Media must get it right

It’s 3:30 p.m., the day America truly lost its innocence.

I woke up four hours ago and my television was still on. There in front of me were images of the New York skyline, forever changed, looking as it did in the 1996 film “Independence Day” shortly after alien invasion.

The World Trade Center is gone; an American icon collapsed. The lives lost in eight hours will likely rival those lost in the final eight years of the Vietnam War.

“They” won today. Terrorism won today. Yes, we will win tomorrow, but today belongs to terrorism. We never thought it could happen, but it did. We’ve been preparing for it on a national level for years, but the nature of terrorism is devastatingly swift and destructive. Our strength lies in our ability to rebuild and retaliate. Our preparations have mainly been in crisis management, not crisis prevention.

What concerns me now is not whether we will find those responsible for today’s events. I firmly believe we will. I am certain there will be an armed response. What troubles me is that in four hours, I have heard politicians and reporters use the word “cowardly” more than 30 times. The words “demented, crazy and stupid” have also been popular. These words are used because the attack was on civilians. Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Remember the fire-bombing of Tokyo. Then look in the mirror.

The most powerful people in our country – the news media – are my greatest concern. The politicians come in a close second.

In order to effectively fight back, it is important to realize that a sophisticated mind had to be behind these attacks. Americans believe so strongly in the freedom we experience that it’s difficult to recognize that ours isn’t the only way the world knows. Those responsible for these attacks are not demented, crazy or stupid. They are people who don’t agree with us, people who hate our way of life enough to hit us where it hurts, psychologically and economically. They probably can’t defeat our military, so they have tried to defeat our national psyche.

One New Yorker who was interviewed on CNN said that he had many friends working in the buildings who are probably dead. He was angry and wanted vengeance. But he also said that he didn’t want the U.S. military to strike out against a target for political reasons. He wanted them to wait until they knew for certain who to fight. He didn’t once use any word that implicated inferiority or mental instability in relation to the “enemy.” He was too emotionally distraught to think that way.

I can’t say that about most of the politicians I’ve heard speak today. All I hear is rhetoric.

I beg news organizations everywhere: We don’t even know yet who the enemy is. How can we know their level of sophistication or their belief systems? Please refrain from using words and terms that inspire a feeling of such superiority but are ultimately meaningless.

I’d like to remind you, we lost today. It’s time to think rationally and learn from our defeat. We can’t do that if Americans are keyed up for blood. Be a good gatekeeper and make sure what you are printing or airing is really news.

This isn’t a crisis like the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. It isn’t a crisis like Gary Condit or Oklahoma City or the USS Cole. This puts all of those crises to shame in its magnitude. You, the news media, have often dropped the ball recently. This is a world-changing event. Get it right.

Most of my extended family and friends are in the New York area … and fortunately all are accounted for. I’m thrilled to say they are all safe, but the emotional and psychological damage has just begun for those who did not die. We’ve just been ushered into a new era. Let’s open our eyes and our minds so that we can see clearly what happened. Only then can we respond rationally. Only then can freedom win.

Aaron J. Roth lives in Bangor.