Can the United States move beyond the narcissism of 9/11? | Gary Younge | Comment is free | The Guardian
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/04/narcissim-america-reality-failure?CMP=twt_gu
But beyond mourning of the immediate victims’ friends and families, there was an element of narcissism to this national grief that would play out in policy and remains evident in the tone of many of today’s retrospectives. The problem, for some, was not that such a tragedy had happened but that it could have happened in America and to Americans. The ability to empathise with others who had suffered similar tragedies and the desire to prevent further such suffering proved elusive when set against the need to avenge the attacks. It was as though Americans were unique in their ability to feel pain and the deaths of civilians of other nations were worth less.