"...In "The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11
America," (Metropolitan Books, Oct. 2007) the Pulitzer prize-winning
social critic traces the narrative to 17th-Century conflicts between
New England tribes and white settlers during the nation's founding,
which she calls "the characteristic and formative American ideal."
When, more than three centuries later, terrorists flew hijacked planes
into the World Trade Center, Faludi contends that the captivity
narrative re-emerged as the organizing principle for our national
identity, re-configured to star a heroic cowboy rescuing a weak
frontierswoman from a "dark-skinned, non-Christian combatant." Faludi
spoke to NEWSWEEK's Jennie Yabroff about her book..."
America," (Metropolitan Books, Oct. 2007) the Pulitzer prize-winning
social critic traces the narrative to 17th-Century conflicts between
New England tribes and white settlers during the nation's founding,
which she calls "the characteristic and formative American ideal."
When, more than three centuries later, terrorists flew hijacked planes
into the World Trade Center, Faludi contends that the captivity
narrative re-emerged as the organizing principle for our national
identity, re-configured to star a heroic cowboy rescuing a weak
frontierswoman from a "dark-skinned, non-Christian combatant." Faludi
spoke to NEWSWEEK's Jennie Yabroff about her book..."
"...I do think things are beginning to crack open, that this sort of
sleepwalking in a fantasy world since 9/11 has been significantly
eroded, especially since Hurricane Katrina. After 9/11, we really
wanted to buy into the idea that if our leaders looked strong, played
a tough guy on camera, those images would be enough. What happened
with Hurricane Katrina was the American electorate was forced to look
at what lay behind the veneer of chest-beating. We all saw the
consequences of having terrible government leadership. I think the
2008 campaign is the beginning of the realization that cowboy bluster
and rhetoric is not going to save the country, that it has made us
less safe, and has made the world less safe..."
sleepwalking in a fantasy world since 9/11 has been significantly
eroded, especially since Hurricane Katrina. After 9/11, we really
wanted to buy into the idea that if our leaders looked strong, played
a tough guy on camera, those images would be enough. What happened
with Hurricane Katrina was the American electorate was forced to look
at what lay behind the veneer of chest-beating. We all saw the
consequences of having terrible government leadership. I think the
2008 campaign is the beginning of the realization that cowboy bluster
and rhetoric is not going to save the country, that it has made us
less safe, and has made the world less safe..."
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