Ground Zero 2001
In Memoriam
I took these images of the World Trade Center Ground Zero in December 2001 whilst doing a special project on a skyscraper rooftop in lower Manhattan. I have a poor sense of smell, but I will never forget the searingly acrid, chemical, burnt-metallic odor that permeated the whole area. I have never smelled anything like it, before or since. Only the stench of a paper pulp mill can compare. It was the nasal equivalent of fingernails on a chalkboard. It gave me headaches. I was glad to get out of there after my work was done. I feel sorry for the people who did the clean-up work in that terrible pit-mine. I can’t imagine that a person’s physical health wouldn’t have been damaged by prolonged exposure to that environment, never mind the emotional trauma.
This is the only page on this web site that is not essentially upbeat. Sorry about that, but this is the situation that I ran into in December 2001, and I felt that I needed to document what I saw. I offer these sad, grim images in memory of all the people in the world who have lost their lives to the pointless mindlessness of violence and extremism. This is the fruit of non-reason. This is what people do to each other when they are unthinking and irrational. As evidence for this, I offer the fact that the nihilists who did this never even enunciated what they wanted (if in fact they wanted anything at all). How idiotic was that? Did they think they would trigger an apocalyptic, end-of-the-world scenario? Who knows--the idiots who did this never bothered to tell anyone--thus dramatically demonstrating just what a bunch of idiots they really were (and are).
One thing is certain, and that is that they wasted their effort, such as it was. They caused a lot of needless and pointless turmoil and grief for a short period, but in the long run their actions won’t even amount to a speed bump in the overall progress of world civilization. Economies will continue to grow, science will continue to progress, the boundaries of knowledge will continue to expand, the world will continue to get more interconnected and smaller, we will continue to send our robots to worlds across the solar system, and soon we will return astronauts to the Moon and then Mars. New York City is still a major powerhouse of the world’s economy and culture. That overall tide of civilization, for better or worse, isn’t stoppable, no matter what a few freaks may try to do to slow it down or change its course.
With that said, I also believe that a lot of people, both at home and abroad, still need to wean themselves from the pernicious notion that the application of violence will necessarily resolve problems. Adequate provision for armed self-defense, as against violence waged by crackpots with messianic or criminal motivations, be they state-sponsored or free-lance, is always justified and necessary. But the old Roman-style approach of using violence as a routine part of interaction with the rest of the world, and in lieu of diplomacy or even sound strategic thinking, doesn’t convince anybody that you’re (in the) right, even if you are convinced that your goal (spreading democracy, for example) may be admirable. Personally, I’m using brains instead of brawn to make the world better. It is a tediously difficult, long-haul proposition, but it can be done if we will focus our attention on it. The application of our reason to problem-solving is the only option that’s both practical and morally defensible. The application of our reason is the only realistic solution we’ve got. Who’s with me?
(Go to the Using My Photos page on this site for instructions on how to obtain high-resolution versions of these images from me. I don’t charge money for my photos, but I do need to review the use to which these images would be put, and I require a photo credit in your end-product in exchange for the use of my images.) Key words: Ground Zero images; World Trade Center images, New York City skyline images.
Ground Zero portrait
Ground Zero banner flag on gashed building
Around Ground Zero
Two buildings near Ground Zero 2
Two buildings near Ground Zero B&W
Damaged building adjoining WTC
Street level view of WTC Ground Zero
WTC Ground Zero mining operation in December 2001. The odor was the nasal equivalent of fingernails on a chalkboard.
Ground Zero WTC in context
Ground Zero portrait detail
Ground Zero WTC building gash
Paying respects near Ground Zero
The gleaming New York City skyline as seen from a rooftop near Ground Zero. We remember tragedy but we go on.
NY City from a rooftop near Ground Zero. Life, civilization and reason will always triumph in the end.
