"9/11" and "A Few Weeks After" --Susan Sontag

1. Is American really a superpower, like people make it out to be if it was so easily attacked?
2. Is the media being controlled by the government so that the public won't know of attrocities?
3. Does Sontag have conflicting views?

While reading both articles, I couldn't help but feel like Sontag had very conflicting views. In her first article she was highly critical of all media, along with political leaders, and how they were only addressing the fear of the public. She went so far as to say, "whatever may be said of the perpetrators of Tuesday's slaughter, they were not cowards." I don't know how anyone could say that about terrorists. It seems very unpatriotic like of her to say that, but I know she was just comparing their attack to how everyone else reacted. She also states, "they consider their task to be a manipulative one: confidence-building and grief management." What else could Sontag expect though? When faced with devastation, death, and loss, wouldn't it be understandable that the public needs a little soothing?

In her second article, well interview, she takes a completely different tone. She talked of how she was stricken by grief . She states, "To not mourn would be barbaric." Well that seems to contradict what was said previously. Her first article seemed to speak out against the United Stated, but her second seemed to speak for it. "To in any way excuse or condone this atrocity by blaming the United States...is morally obscene," believes Sontag. She speaks of how it's a interesting thought that we brought it on ourselves. Doesn't that sound a little contradictory? 

Maybe I'm just taking it out of context. She could be saying that the actions after the attack, how people were reacting, and how the government presented the information was appalling, but that the US itself was not to blame. However, she seems to also have different views on the terrorists themselves. First stating they weren't cowards then stating their righting of wrongs was "shameless pretext." It could be just how I read them both, but she had two completely different tones.