Note from our Editor-in-Chief: Today marks 25 years since the horrific attacks on September 11, 2001. Zeteo is running a series of thoughtful and honest essays and interviews that not only reflect on the tragedy that was 9/11, but also on the aftermath – in America, across the Middle East and worldwide. We thought you might find these a worthwhile read, so we are republishing a small selection at Zeteo UK, including this piece by Viet Thanh Nguyen.
If you’re currently only a Zeteo UK subscriber but want to get more content like this from Zeteo as well, consider upgrading to our bundle option.
When historians and storytellers look back on the decline and fall of the American empire, they might identify 9/11 as the beginning of the long end. The American empire did not collapse immediately, but 9/11 was the spectacular fulcrum, revealing the simultaneous power and vulnerability of it and its imperial citizens. Part of imperial privilege for average Americans is to deny that they are a part of empire. Another part of imperial privilege is to react with misguided fury and hubris, whether through demanding revenge for 9/11 or calling to make America great again today. A different kind of power can be found in renouncing empire and domination, but are Americans willing to embrace a power that acknowledges its own vulnerability?
It may feel impossible to do so after a tragedy like 9/11, a terrorist event and a human catastrophe so shocking that images of people waving from their windows or falling through the air are still deeply disturbing. The dead included the wealthy and the working-class, citizens and undocumented, drawn from the vast diversity of the country. Their deaths induced many reactions, including a solidarity that allowed Americans to forget, for a while, their differences and unite as a grieving country. In commemorating 9/11, we should remember not only the dead, but also that fleeting moment of possibility where we believed in ourselves as a country.
Unfortunately, that sense of solidarity, grievance, and vulnerability that provided a sense of community also led many to demand retribution. Speaking out against that impulse can still be difficult now, 25 years later, but it was incredibly daunting back then. But not impossible.