Will we ever underestimate the importance of information again?
Not now, not after Sept. 11, 2001. The events of that day changed the world and, as important as information was thought to be before, its importance now eclipses any previous estimation. You’ve heard buzz terms like “Information Revolution” and “Information Economy” in past years. We now find ourselves in an Information War. The cause and effect of Sept. 11 can be traced to three types of information.
Another minute on any of the cell phone calls from the hijacked airplanes or in the rubble of the World Trade Center would have been paramount. It’s incredible to think that even now, two weeks later, the best information we have about the hijackings came from those desperate passengers who used their cell phones to call their loved ones during the final moments of their lives. The information about small knives and box cutters being used as weapons, the possible heroics by the passengers on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, and that the hijackers commandeered the planes, it’s all thanks to the technology of cell phones.
Unfortunately, technology, including all the high-tech satellite eavesdropping equipment employed by the FBI, CIA and NSA, completely missed the conspiratorial plot that took down the World Trade Center towers, dented the Pentagon and killed thousands of innocent people. It’s clear now that, despite all of the U.S. intelligence successes in recent years, this failure will haunt U.S. officials and all Americans for years to come. The information game has changed and the U.S. is playing catch-up.
Once the attacks began, and for several days after, people around the world turned their attention to constant news reports of the ongoing rescue effort, the investigation and the possible response. That desire for information has tempered some in recent days, but still runs heavy. Once a U.S. response begins, especially if it comes in a form that makes good TV, we will all be glued to CNN day and night once again.
Technology has bolstered this communal effort to stay informed. In addition to constantly checking news Web sites at work for updates, people have exchanged email messages regarding the attacks. Passion-stirring editorials, plans for candlelight vigils and a computer image of a rebuilt World Trade Center (that forms a middle finger gesture) were passed around the Internet thousands of times that week.
Interesting to note, the term “sex” has been entrenched in the top 10 of most search engines since the mid-1990s. Since Sept. 11, however, sex has fallen out of the top 10, replaced by search terms related to the terrorist attacks.
This constant need for news, and the 24/7 news cycle that technology has created, will put additional pressure on our government officials in the coming weeks and months. Readers and viewers want proof that our country is retaliating for the attacks, preferably on video. News outlets want to inform these readers and viewers of the retaliation, the moment it occurs, preferably with video. This goes against the war President Bush has described-one that lasts a long time. I’m not sure the American people have the patience for it.
With 24-hour cable news networks and countless Internet news outlets, it’s hard for most of us to realize there is still a lack of information in some key areas.
Those conducting their own trial-by-race-or-religion apparently need some more information. Hundreds of incidents of vandalism and slander against Muslim mosques and those who attend them have surfaced since the attacks. There have even been some killings. Asking anyone who would do such a thing to understand that the atrocious crimes of a few should not condemn the masses is probably a stretch. But maybe it could be pointed out that we don’t resent Caucasians for Timothy McVeigh’s actions or Christians for Pat Robertson’s and Jerry Falwell’s words.
Those in the Islamic world could use some additional information, or at least some more accurate information, it seems. The terrorist groups fanning the flames of hatred toward the U.S. rely on the same propaganda techniques that Hitler employed in the 1930s. If those youths chanting “Death to America” in the streets of Kabul knew that the terrorist actions fall completely outside the true teachings of Islam they might realize that the biggest risk to Muslims are the terrorists who keep using the religion to justify their senseless murdering ways.
At the same time, some Americans could use some more information, especially those who think the U.S. should simply bomb Afghanistan and possibly other Middle Eastern countries “back to the stone ages.” Have you seen video from Afghanistan? They already live in the stone ages. Thirty years of civil war combined with virtually no economy and a severe drought have left the country solidly in the third world. There are no skyscrapers to bring down, no targets of any real value. Just millions of people living day-by-day, hoping there will be enough food to eat and water to drink.
Killing these innocent people would make the U.S. terrorists of the same ilk as those actually responsible for the attacks on the U.S.
Somehow we have to hope that a few of these Afghans, fearing for their lives and the future of their religion, will realize they possess the most powerful weapon in this new war: information. They could deploy this weapon by alerting U.S. officials to the exact location and organization of Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. That’s the information we need the most right now.
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