Ratigan guest: Is media’s ’9/11 nostalgia’ about selling fear?
Raw Story
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Via
Cultural and political commentator Touré appeared on The Dylan Ratigan Show to discuss the media frenzy surrounding the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He says that he, like many people, finds the constant replay of tragic images from the day of the attacks and the attempt to orchestrate a national collective moment of grief to be a bit ghoulish and exploitive.
“I am a New Yorker. I smelled the smoke for days after,” he says, and asks whether the media are doing what they’re doing “because fear sells” and because “wallowing in the deep pool of 9/11 pain is good for business”.
Then comes the most interesting moment in the clip. Ratigan, who had just done an hour-long special about 9/11, is left virtually speechless. It’s rare to see one person provoke another person to actually think more about a topic on live TV. Generally it seems as if the purpose of televised political discussions is, in fact, the opposite.
Watch the video, embedded via Mediaite, below:
"Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music"
