9/11 Memories

As we near the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, Salon writer Mary Elizabeth Williams reminds us of how much that people recall from that day did not actually happen. Obviously, there is much that has been almost willfully distorted or misremembered by folks seeking to mold it to bolster their political agendas. But that aside, there are a lot of memories that are just wrong.

If you're going to wallow in 9/11 again this week — and I'll remind you it is by no means mandatory — I have a suggestion. Thanks to the Internet and its hoarders, there are hundreds of places where you can download or just watch the news coverage from that day. Here's one of many. Pick out a channel and watch its broadcast from just before the reports of the first plane hitting the North Tower until you've had enough. That was how most of us experienced it that morning…staring at the screen.

I did this a few years ago. I have a friend who was too young to understand what was happening that day. She was asking me questions about it…what it was like to see it all unfold…and I told her what I could and said, "You know, you can watch it pretty much the same way I did."

Years ago, I downloaded five or six hours each of CBS, ABC, NBC and CNN that morning. They're stored on my harddisk and I'm not sure why because it's not like that material could ever be difficult to find online. But we arbitrarily picked the ABC coverage, much of which was anchored by Peter Jennings, and we watched it together — no pausing, no fast-forwarding. It felt like stepping into a time machine and it was chilling and gut-wrenching. There were even moments when I had that "what's going to happen next?" sensation even though I already knew.

I'm not necessarily recommending you do this. It can be a bit tummy-churning and depressing. But if you feel that you should devote some time this week to remembering 9/11, this might he preferable to a documentary. Documentaries about tragedies that were extensively covered on the news often turn into documentaries on how the news was covered that day instead of what happened that day.

And I don't think I'll be able to watch anything on 9/11 without marveling at how Rudy Giuliani went from being the most heroic figure in the country to his current position somewhere between Derek Chauvin and Mike Richards.