Rhetorical Essay

Fanny Rodriguez

Professor Brown

March 26, 2012

Not everything is as it seems.

Terrorism is define as “systematic use of violence and intimidation to achieve some goal” in the www.dictionary.reference.com. During 9-11 the shock of being under attack consume us up until the point where we were annihilate, not knowing what to do to help or the inability to go out there and help out drove us to a point of unmanageable range and to accuse somebody of such actions.  That somebody it turns out to be the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda. Now the question is where they the only truly ones to blame for this war to break loose? Coordinating to Susan Sontag in her article “9/11” published  in The New Yorker only 13 days after the travesty,  thinks it was not only the al-Qaeda to blame but the self-proclaimed super powerful America as well. I agree with her statement, after too much damage and hurt we weren’t thinking properly, therefore in this essay I’ll demonstrate as to why I relate to her point of view as well as understanding the opposing view.

 Every time the topic of 9-11 is approached it brings back those horrific pictures of a plane crashing at the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon, causing a fog in our heads to not think clearly anymore.   We are being led to a point where it is better to be told what is best to feel. “The voices licensed to follow the event seem to have joined together in a campaign to infantilize the public “(Sontag). Why are we letting the government to treat us in such way?  Treating us as infants who cannot handle the reality of the world is just propitious. What is America hiding from us? Why can’t they come out straight and say what have we done to other countries to deserve their ire. 

Throughout history America has the tendency to invade other countries and making alliance with some but we never get to see what is behind those negations. The “alliance” with Iraq let us export petroleum to the United States, it’s all we know of such alliance, but there’s more to it than that, we just don’t know about it because we truly don’t care enough until an attack was place in America. Before the attack “how many citizens are aware of the ongoing bombing in Iraq?” (Sontag). Not many that’s’ for sure, unless you are directly influence by it you wouldn’t know. Living in this country one has the tendency of if it’s not affecting you directly we let it pass by us, as if it’s nothing of importance, even though in the future may have a great impact, such as the 9-11 attack.

The government does a really good job on keeping the citizens in the dark.  One of their ways to keeping us in the dark is by “…convincing us that everything is O.K. America is not afraid. Our spirit is unbroken…” (Sontag). Just these three statements will have us believing such words even though at the present we are currently in war. Why do we let the government manipulate us? We have to speak up and let the government know that not everything is O.K. That America is afraid, no, not afraid it is more than that. America is beyond terrified.  And at this point our spirit is just shuddery broken. America it’s not invincible and the al-Qaeda terrorist proved just that.

Now it’s time to do something about such actions taken place in 9-11. It’s time to stop the uncontrolled rage and to really sit down with a clear mind.  “A lot of thinking needs to be done,…about the ineptitude of America intelligence and counter-intelligence,  about options to America foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East, and about what constitutes a smart program  of military defense”  (Sontag). These are the key factors to keep America moving in a better future. It’s time stop the government from keeping everything under wrap just for our “safety”. I think since we the people live in this country and we voted for The President and for our own safety, the government should lease important information to the citizen and involved us more on policy making.

Throughout the article Sontag used very well the strategy of ethos. Her statement were knowledgeable, reasoned with the audience her point of view. For example “politics, the politics of a democracy-which entails disagreement, which promotes candor-has been replaced by psychotherapy” (Sontag), today we live in a world where “therapy” will fix everything. Is it truly fixing things up? One has to be knowledgeable in order to play with the politics and democracy of this country and Sontag did an excellent job achieving this goal.

Many might think that this idea of stop been in the dark is just outrageous thinking. The truth is they might in fact be correct.  What if the government releases a set of documents that pretty much states that America is forever to be in war with all non-alliance countries?  Also if the media bombard us with images of the war constantly in full gory. Can we really handle such grotesque reality? Many think Sontag was brutal on her article, and I see why they got that impression from her. Telling a person that all their life has been just a bubble of lies and that you are immature that you can’t even speak up to defend yourself,   must be horrific.