a sore from america's past

Linenthal uses narrative as a opening by going into personal memory of how the old western movies and books made him feel as kid. The stories that he heard and read made him proud to be a American because they was always the heroes who died with honor and wasn’t scared to make sacrifices. The Indians were told in stories as the bad guys who were totally opposite of the Americans. They were savages who ran wild that were not brave or heroes. His visit to Little big horn brought back the memories of watching those old western movies and how a place can connect you with memory. He does a effective job in showing how different perspectives of memory and the stories that comes from those memories can in a way change a nation and our way of thinking . Stories of general Custer last stand tells of a Hero who went down fighting to his death for us Americans against savage Indians. What also effective about his use of narrative is that he tells the story from many different perspectives. He goes into details about the native Americans side of the story and how they feel about the memorial and how it brings back memories of the Battle Of Bighorn in which they want to forget. I think he becomes ineffective because he stops talking about how being there made him feel more into controversy of the memorial.

Public memory of 9/11

Public memory is entangled in every aspect of public life. I believe incidents that have occurred in the past can have an impact on future memory but that time can be limited. How long memory will be obtained is based off the importance of that memory to the individual or public. How long will we remember 9/11 and how does that embodies public memory?

            My readings from Harpers Magazine After 9/11 author David Rieff argues that the 9/11 attacks will be one of the most historical marks in remembrance but sooner or later our descendants will forget about 9/11 just as we have forgotten about horrific events of the past such as the two world wars, 4^th of July, and pearl harbor. 10 years after Pearl Harbor the memory was still vivid in the minds of Americans just as 9/11 is today and as all recent traumas can be. Soon it will be forgotten because we live in the now and what seems central to us will least as importance to our descendants.

I believe 9/11 will always be remembered because it was one of the greatest tragedies on American soil.  It changed the way America as a country worked especially nationally security. When you go to the airport today so many security measures are taken before you can board a plane and just in general all security. We have troops that have been overseas since the attacks because of the remembrance of 9/11 and the lessons learned from that day. 9/11 we always embody public memory because it’s something that has affects us all, that we all relate to. Remembrance of what happen is what brings us together as a nation. The way that we came together after the attacks showed the world what makes it great to be American.

In the Introduction by Kendall R. Phillips he states that remembrance together as a crucial aspect of our togetherness, our existence as a public. Memories serve as a horizon within which a public finds itself, constitutes itself, and deliberate its own existence. If the existence of a healthy and functional public is intertwined with its capacity for remembrance, the gradual erosion by forgetting must represent a grave danger. Comparing to David Rieff  argument that we will forget about 9/11 just as we have forgotten about tragedies of the past, does that mean as a nation our can be in danger?