Loathing In America

Despite the several terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, America remained strong and united. In the speech “Address to the Nation on the Terrorist Attacks”, George W. Bush, addresses the terrorist attack of September eleventh to let the citizens know they can overcome a tragic and mournful incident by remaining unified and a powerful country. The primary audience are the citizens and the family members of the ones who had died or were involved in the incident. The secondary audience are the terrorists to let them know American’s are not scared and will stand together against them. Bush uses ethos, pathos, and figurative language to encourage the citizens to be stronger, united, and feel safe.

September 11, 2001 is a day that shook the United States to its core. Millions of Americans felt the pain, the loss, and the anger that came with the attack on their nation. It was a day of mourning, and when it comes to days of mourning it is difficult putting one’s pain into words. However, Leonard Pitts Jr. was able to move past the emotion. He put into his words, not only his own feelings, but the feelings of an entire nation. Pitts conveys the emotion felt after the terror attacks in his essay “Sept. 12, 2001: We’ll go forward from this moment” through his mournful, angry, and righteous tone.

Tuesday morning, September 11 of 2001, referred to as a day to remember, the twin towers were attacked by terrorists in a hijacked plane. Thousands of lives were lost and it was a day that brought great sorrow to America. George W. Bush, the president at that time, addressed his speech to America as a nation, giving them hope that the events that took place earlier that day would not shake them but that they would come back stronger. In this essay I will evaluate Bush’s formal 9/11 Address to the Nation and discuss the speaker’s appeals to pathos, logos and ethos to convey his message that America can stand tall as one.

The View from Mrs. Thompson’s, written by David Foster Wallace, is about how he perceived the tragic events of September 11th. It is not clear what message what Wallace tries to address in this essay, because as a reader it makes you focus on the tragedy that transpired. Although this essay centers around 9/11, the essay is much more about the people, about Bloomington, Illinois, and about himself. Through his experience upon the arrival of and the day after September eleventh, we get a look into the lives of the type of people that live in Bloomington, the general population who " aren’t unfriendly but do tend to be reserved" (128). We find out about the propensity of individuals in Bloomington to sit in front of the TV together: " what you

The momentous tragedy that occurred on September 11th, 2001 has been engraved into the memories of United States citizens. What began as an ordinary day quickly evolved into an tragedy no one could have predicted: thousands of lives had been taken and countless more devastated and ruined by the acts of terror. Although unpredicted, the horrific and frightening news affected all. The four planes individually plummeted into their targets—two crashed into the Twin Towers, another struck the Pentagon, and the final hurtled into an empty field—eliciting a wave of panic throughout the nation. The jarring images of commercial airplanes hijacked by members of the terrorist group Al-Qaida managed to instill a fear. As the terrified country anxiously fretted about the future, President George W. Bush delivered a speech to address the nation in order to soothe the tensions and worry. In George W. Bush’s “9/11 Address to the Nation,” the terrorist attack orchestrated against the U.S. is addressed with rhetorical devices such as parallel structure, imagery, and various appeals in order to inspire and heal the country.

On 9/11 everyone had a different reaction to the attack on the United States and the way it impacted their lives. In the article "We'll go forward from this moment" by Leonard Pitts Jr. I personally think he speaks for us all. Leonard Pitt's writing conveys the shock and horror that everyone must have felt after that trafic day and he was able to put into words what people were thinking and asking. His writing seemed powereful because he spoke directly to the evil that was behind this attack and made it seem like he was talking to one person. "You Monster. You beast. You unspeakable bastard." And, "What lesson did you hope to teach us by your cowards attack on our World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us?"

When Bush addressed the nation, he had to assure the American people of their country’s strength, which would undoubtedly triumph through this unthinkable misfortune. George W. Bush states, “These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong (Eidenmuller).” This shows how Bush is trying to create an emotional connection to the audience by instilling in Americans that our country must remain unified and strong during this time of terror. Bush also states, “These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve (Eidenmuller). This statement testifies that our country cannot be broken, and our country will prevail. About one-in-five Americans cite the country’s response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as the time in their lives when they felt most proud of their country (Gramlich). This indicates just how powerful our country can be if everyone works together. The terrorist attacks on the United States will forever be burned into the memories of Americans. That being the case, Bush’s attempt at creating an emotional connection to the audience was successful because he brought the country together with words of strength.

