The 9/11 Report Graphic Adaptation

This version of the 9/11 report really kept me interested and I enjoyed it very much. I thought it was organized in a way in which it wasn’t very difficult too understand what was happening and the order of events. At first I was really uncomfortable with the cartoons. I flipped through the pages before I began to read and thought that it was almost disrespectful in a way to portray this in cartoon form. When I saw one of the planes striking with the caption “baaammmm” I was really shocked, taken back and unsure as of what to make of it. After reading the entire book my view has changed. The book states that the goal of the cartoon version is to get more people of different ages and background to read this report. I do believe that more people would rather read a simplified cartoon version than lengthy text that is hard to understand. The pictures and simple captions did make it easier to understand and solved the problem of looking at enormous volumes of text and just thinking to myself “when is this over.” The reading was pretty easy to understand and also went by faster than a traditional book. I understand that the purpose of this was to get more people to read the report; to help people get educated. This is important during these times when many people are not informed as to what is going on in our country and in the world. I won’t be cynical because I along with many other people become too involved in my everyday life and need to take time to see what’s happening around me or “the bigger picture.” Although I have become more comfortable with the use of cartoons, because I know there is a positive purpose behind it, I’m still not sure about other people’s reactions. Someone that has lost a family member or friend in the tragedy may be offended by this depiction of the event. Would I be offended if I lost someone dear to me and then saw it in cartoon form? Quite possibly, the cartoons come off sometimes comical with witty captions, this may be difficult for some to see (and I totally understand). So, although the cartoons make it easier for some to read, I don’t know if everyone would appreciate how the cartoons make the issue seem “light”. My feelings are still mixed on the issue.

I thought I was well educated on the events surrounding 9/11, but this report has taught me a lot to which I was unaware. I was really astonished by all the red alerts that the government had and there was no action taken. Certain lines stood out to me…”The growing threat and capabilities of Bin Ladin were not understood in Congress”…And when Clarke says, “When these attacks occur, as they likely will, we will wonder what more we could have done to stop them.” Quotes like these really send chills down my spine because it raises the question about “What if” Obviously, no one can tell the future, but there were definite signs that should have been addressed. It is mind boggling when we think of such a small organization with not a lot of technology doing this to a super power as the U.S. The extremists had the organization, funding, planning and execution that should be the characteristics of a super power, but in reality was a small terrorist organization. It should be flipped! We, as hard it is to admit, were not prepared for anything like this. We weren’t as invincible as we thought and we still aren’t…

I think that the commission has a lot of good ideas, but it isn’t that simple. These ideas and such need to be implemented in the correct ways, and carried out thoroughly in order to have a chance. Plus, who even knows if they have not overlooked something else crucial, and possibly be just as vulnerable as we were on 9/11. In politics everything is separated by party and seems almost as a popularity contest. In order for anything constructive to be implemented our nation needs to unite together and put differences aside. At this point in time our country is anything but united… The real scary part is that with all the other commotion I do not think that there are adequate measures for if something of this magnitude happened again.