12 years passed after 9/11. It has definitely changed the world.
How do you see the impact of incident on Culture, Literature and Language?
More and more books have been written surrounding the incident (fiction and non-fiction). Books like Reluctant Fundamentalist, The Kite Runner sold like hot cakes. Language got terminology from ‘Drone attacks’ to ‘Suicide Bombings’ and ‘War on terror’. Integration between different cultures started facing repulsion by stereotypes like ‘All Muslims are not terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims’.
Re: 9/11 - Impact on Culture, Literature and Language
The world has really changed. Muslims who used to be considered 'good muslims' by physical appearance (and otherwise) are looked upon with suspicion now. A bearded Mullah is considered equivalent to an extremist/terrorist.
Re: 9/11 - Impact on Culture, Literature and Language
two personal experiences.
i was returning from India with my handwritten manuscipts of my Dad's Urdu poetry [written in Urdu scripts, NOT roman] in three volumes and some religious books in Urdu. they checked my bags and asked me questions about those manuscripts and Urdu books. i had to explain them what they were. wasted my 15 minutes doing that.
they probably thought i was carrying literature on how to make a bomb [God forbid].
another time, i was flying domestically to Newfoundland and i wanted to take with me some Indian groceries. the store people packed it in a box and inside the put Arabic Newspapers around the groceries. i had to explain what they were. since i don't know the Arabic language i had hard time what the news was all about...lol
Re: 9/11 - Impact on Culture, Literature and Language
two personal experiences.
i was returning from India with my handwritten manuscipts of my Dad's Urdu poetry [written in Urdu scripts, NOT roman] in three volumes and some religious books in Urdu. they checked my bags and asked me questions about those manuscripts and Urdu books. i had to explain them what they were. wasted my 15 minutes doing that.
they probably thought i was carrying literature on how to make a bomb [God forbid].
another time, i was flying domestically to Newfoundland and i wanted to take with me some Indian groceries. the store people packed it in a box and inside the put Arabic Newspapers around the groceries. i had to explain what they were. since i don't know the Arabic language i had hard time what the news was all about...lol
again i wasted a good 15 minutes doing that.
ah, those ignorant people! :(
It definitely made certain group of people more suspicious. Like, we discussed arresting of Sikh people, who were considered as Muslim due to beard.
Various slogans and captions were employed by media outlets to brand coverage of the September 11th terrorist attack, its after effects, and the (United States - Wikipedia) government response. The slogans for American media were typically positioned on the bottom third of television broadcasts, or as banners across the top of newspaper pages. Designs typically incorporated a patriotic red, white, and blue motif, along with an explicit graphic of the American flag. Examples include:
Re: 9/11 - Impact on Culture, Literature and Language
yeah, things went haywire since then. Urdu/Arabic/Faarsi scripts raise 'red flags' just as a beard.
On other hand, people's curiosity to know about Islam and Muslims increased manifold. I don't think that there have been published as many books on Islam in any other period as published during last 12 years.
Re: 9/11 - Impact on Culture, Literature and Language
I was in Jerusalem when this attack happened and later came to India four months after that, and India is same since then, pehle bhi sabb rambharose chalta thaa, aaj bhi sabb rambharose chalta hai :D
Re: 9/11 - Impact on Culture, Literature and Language
In Jerusalem on 9/11? What was the reaction there?
Me and my brother were only aryans of the class :D, reaction toh waisa that jaise kisi gunde bhatije ke super gundey chacha ko chacha ke hi chamche ne thappad mar diya ho :D
Re: 9/11 - Impact on Culture, Literature and Language
it started electronic surveillance of Muslims all around the world. they also started data mining of people with names of 'muhammad, abdullah so more specific information can be analyzed.
while it affected the privacy of Muslims in the world, in Pakistani, liberal fascists utilized this opportunity to propagate their agenda. and they have the strongest opinion now in Pakistan and got success in changing several things.
Re: 9/11 - Impact on Culture, Literature and Language
There was discrimination against brown people whether they be Muslim, Sikh and Hindu. Definitely was discrimination against Muslims, of all backgrounds and also against Sikhs, especially bearded and turbaned ones. There was also media reported discrimination against traditional Hindus , who dressed differently, eg with bindi or sari. Gurudwaras were attacked recently and recently a soft spoken elderly hindu gentleman was pushed into oncoming train by a Hispanic lady who wanted revenge against Muslims and Hindus who carried out Sept 11 attacks.
At the same time not everyone faced discrimination. I did not and many white people and other culture people actually stood up in solidarity against revenge attacks. It was a small minority of the public who did this compared to 2-3 million who marched against war in Iraq in 2003. Some of my friends in my school marched against it as well.
So media highlighted both the Sept 11 event and backlash but also communities standing up for one another.
There have also been number of TV shows like Oprah or Dr Phil that have highlighted Islamophobia and have been sympathetic to this.
Re: 9/11 - Impact on Culture, Literature and Language
For many it was also a time to be themselves and be authentic and reach out to their neighbours and community for them not to generalise.
This is an interesting video for those interested. It tells story of Asad Rezzvi about how on that day he was at a personal development conference seminar and how on that day he was able to speak from his heart rather than just say what people wanted to hear. People appreciated that and the people who disliked his views respected him. His experience that day inspired him to become a speaker on conflict resolution
