Some things are sacred.
I had been reading the headlines all day about the tapes from Flight 93 being played at the Moussaoui trial. I didn't really think much of it. Meaning, I wasn't surprised by it. Necessary, I suppose. I'm no lawyer.
But I imagined, for a moment, what it might be like to be sitting in the court room and hearing that tape. Are there words for what you might feel? I wondered if the families of the victims were allowed to hear those tapes. I wondered if they wanted to.
Then, I stopped wondering. Because, while resting on my bed after dinner, I heard the news coming from the living room. And I heard actual snippets of that horrible tape. And, I thought, "is nothing sacred?"
"Public information," Paul explained to me.
Maybe so.
But it just doesn't seem right. Broadcasting that for everyone to hear. Anyone who wants to. Even people who might find joy in hearing it. The utter fear and panic of a someone's tragic last moments. Is that really something we all need to be privy to?
But I imagined, for a moment, what it might be like to be sitting in the court room and hearing that tape. Are there words for what you might feel? I wondered if the families of the victims were allowed to hear those tapes. I wondered if they wanted to.
Then, I stopped wondering. Because, while resting on my bed after dinner, I heard the news coming from the living room. And I heard actual snippets of that horrible tape. And, I thought, "is nothing sacred?"
"Public information," Paul explained to me.
Maybe so.
But it just doesn't seem right. Broadcasting that for everyone to hear. Anyone who wants to. Even people who might find joy in hearing it. The utter fear and panic of a someone's tragic last moments. Is that really something we all need to be privy to?
posted by 
at 10:19 PM
4 Comments:
I felt weird listening to snippets of the tapes, too, on the news last night. Hubby and I saw the preview for the new movie about Flight 93 when we went to the movies on Saturday. I also wondered what the families thought about that. But, we saw an interview with the director and several family members and they actually want it to be shown and want the tapes heard. They want their loved ones' stories to be told. The director of the movie went to the family members with the idea of the movie and they backed it. I kind of thought it was an incroachment on their privacy, but I guess that's not how their famlies feel. (BTW, the families heard the tapes several years ago--2002, I think--when the FBI invited them to hear them.) I still don't feel completely comfortable listening to the tapes.
I don't like that new movie coming out. It's creepy. I'm not seeing it.
Yeah, the movie. Definitely not seeing that. Partly because I suspect that much of it is only conjecture. But partly because it doesn't seem right for the movie industry to be profiting from it.
Jenn - that sounds familiar that the families were offered the chance to hear the tape. Thanks for pointing that out. I can't imagine that I'd want to publicize it if I were in their shoes. But that's just me, I guess.
When I was a teenager there was a girl killed in a wreck in my hometown. The front page of the paper ran a picture of her which clearly showed her bloody face as they pulled her from the car. There was an uproar about it.
Same kind of thing here. It's about preserving people's dignity. But, again, that's just how I feel about it.
Yeah, I don't think I want to be privy to it either. Some things I am just better off not knowing!
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