew 9/11 happened for people like my mom since her work was able to decisively act and have her evacuated from the John Hancock building along with all the other employees.  A heightened state of awareness after an attack is key, and so is a communal day or week of mourning over the event.   It was also beneficial for the public to see the banners and flags lining the streets in New York the day after to show us some spirit and evoke feelings of recovery.  However, there are only so many times you can watch replays of a horrific incident before you either become desensitized or you just become angry and senseless.  It’s difficult to think rationally when you’re watching 3,000 people die over and over.
	Fortunately, with the public fully aware of the situation through these replays, and with a massive dose of jingoism summoned up through the incident, the government was able to pass the Patriot Act to ensure this never happens again and that the perpetrators would be eliminated.  The sheer rage and hatred was unlimited, but our belief in our nation stood strong, and our solution of choking people by making them cough up water upside-down and bombing everything in sight made us all feel better.  Eventually, though, when the war crimes hit the news, some of us felt indecision towards whether or not our retaliation was executed in the correct manner or not.  That dissonance, facilitated by wall to wall coverage of clashing ideas between promoting war crimes and then whether or not it’s actually right or wrong, was paralyzing for some and further enraging for other Americans who only saw red when reviewing the replays of 9/11 in their minds.  By the end of the war crime debates, our citizenry was either confused or righteous, with anyone in between being either a terrorist or a conspiracy theorist.
	The jingoism, the dissonant republic, and the daily dose of horrific images on the news even outside of 9/11 is great for political figures or the military, two parties who can only live through the successes of their respective agendas.  Presidents will show up to hurricane areas and pose with a shovel as a photo-op the same way they’ll pose with a shovel and union workers to show their support for jobs.  Of course afterwards the president might fly off and play golf or have some drinks in air force one, or in the case of the jobs example, laugh on cable tv when the topic of ‘shove-ready’ jobs comes up.  It’s a common practice in the political world although it’s an exploitative tool to give the people a reason, even if it’s a shaky one, to believe in the president or whoever the politician is, and to help them in bad times think everything can be okay.  In the end, it’s not done for the benefit of the people, and the people should know that.  For those who do it’s a touchy subject, and for those that don’t it’s a head in the clouds affair of searching for an excuse to have hope that either these officials aren’t so bad or that things will actually be okay.
	The only defense is to not watch the news very often, to not visit news sites that carry party lines or government agendas very often, and to seek credible news sources or text based sources from time tested analysts.  People don’t want to do that, though, they’d prefer being in the know and the socializing effect of the news and media in general is an addiction even if it’s just boring wall to wall coverage of something totally random but horrific to load us up on terror.  By now, as a people, this country is truly loaded on terror and it’s a response for us to consider that before sunnier imaginations towards things in general.  However, maybe its best we see dead bodies as often as we do, and see starving children on tv so often, so that once we put together a great society with people who care about things other than war will know what to watch out for, someday.
	It’s strange to think these ways about the media and to try and make sense of why we see so many horrific images on tv when the news is there to inform us and the media is a tool for entertainment.  Considering those two good things, it’s just off-beat to suggest the media wants to load us up on terror and bring our hearts and minds into the underworld.  It’s the truth; however, because it’s something we see and can prove every single day.  It’s a fact that we’re exposed to propaganda, that the propaganda is horrific in nature, and is slighted to appeal to our empathy when it comes to terrible scenarios.  For those who share this opinion, it’s best to seek protection especially for children.
	In a world ravaged by terror, poverty, and blind hatred, where these things are shown to us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it truly is important for families and communities to come together and create societies that allow us to live in ways that break from the mold of a scared republic loaded up on terror.  Parents need to monitor their children’s television intake, what the natures of the shows they’re watching are, and to make sure their kids see enough positive stories in the media that aren’t centered around either a dying child’s last wish or an army man missing a leg that can still shoot a basketball.  Those things are well and good but it’s equally as important to show them the joy of eating an ice cream or how fun it can be to spend a day at the beach with the family.  In our outrageous, agenda-fueled world, these ideals aren’t really appealed to very often in the media.  It’s up to parents and families to maintain the reality they want to live in, which I presume is likely more positive and endearing than the one created and fed to us by the media and politicians alike.