email348.xml
Title
email348.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
email
Date Entered
2002-08-19
September 11 Email: Body
Subject: The Phrase
what do you folks make of this note that came over the transom? i presume i got it because i use the phrase several times in SAJA ROUNDUP: Tracking media coverage of WTC Attacks and Beyond
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 9:43:00
> From:
> Subject: Fwd: Ground Zero Update
>
> Words are very powerful. They can paralyze a country or empower a people. The term, "Ground Zero" helped us to understand the magnitude of the damage at the WTC. Now our national leaders have asked us to try to get "back to normal" and the President officially ended the national period of mourning.
>
> Word associations for "Ground Zero" are 1) a site of a nuclear explosion, something you almost never heal from 2) a visual picture of the stock market crashing towards the ground or towards zero 3) complete annihilation, and so on. "Zero" should no longer be associated with the heart of commerce in America, the WTC. The term "Ground Zero" does not help to restore
consumer confidence, does not comfort the children, and does not foster healing.
>
> The media can help to heal the wounds and help America to get back on its feet. I would like to suggest that we now refer to the WTC as the "Site of Remembrance and Renewal." Please help promote
hope and healing for America. Please consider referring to this site as "formerly ground zero, now referred to as the Site of Remembrance and
> Renewal."
-------
> ----------end Forwarded message ----------
I present you with the winner of the "most stupid thing to be said about the WTC destruction" award.
-------
Actually, this wasn't as awful as I had expected: I was thinking something like: let's turn the term "Ground Zero" into "Ground Hero" .....
-------
Ground Hero would be awful. I've been irritated by the whole "ground zero" thing because I think it's a sign of intellectual laziness. But the "Site of Remembrance and Renewal?"
Pul-leeze.
It is not. It is a site of immense destruction and murder. You can't undo annihilation. It's a one-way ticket. Something destroyed tends to stay that way.
The whole email irritates me. Emailing a rep. of a journalists' group to exhort him to change his language, and pass it on? What is this, the telephone game version of groupthink?
Her idiotic listing of the connotations of "ground zero" is indicative of an intelligence that does not surpass the average fern. I like that the 2nd "word association" for that terrible-unhealing-unpatriotic phrase is a "visual picture" of the stock market crashing. What a maroon.
And I quote:
"The term 'Ground Zero' does not help to restore consumer confidence, does not comfort the children, and does not foster healing."
Um, neither does being BLOWN TO PIECES, ASSHOLE. BUT THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED. Painting it any other way is a lie.
what do you folks make of this note that came over the transom? i presume i got it because i use the phrase several times in SAJA ROUNDUP: Tracking media coverage of WTC Attacks and Beyond
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 9:43:00
> From:
> Subject: Fwd: Ground Zero Update
>
> Words are very powerful. They can paralyze a country or empower a people. The term, "Ground Zero" helped us to understand the magnitude of the damage at the WTC. Now our national leaders have asked us to try to get "back to normal" and the President officially ended the national period of mourning.
>
> Word associations for "Ground Zero" are 1) a site of a nuclear explosion, something you almost never heal from 2) a visual picture of the stock market crashing towards the ground or towards zero 3) complete annihilation, and so on. "Zero" should no longer be associated with the heart of commerce in America, the WTC. The term "Ground Zero" does not help to restore
consumer confidence, does not comfort the children, and does not foster healing.
>
> The media can help to heal the wounds and help America to get back on its feet. I would like to suggest that we now refer to the WTC as the "Site of Remembrance and Renewal." Please help promote
hope and healing for America. Please consider referring to this site as "formerly ground zero, now referred to as the Site of Remembrance and
> Renewal."
-------
> ----------end Forwarded message ----------
I present you with the winner of the "most stupid thing to be said about the WTC destruction" award.
-------
Actually, this wasn't as awful as I had expected: I was thinking something like: let's turn the term "Ground Zero" into "Ground Hero" .....
-------
Ground Hero would be awful. I've been irritated by the whole "ground zero" thing because I think it's a sign of intellectual laziness. But the "Site of Remembrance and Renewal?"
Pul-leeze.
It is not. It is a site of immense destruction and murder. You can't undo annihilation. It's a one-way ticket. Something destroyed tends to stay that way.
The whole email irritates me. Emailing a rep. of a journalists' group to exhort him to change his language, and pass it on? What is this, the telephone game version of groupthink?
Her idiotic listing of the connotations of "ground zero" is indicative of an intelligence that does not surpass the average fern. I like that the 2nd "word association" for that terrible-unhealing-unpatriotic phrase is a "visual picture" of the stock market crashing. What a maroon.
And I quote:
"The term 'Ground Zero' does not help to restore consumer confidence, does not comfort the children, and does not foster healing."
Um, neither does being BLOWN TO PIECES, ASSHOLE. BUT THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED. Painting it any other way is a lie.
September 11 Email: Date
September 27, 2001
September 11 Email: Subject
The Phrase
Collection
Citation
“email348.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed July 8, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/39195.