Last night, we took a walk through DUMBO- the skyline was beautiful, with the ghostly towers and all. It seemed like it should have been a solemn moment, but there were tourists everywhere, some carrying 9/11 Memorial gift bags. There was a group of Italian men in suits laughing and screaming and taking goofy photos against the skyline, and a group of Mormons taking photos of each other from every possible angle. It seemed like 5 out of 10 people was carrying a tripod to take their award-winning photo.
It was the same spot my friends and I had tried to se Ghostbusters at this summer, but there had been too many people, especially a lot of tourists, to even get close. It seems pretty harsh that even 9/11 has turned into one of those many other things (or maybe it was always like this, of course I am not from New York) that caters to people who are just visiting rather than people who live here, and especially not long-term residents, who, like New York accents, barely even exist these days.
Hey Mary!
ReplyDeleteThis article, from the 9/11 tenth anniversary issue of NY magazine, talks a lot about how 9/11 was co-opted by pretty much everyone who was not directly affected by it - it's depressing, but you definitely should read it.
http://nymag.com/news/9-11/10th-anniversary/frank-rich/