The World Trade Center

The World Trade Center

Introduction

The World Trade Center was located in lower Manhattan and comprised seven buildings. The twin towers served as the centerpiece of The World Trade Center. The World Trade Center was a political corporation located in New York City that provided businesses with direct access to global trade services. The World Trade Center also united government and trade agencies to simplify the trade process.

The World Trade Center before and after the attacks still serves as a symbol of architectural and emotional force in America. It was a booming financial complex, a top tourist site, and a representation of New York city’s and America’s strong determination to continue growing in the future. However, in 2001 the World Trade Center was targeted by a vast terrorist attack that killed nearly 3000 people.

Purpose Section

This paper seeks to discuss the 9/11 terrorist attack and its impact on American lives and mindsets. The research paper also explains why this particular topic was interesting and why I believe this specific event was a turning point in America. The paper also incorporates the types of sources I cited within the research and the factors that led me to choose this general presentation format. This paper also seeks to assess the 9/11 as a work of culture by evaluating its impacts on America as it showcases America’s current vulnerability and is also suitable for America’s self-reflection.

Research Paper

On September eleventh in the morning, Al Qaeda sent two Boeing 767 planes directly towards the north, and the south towers a few minutes apart, and two hours later, both buildings collapsed. The World Trade Center was constructed between 1966-1976 at a financial cost of $2.27 billion according to 2018, and an estimated $400 during the nineties. During its business days, the World Trade Centre underwent series of incidents such as a significant fire on February eighteenth, a bombing on February twenty-sixth, 1993, and a bank robbery on January fourteenth, 1988. The World Trade Center was later privatized, leasing buildings to private organizations. It, however, handed over the lease to Silverstein Properties in July 2007. The bomb attacks on the North and south towers killed nearly 3000 people in and around the towers and one hundred and fifty-seven people on board on the two planes. Neighboring buildings were also affected by the falling debris and fire from the rubble, which started in other buildings leading to the destruction of all surrounding buildings at the scene. It took a long eight months to clean up the whole vicinity.

A new World Trade Center is still under construction and is expected to include six modern skyscrapers and many other buildings, most of which are complete. After the attack, the media feared tens of thousands dead in the attacks as fifty thousand people were reportedly inside the World Trade Center. The N Institute of standards and Technology (NIST) reported approximately 17,900 people were at the center of the attack.

The September eleventh attack affected tons of thousands of families who lost loved ones and others injured from the 9/11. This was hence a turning point in America. The rebuilding process of the new World Trade Centre had a lot of public input as the public supported the reconstruction of the Trade complex through the World Trade Centre social media site. One of the leading public’s proposals for the rebuilding process was constructing an enclosed shopping center along Cortland Street, which ended up getting demolished to provide space for a new World Trade Centre. This event served as a turning point for America as it had always been an icon of popular culture before its destruction. For instance, the Twin Towers were the central point showcased as the entire complex. The twin towers were showcased in movies as the whole complex and even went as far as representing New York City. After the attacks occurred, the main focus then was to go off a global recession. In that effect, the World Central Bank reopened its doors as this helped avoid stock market fail, but after a couple of years, money increased surpassing limit points, thus became seemingly worthless. However, in 2008, financial strain took over, and the united states were forced to print more money, which caused them to go deeper into debt. Surprisingly enough, other superpowers such as Europe and Japan were also heavily affected, and they too were in debt.  The September eleventh attacks deeply affected the United States of America. 9/11 serves as an important historical event as it is America’s rebirth. The main aim of the 9/11 attacks was not to ruin the USA militarily but economically and affect its image in the face of its people and the world too. The Al-Qaida attacked the twin towers as they could not manage to destroy the USA militarily. They, therefore, attacked The World Trade Center to destroy the USA’s economic success. The Al Qaeda extremists hoped that eliminating the twin towers would result in the massive spread of fear in the USA and weaken their stand in the world superpower community, thus upholding Al Qaeda’s political and religious objectives.

The effects of 9/11 are still broad and challenging to comprehend entirely; thus, best explained from several points of view as 9/11 resulted in various types of impact, e.g., environmental hazards. Landrigan et al. (2004) state that the September eleventh attacks also resulted in an ecological disaster through environmental exposures resulting from the World Trade Center’s attack. 9/11 was a turning point in American history as the tragedy united people in mourning their loved ones and celebrating those who helped. They hijacked 767 Boeing planes that did not just ruin the World Trade Center but also destroyed American ideology’s heart. Since the attacks, Americans’ previous upholding of their country as a lone superpower has changed. Some people question what the United States of America truly stands for as a land of freedom, power, and culture. Since the attacks, the USA continuously feel threatened by other countries and people who may want to extinguish their light, causing them to look over their shoulder with fear and suspicion of other countries.

Furthermore, the use of technology has transformed the significance of 9/11 as it was the first terrorist attack organized through digital connections. Its definition relied on its relations to technology to enable mass storytelling and media coverage. Most researchers describe 9/11 as based on the stories that people tell and the public consciousness that arises from the stories that people tell, also referred to as diathetics, which continuously increases as mass communication expands.

In 1999 a writer even recognized how almost every guidebook referenced the twin towers among its top ten attractions. It was an icon of popular culture as many high profile events also occurred at the World Trade Centre, one of them in 1976 whereby French performer Philip Petit walked between two towers eight times back and forth on a steel cable. It was also characterized in significant works of popular culture. In 2006, it was estimated to have appeared in some way in about four hundred and seventy-two films. The destruction of the Twin Towers was also depicted in several disastrous films created before 9/11. However, after 9/11, nearly all movies cut scenes set within the World Trade Center. David Sterritt, a famous movie critic, states that showcasing the World Trade Center in the 1978 Superman movie exhibited a particular American characteristic- powerful American nature. After the attacks, several films and Television shows did away with scenes set at the World Trade Center.

I employed two secondary resources to research my information. Secondary resources refer to sources that incorporate evaluation, synthesis, and interpretation of primary sources. I used the Wikipedia journal article and a scholarly article to research information, both of which classify as secondary sources. My presentation includes a general topic that impacted nearly half of American citizens—my topic area relates to the World Trade Center affected by the 2001 September eleventh attacks. The World Trade Center has undergone several setbacks, including a fire and the Al Qaeda attacks of September 2001 on the North and South towers. This presentation aims to evaluate the effects sustained by the World Trade Center outline how it served as the turning point in America and as an icon of pop culture. My presentation begins with an introduction, a purpose section, a research paper, and a bibliography paper. The factors that led me to select this type of presentation include that it is a general topic and involved a lot of research and references from various sources. This particular topic interests me the most. It is a broad and catchy topic of a site that acts as a symbol of architectural and emotional forces in Manhattan and America. The issue I selected does not limit itself to a particular format despite its being a tragic story. It is a global story one whose scars are still present among many citizens in the USA.

Works Cited

En.wikipedia.org. 2020. September 11 Attacks. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks> [Accessed 27 August 2020].

Landrigan, P. J., Lioy, P. J., Thurston, G., Berkowitz, G., Chen, L. C., Chillrud, S. N., … & Perera, F. (2004). Health and environmental consequences of the world trade center disaster. Environmental health perspectives, 112(6), 731-739.