Roll it
Another 9/11 myth has been shattered. It was part of a bigger myth, both a bit muddleheaded, born out of the desire to make Americans feel superior to the rest of us, which, frankly, they need no encouraging in anyway.The myth is that Todd Beamer bravely rallied the passengers on United Airlines 93 with a cry of "Let's roll". The bigger myth is that he led a brave struggle against the hijackers.
Without wishing to be too churlish, I have to say that the bigger myth was always a bit silly. How brave do you have to be to fight people with boxcutters when they are about to kill you by crashing the plane you're on? It is nigh on impossible to kill someone with a boxcutter unless you do it by surprise. You might get a nasty gash but you'd need to be very unlucky to be killed. It turns out that the hijackers were barricaded into the cockpit.
Evidence in the Moussaoui sentencing trial, in which the state is ghoulishly trying to have Moussaoui killed, makes it clear that the passengers were trying to break into the cabin, not swarming hijackers among them.
Beamer yelled "Roll it", not the rallying cry of the myth but an instruction perhaps to push a dinner trolley into the cockpit door. It doesn't have quite the same poignancy.
Naturally, those who knew what the tape said didn't ever put the myth straight. I don't know whether Beamer was ever quoted by a Bushista, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone who knew better did it.
I mean no disrespect to Beamer. He was an ordinary guy caught in a nightmare. We do not know whether his behaviour that day was good, bad or indifferent. It doesn't matter. The legend is kind to him and it will endure long after the truth. Legends do. We forget that but those who manufacture our stories do not.
posted by Dr Zen @ 11:02 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home