The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

A Disservice To 9/11 Victims And Andrew Roman

Posted on | August 30, 2010 | 8 Comments

by Smitty

Andrew Roman, as he reports at Proof Positive, tried to do something noble to memorialize the heinous butchery of 9/11:

. . .while I was fortunate enough not to experience any personal loss on that terrible Tuesday morning, as an American, I was deeply and profoundly affected by the attack on my country and the staggering loss of life.

In the months and years following 9/11, many outstanding documentaries on the events of that day were produced – from technical presentations explaining exactly how and why the towers collapsed to personal stories of the people who escaped the towers before they fell.

I own many of these exceptional programs.

However, as a bona fide news junkie, the one documentary I was hoping to see created never came to fruition. The one presentation I had hoped would come out depicting the events of September 11, 2001 “as they unfolded” on live television was simply never made. Coverage of the most photographed and videotaped event in American television news history simply had not been preserved in any real way for the public at large to review and study. Not at the time anyway.

Back in early 2003, I decided I would endeavor to actualize, on my own, the kind of “documentary” I was wanting to see – a timeline of the events of September 11, 2001, employing mostly “as it happened” television newscasts. My task was to gather as many of the original telecasts from as many networks as possible – including the initial “breaking news” bulletins which began airing at 8:48 AM – and compile them into a montage that presented exactly how each outlet reported the unfolding story. It would, quite literally, be a succession of segments, edited together in such a way that would enable one to get a representative sampling of how the television networks covered each development that morning (e.g., the second plane crashing into the South Tower, the first reports of an “explosion” at the Pentagon, the collapse of the South Tower, etc).

This was not an agenda driven project.

A bit later:

I finished the project about two-and-a-half years after the attacks, in April, 2004.

Six and half years after that – just yesterday, in fact – my “As It Happened” video made the Sunday New York Times Magazine.

RTWT to find out the sadly predictable feedback from Virginia Heffernan, about whom this blog shall choose to maintain a private opinion.

The interesting question raised is: How do we maintain history in a dispassionate, factual way, and learn from it in ways that protect the future? The Progressive Airbrush is about as helpful as endless Inigo Montoya-ism.

Category: Blogging, Rule 1, The Flemish Menace

Comments

8 Responses to “A Disservice To 9/11 Victims And Andrew Roman”

  1. Bob Belvedere
    August 31st, 2010 @ 1:09 am

    I read the whole thing just now.

    Disgusting, but not at all surprising.

  2. Bob Belvedere
    August 30th, 2010 @ 9:09 pm

    I read the whole thing just now.

    Disgusting, but not at all surprising.

  3. proof
    August 31st, 2010 @ 4:01 am

    Smitty: Thanks for this. As soon as I read Andrew’s piece, I knew it was a “must read”.

  4. proof
    August 31st, 2010 @ 12:01 am

    Smitty: Thanks for this. As soon as I read Andrew’s piece, I knew it was a “must read”.

  5. Mrethiopian
    August 31st, 2010 @ 8:47 am

    WTC7

  6. Mrethiopian
    August 31st, 2010 @ 4:47 am

    WTC7

  7. Peregrine John
    August 31st, 2010 @ 9:47 pm

    Geez Lou Freeqin Wheeze. How the holy hell do people like VirHeffer look themselves in the mirror? Andrew’s chronology is both complete and factual, and all the hyperventilating of lefty lunatics cannot change a bit of that. Which, I suppose, explains the hysteria.

    On top of that, the trouble Andrew went to was by no means overstated in his article. Tracking down everything I wanted to for my relatively short, stills-only collection took some minor doing, and there are a lot more stills available than video (for some reason). Now, mine’s sort of a poetic reflection, but his is a pretty dang thorough representation of that day. No mean accomplishment, even if it was all just waiting for him.

    Bah.

  8. Peregrine John
    August 31st, 2010 @ 5:47 pm

    Geez Lou Freeqin Wheeze. How the holy hell do people like VirHeffer look themselves in the mirror? Andrew’s chronology is both complete and factual, and all the hyperventilating of lefty lunatics cannot change a bit of that. Which, I suppose, explains the hysteria.

    On top of that, the trouble Andrew went to was by no means overstated in his article. Tracking down everything I wanted to for my relatively short, stills-only collection took some minor doing, and there are a lot more stills available than video (for some reason). Now, mine’s sort of a poetic reflection, but his is a pretty dang thorough representation of that day. No mean accomplishment, even if it was all just waiting for him.

    Bah.