Americans 'Dealt With Emotions Better' After Sept-11 Than Other Tragedies

Ananova ^ | 5-19-2002

[blam]

Americans 'dealt with emotions better' after Sept 11 than other tragedies

A new study has found Americans dealt with their anger and emotions better after September 11, than they did following President Kennedy's assassination.

But many apparently still have to regain their sense of security as they balance new terror warnings with encouragement life will return to normal.

Researchers have examined the effects of the attacks on public opinion from different angles.

Michael Traugott, from the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan, said: "This is a lifetime marker for an entire generation, the same way Pearl Harbour was in the 1940s and the assassination of President Kennedy was in the 1960s."

Tom Smith, of the National Opinion Research Centre at the University of Chicago, added: "In the first or second hour after the attacks, the thought dawned on me we should do something like the Kennedy assassination study."

His research compared the public's attitudes measured after the 1963 assassination with those following September 11. Anger and shame were the dominant emotions four decades ago, while anger was most prevalent after the terrorist hijackings, he says.

After September 11, people found many ways to channel that anger, by donating to charities, giving blood, helping the families of victims and survivors. The anger could not be constructively directed after Kennedy's murder, Smith adds.

Traugott says although emotionally things may have returned to near normality following the attacks in New York and Washington, the public's sense of personal security and safety has not.

He interviewed people soon after the attacks, and again six months later.

Story filed: 15:43 Sunday 19th May 2002

[blam]

November 22, 1963 (my birthday, age 20), I was in the Bay Of Florida recovering a U2 plane shot down by Castro.

[Ciexyz]

I was in elementary school when Kennedy was shot. I heard two teachers whispering about it, so I was the only kid in the room that knew the President had been shot, and I couldn't say a thing. I sat there in a kind of shock until the teacher told the whole class. Then she advised the older kids to watch the younger kids on the walk home because they might be so upset they'd run into traffic.

[Fracas]

America had a leader on 9-11. Bush and Guiliani took charge and calmed people before the situation spiraled out of control.

[blam]

" I sat there in a kind of shock until the teacher told the whole class."

Yup. Us too. We had not completely recovered from the Cuban Missle Crisis (14 Days In October), then this.

[eddie willers]

Anger and shame were the dominant emotions four decades ago

Shame?
Does anyone remember shame?

Absolute SHOCK, yes...but shame?
Who the hell had anything to be ashamed of?

[goodnesswins]

Shameful of electing the gonadless x42......maybe? I HAD NO SHAME, ever.....!!!!! Even in 1963 when I was 12 years old!!!!

[goodnesswins]

Hmmmm...4 decades ago shame ....maybe these "researchers" are transferring THEIR shame NOW, to 4 decades ago - is what I mean.....

[eddie willers]

I HAD NO SHAME, ever.....!!!!!

Agreed.
I will go so far as to say NOBODY felt any shame in '63.
Meaning....that this report is lying.
The question is WHY?
Who gains with this revision of history?
Or are they like Clinton....who would sooner lie (I was the first president to host Jackie Kennedy back at the White House) even when it is meaningless?

PS....I am much younger than you....I didn't turn 12 until 2 months later. : )