9/11 remembrances lost in the ivory tower of UNC

TO THE EDITOR:

I want to agree with the sentiments of Mr. Hiers in his letter to the editor (“DTH should have placed more emphasis on 9/11,” Sept. 14).

To me the reasons for the lack of 9/11 coverage in The Daily Tar Heel on Friday are inexcusable, but obvious.

First, most of the writers at The DTH were in elementary school on Sept. 11, 2009. I was 11 years old when the first Iraq war started in 1991 and didn’t really get it. As the second Iraq war started, I felt much more strongly about it.

For a child, the impact and gravity of some events are simply not as deep. Although some, like Mr. Hiers, were greatly effected at a young age by the events on 9/11, maybe because of their youth the impact on the DTH writers was not as great as for those who were a little older. Therefore, it is just not as newsworthy an anniversary for them.

Second, as we sit in our gilded ivory tower atop Chapel Hill, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the lives lost are but a distant and remote side-note for most.

We have the privilege of our air-conditioned classrooms, our worries of who is dating whom today and a cold beer on Franklin Street to keep us occupied. We are heavily protected from the reality of the greater world around us by the lack of national news coverage in the DTH and a culture that is permissive, if not encouraging, of our self-obsessed behavior.

The lives lost on 9/11 were precious. I hope we at least won’t forget that.


Heather Doherty
Graduate Student
Genetics