In the book, Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11, by Gerald Posner he argues that the act of terrorism that occurred on September 11, 2001 could have and should have been prevented. He presented a powerful case of how stupidity and misdirected priorities made America an easy aim for terrorists. Gerald Posner, the author of the book was a former Wall Street Lawyer, award winning investigative journalist and bestselling author. Posner purposefully wrote this book to demonstrate all the clues that were given out prior to the attack and inform us on previously undisclosed information after a thorough 18-month investigation. Posner’s goal was to discover what the CIA, FBI, and others in the Government were doing behind the scenes for at least a decade leading up to 9/11. The intended audience for this book is anyone who is willing to open their eyes on the true occurrences that happened on 9/11. The title of the piece is related directly to the book and the subject matter of it. America slept on all the clues that they received that there would be a terrorist attack and the book demonstrated how exactly they failed to prevent the acts that occurred on 9/11. Why America Slept is such a staggering book and Posner successfully demonstrates to the audience how 9/11 could have been prevented through his use of examples and facts.

On September 20, 2001, President George W. Bush made a speech on the terrorist attack, which took place on September 11, 2001. The people of America needed support and direction on how to handle what just happen. The American people demanded that the President addresses the Nation after the attacks and guide them. Nine days later, President Bush did just that. Over the next few days, emotions ran high in the country. “Will this happen again?” “Is it safe to leave in my home?” many wondered. Everywhere throughout the Nation, airlines had stopped service, the New York Stock Exchange was temporarily suspended, and every tv channel around the country played the latest news about the attack. The American people understandably asked and asked “What’s next?” from their leaders, so when President Bush gave his

Right from the beginning of the chapter, Welch comments, “to say that America changed on September 11 is more than a cliché; the nation’s identity as a target – and victim – resonates both symbolically and substantively” (4). When you turn on the news, it is common to hear about so many countries that experience widespread violence and attacks on a near daily basis, but Americans felt removed from that since they did not have to endure

“A Spirit Reborn” is a well-known article published by the New York Times and written by William Safire. This New York Times columnist has written everything from novels and newspaper articles, mainly focusing on current events and political views, even presidential speeches. His titles have ranged from TV and radio producer, a publicist, a speechwriter, along with others. As a result he has been given many opportunities to discuss a wide range of topics, earning him prizes and even being quoted in a campaign ad for Ronald Reagan. Since the New York Times Newspaper is open to the public, it can be assumed the targeted audience for this article is U.S. Citizens troubled by the terrorist attacks that took place on September, 11 2001. Furthermore

Judith Levine also thought back to September 11,2001,when” the president and the mayor were telling us we could defeat the terrorists by going out and buying more stuff”.Levine wanted to investigate feelings

When the twin towers were destroyed in New York City by the terrorist group led by Osama Bin Laden, a Country filled with panic, sadness, and anger was left behind. Thousands of innocent civilians were killed, and the families of the fallen suffered greatly. People demanded answers, and wanted justice. People also felt unsafe, and were unaware if it was reasonable to expect another attack. President George Walker Bush prepares a speech for congress to discuss the events that took place, and the plans that will take place because of these events. The objectives of the speech Bush was trying to accomplish were informing the nation what had happed on September 11th, he then noted that it was not Muslins to be blamed for the attack, the challenges that lie ahead, and our plan for the “War on Terror.” The President uses the canons of rhetoric to execute a speech that met his audience’s needs.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 had a major impact on America. In a matter of moments, what began as a routine Tuesday morning was filled with “scenes of destruction and utter devastation” (Thompson, 2001, para. 1). “The official death toll from the World Trade Center attack currently stands at 2,753 people, including 343 members of the Fire Department” (Dunlap, 2016, para. 10). In the aftermath, life was put on hold. The events that occurred in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon that day affected life across the whole country, including sporting events. Horse racing, golf, soccer, hockey, baseball, football games, and more were all at a standstill, and were either being cancelled or postponed (Litsky, 2001). Hunter Thompson, a columnist for ESPN stated, “Football suddenly seemed irrelevant” (2001, para. 1). That day in United States history left mental, emotional, and physical scars across the nation.

Pitts utilizes rhetorical questions to make an obvious point to the readers that America has not fallen apart, but has come together and become stronger as a nation. “What lesson did you hope to teach us by your coward’s attack on our World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us? Based on the evidence, Pitts poses an obvious question to the reader that the attack on American soil will not change America because they will strongly withstand in their position. Pitts asks the reader to reflect and make a visible emphasis on how the attack has brought America together like a family, because now they are stronger than ever. Evaluating from America’s history, giving up will never be the answer for Americans. “Did you want us to tear apart? You just brought