#2

The entire relationship that the women feels with the paintings could be described as the same emotional connection that people felt with the media images after 9/11. At first the women feels "helpless" when viewing the paintings, often how much of the US felt when viewing respectively the image of the planes crashing into the two towers. Nonetheless of the women's feelings of discomfort, she visited day after day, for 3 days to view the same paintings. She says " At first I was confused, and still am, a little. But, I know I love the paintings now." This shows a parallel between how the individual viewer became so bombarded by the same broadcast, whether it was FOX or CNN, they were "confused". But, after sitting and watching around the clock, the people began to accept what was being shown to them, without question or internalization, the United States manipulated it's civilians with fear. By making them feel safe, they began to ""love" the idea that these images represented the idea that our democracy, our country and everything that we stand for was in jeopardy, which is why without question we submitted ourselves to war. In retrospect, the man offers a different view on the paintings, the little voice that most of the US silenced when our irrationalities and fear got the best of us. "Everybody dead" is what the man responds to, the reality that our country chose to ignore.