Rachel Lu recounts why she joined the Peace Corps after September 11, 2001, what she learned teaching in Uzbekistan, and how American attitudes since then—toward foreign policy, national identity, and Islam—have shifted in ways she finds concerning.
Her on‑the‑ground experience in Uzbekistan exposed cultural gaps—particularly about individual freedom and women’s rights—that shaped her view of American institutions.
Over 25 years, American political culture turned inward and self-critical, producing strains of oikophobia and an embrace of ideological currents sympathetic to Islamist trappings.
Lu distinguishes between sympathy for Muslims as fellow citizens and the political rise of attitudes that, in her view, undermine appreciation for liberal freedoms the Peace Corps sought to explain.
Mirrors of 9/11 – Rachel Lu Search I've always had great respect for the people who signed on for military service after September 11, 2001. I don't believe that at all, though it's certainly true that foreign meddling gets complicated. After 9/11, many people were grimly determined that "this must never happen to our nation again." It has not happened again.
Because in fact, I too served my country in the years after 9/11, though certainly not in a way that merits the same admiration or honor. Anyone who rails against "individualism" should at least trouble to get a realistic picture of what the alternative actually looks like.) I also genuinely loved America, as my native land. Because they are used to sitting atop the geopolitical hierarchy, Americans don't necessarily think all that much about what lies beneath.
Did Osama bin Laden also win, in some deeper cultural sense? I had many fears in the aftermath of 9/11, but I never anticipated that. It's hard not to take it a little personally.
From Hearst TV's archives, people from various walks of life interviewed in 2001 reacted to 9/11 as it was fresh in their minds. Here is a snapshot of their perspectives.
From Hearst TV's archives, people from various walks of life interviewed in 2001 reacted to 9/11 as it was fresh in their minds. Here is a snapshot of their perspectives.
Joshua Raskin holds a collage he made after 9/11. WNYC followed up with people whose voices we captured in the aftermath of the September 11th attack to hear their reflections. [ more › ]
If you were alive and you’re like me, you’ll never forget the moment the planes hit the World Trade Center on 9/11.... The post Memories From Ground Zero first appeared on Film Threat .
Rereading the 9/11 Commission Report triggers a flood of memories for anyone over 30. The “just-the-facts” description of the attacks brings back the agony and heartbreak of that terrible day and the days following as we searched desperately for the victims and then laid them to rest. Looking back, the Report’s recomme
Links to writings about the 9/11 attack and its aftermath, and the ongoing issues of the proliferation of dangerous emergency powers, and protecting Aghans who fled the Taliban.
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