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Gary Condit, remember him? He was a sleazy congressman who became entangled in the 2001 disappearance of Chandra Levy, a young, female Washington intern. Although I don't think he had anything to do with her disappearance in the end, it came out the investigation of her disappearance that they had an affair, and the media was quick to judge that he was involved in her (at the time, presumed) murder. Condit was all over cable television news for weeks. Then September 11th happened, and I don't think I've heard anything about him on television since. Apparently Condit's political career tanked anyways. But it terms of a national public perception, he's possibly the only public figure to have unintentionally benefitted from 9/11 and the media's immediate drop in their interest of him. It was a pretty bizarre. As for hysteria, there was a fair bit on the day itself. Nobody really knew what was going on or who was responsible, other than the (obvious) plane crashes. I recall local news reports of suspicious vans and unattended packages. None of it amounted to much, of course, and honestly those things were probably all there on September 10th too, just nobody noticed. By the next day though the focus had shifted to the tragedy of the attacks themselves and the plight of stranded travelers. I don't think folks were generally worried that more attacks were imminent (at least, until the anthrax attacks started a week later), but I think folks did have the sense that the day changed things (politics, optimism, general attitude, etc.) that weren't going to be the same for a long time, if ever. On a personal note, I happened to be outside at the time of, and witnessed Flight 93 turning around over Northeast Ohio, which I remember thinking was really unusual. I didn't learn of the attacks until a half hour or so later, and when I did it wasn't clear to me if/how that flight was involved--they were shutting down the airspace after all. It was later that evening when they showed the details of Flight 93 and, specifically, its flight path on the evening news that I made the connection. Although the attacks affected far more lives in far greater ways, it's still a kind of personal thing that makes the whole day all the more real.
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Oct 4, 2015 21:08
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 01:56 |
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