Skip to main content

News Tip: Images of 9/11: When Have We Seen Enough?

Will the coming avalanche of 9/11 documentaries and images dull us to the horrors of those attacks?

As the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 approaches, Americans can expect to be inundated with images on television, the Internet, in newspapers and elsewhere that document the terror attacks.

Tom Rankin

Director, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University

Rankin is a photographer, filmmaker and folklorist who has spent more than 20 years documenting and interpreting American culture. 

Quote:

"We're going to be inundated with images around the 9/11 anniversary. We all can get dulled to seeing what looks to be the same thing; how can any of us take it all in? Where there is value, however, is in the process of reflection that an anniversary like this can bring, from taking time to look more carefully and quietly at the harsh reality that was 9/11."