Remembering September 11, 2001

In one of my first posts on Gil's blog some months ago I posted an audio recording from 2o02 of Gil Bailie introducing Rene Girard with a story from G. K. Chesterton about a 'white haired, absent minded old professor who is dragged from his laboratory to analyze an airplane with a serious indispostion'. This recording was made only a few days after the 1st anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. So, when Gil mentions "airplanes crashing not from mechanical causes but from human calculation" the resonance was deep and clear.

On this 9th anniversary of the attacks I thought it would be profitable to hear this again and think of all the analysis that has been brought to bear on these events from every academic discipline and ideological perspective over the past years. Perhaps we need to hear again Prof. Girard's appeal to the truth of human relations based as he sees it on mimetic phenomena.

Note: Prof. Girard in his comments makes reference to an earlier metaphor used by Gil about a painting depicting Galileo inviting Catholic bishops to look through his telescope.