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September 14, 2006
Don't believe everything you read.
This is worth a few minutes. Take a look at this picture, taken along the Brooklyn waterfront on Setember 11th:
For four years its photographer, Thomas Hoepker, withheld it from publication, since in his judgment those in the photo were "totally relaxed like any normal afternoon." The NY Times' Frank Rich, taking his cue from Hopker, recently went a few steps further: "Traumatic as the attack on America was, 9/11 would recede quickly for many," he wrote. "This is a country that likes to move on, and fast. The young people in Mr. Hoepker's photo aren't necessarily callous. They're just American. In the five years since the attacks, the ability of Americans to dust themselves off and keep going explains both what's gone right and what's gone wrong on our path to the divided and dispirited state the nation finds itself in today."
Lies! Yesterday Slate columnist David Plotz skewered Rich, explaining why neither Hoepkner nor Rich had any basis for their interpretation, other than preconceptions about the photo's subjects, and Americans' reaction to 9/11. As Plotz pointed out, given the context their interpretation was absurd. At Plotz's urging, one of those in the photo, Walter Wisper, emailed Plotz and confirmed Rich and Hoepkner were way off: "Had Hoepker walked fifty feet over to introduce himself he would have discovered a bunch of New Yorkers in the middle of an animated discussion about what had just happened. He instead chose to publish the photograph that allowed him to draw the conclusions he wished to draw...A more honest conclusion might start by acknowledging just how easily a photograph can be manipulated, especially in the advancement of one's own biases or in the service of one's own career."
I don't know what Frank Rich's vantage point was on 9/11, or that afternoon, but scenes like this one were common, especially in spots with a few of lower Manhattan. Wisper is dead-on. The arrogance that lead Rich to adopt the most cynical, tortured, and self-hating interpretation of the photo is absolutely astonishing. It also lends credibility to Billy Crystal's crack about journalists in When Harry Met Sally, to the effect that journalists spend their lives writing about people actually doing something with their lives. Did Frank Rich experience 9/11 as a NY Times journalist, or as an American? Is there a soul in there, Frank?
Mega-kudos to David Plotz for exposing Rich's lies.
Posted by bill at September 14, 2006 09:18 AM
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