As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches it is natural that academics are starting to feel that it is appropriate to reflect on the significance of the event. This is not of course to deny that it is first and foremost a tragedy that impacted on so many innocent people. However, these two posts from the University of Reading try analyse the impact of the event. What is noteworthy again is how academic fields overlap.
Finally, as we are looking at the University, you might like to be aware of this list of public lectures that they have put on offer. A visit to one could perhaps be combined with a pre-arranged EPQ visit to their library.
Mr Kydd.
I don’t think its a safer place, it could easily happen again at any point. But I agree that it is significant to our world today.
😀
I agree with Tom, a terrorist attack could happen at any time, however, the world is now more aware of these disasters after 9/11 and better strategies have been created on preventing and dealing with worldwide tradegies.
I agree that since the 9/11 attack happened that the world has become a safer place through methods being brought into place such as those mentions in the first article like cctv monitoring on aircraft’s and airports to watch passengers behavior. However, the second article mentions al qaeda, and I believe that the death of Bin Laden could cause much more aggression than there was to start with and that a worse attack could possibly be yet to come.
I do think the world has become safer to a degree, when I went to america last year, the security was incredibly tight crossing the border, and that’s the same throughout other countries as well. To be honest, 9/11 was a big wake up call for Americans, it shocked them as it was something that they would have never expected it to happen. So although there is still a decent threat to attacks in the western world especially at large international events such as the Olympics next year, now we know an attack could happen, its easier to spot and eliminate possible strikes.
I have to disagree with you all (apart from Tom), although since 9/11 there is more awareness of terrorism and there are more precautionary measures undertaken worldwide, there is still increasingly palpable tension and prejudice on all sides. With each event such as Bin Ladens death and the appointment of Al Zawahiri as the new leader of Al Qaeda, there appears to be more aggression and hatred in what seems to me as a fragile world. In my opinion, the threat of terrorism here is as great, if not greater, now than it was 10 years ago.
I agree with Michael completely, I think that since 9/11 and the 7/7 bombings all relations between NATO countries, the middle-east and militant organisations situated within these countries, namely Al Qaeda, have broken down. The aggression and hostility between them has made this “fragile world” that Michael talks about.
Subsequently I do agree that security has been improved and that recent attacks have woke the world up to the reality of these militant groups, however it’s made everyone extremely prejudice against certain races and cultures when it is only a small minority of those races which actually take part in such actions, thus causing social unrest between these people and even, so even if security internationally in terms of border control has been improved, that within countries will get progressively worse as these organisations find ways around the current security methods that are in places, which still pose a big threat to big western powers to which they’ll do, in their words, something “spectacular”; the Olympics is just round the corner, security may be type but will that stop them? Who’s to say that another 9/11 or 7/7 won’t happen tomorrow? No one. It’s just been made harder for them to do so, but the whole possibility of it has and will never be eradicated.