[Air-l] the september project in the news

Ulla Bunz bunz at scils.rutgers.edu
Mon Jul 12 13:19:16 PDT 2004


Maximilian - thanks for your opinion. Of course, I myself am not
American so I agree fully that "Americans have been setting the agendas
for many peoples in many places for many decades...that is an American
thing." And I actually have a problem with this agenda setting. My
interpretation of your message is that you do too.

In my understanding the project's main aim is not to recognize 9/11 as
an international day of mourning, or anything close to it. 9/11 may (or
may not, I suppose that depends on each individual library involved) be
used as an example in light of which democracy, citizenship, and
patriotism can be discussed. But other participating countries
appropriate the project each in their own way. Spain, being one of the
countries that have adapted The September Project, may choose the
terrorist attacks on their trains. Democracy, citizenship, and
patriotism *are* issues that concern people in many if not all
countries. Not necessarily American democracy, or American patriotism,
agreed. But wouldn't you agree that the idea to get together people and
allow them to engage in open information exchange, discussion and debate
actively is valuable? Isn't that what we are doing right here, right
now, but on a much smaller scale? 

Oh, and by the way, in my opinion media tend to put a spin on news in a
way that they believe will sell the information best. For every quote
quoted there's probably one that was omitted. And the US media are
particularly good at spinning.
Ulla

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Ulla Bunz
Assistant Professor
Department of Communication
Rutgers University
4 Huntington Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Email: bunz at scils.rutgers.edu
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