An article appeared in the Los Angeles Times by Brendan Simms, a lecturer in history at the Center of International Studies, Cambridge University. The article was "9/11: Historic Turning Point, or Bump in the Road?" He wrote that we will have to wait some time before the terrorist attacks fit into history's big picture.
After reading Brendan Simms' article I came to a conclusion about one big significance of 9/11. It didn't change the world that much. Yes, it changed some of the mechanics of running the world. However, it was more a sign of validation than change. It validated a civilization that most of us have a stake in, one that has given us, to use Simms' references, motor cars and prosperity. Most of the world personally felt the attack on the WTC like it was an attack on their civilization. It validated the interdependent world we live in. It validated globalization and world travel, things which came roaring back and increased after 9/11. On this validation the future is being built.
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> Most of the world personally felt
> the attack on the WTC like it was
> an attack on their civilization.
I doubt that. Most non-Americans felt it was an attack on the United States. And according to the statements of Al Qaeda leaders, it was an attack on the United States, not on "civilization".
Confusing the United States with civilization per se isn't a mistake that people outside the United States often make.
I referred to the attack on the WTC, on 9/11, as an attack on Civilization. One reader doubted that because I am sure they don't see the world as one and as integrated as I do. I really believe it was an attack an a civilization because it was an attack on common values and activities that the majority of the world has come to share and rely on. Those common values and activities the world has come to share and rely on is what I think of civilization, sometimes metaphorically and sometimes literally.
The attack of 9/11 was an attack on the United States. But most of the world felt it. Most of the world felt it because most of the world works together, interactively and interdependently. The world has become highly interactive and globalized. So when one member of the world is attacked, this time it was the United States, the whole world shudders. The same kind of shudder within civilization was felt when terrorists attacked London, Madrid and Bali, among others.
The majority of the world was anxious about 9/11 because a major player in the interactivity and interdependence of the world was hurt. Nobody knew what to expext. This hurt caused the world to come to a standstill for days. International activity came to a crawl. There was no air travel for days and very little activity in international trade, things that the modern world depended on to survive. This dependence on air travel and trade is what I see as "civilization", a common civilization.
Culturally the world is quite fractured. But in a civilized way it is quite united, in wanting and needing the same things.
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