The New York Times has just run a fascinating story about one woman's story of surviving the 9/11 attacks: fascinating because it represents a particularly recent and powerful strain of American tragedy/heroism, and also because now it turns out that it might not be true. Tania Head, the woman in question, has changed her story several times, and the internal inconsistencies seem to be pulling it apart.
Time will tell, probably in partnership with the courts. But for a second, before judgment is rendered, let's think about who Tania Head is hurting. If she lied, it's easy to see why -- by placing herself at the epicenter of the most terrifying and best-marketed American tragedy of the century, she instantly gives her life meaning. By telling a story that makes her one of only nineteen people who survived after being at or above the point of impact when the planes hit the towers, she gave her life special meaning. But the question of how else she has profited remains open. Head serves on the board of the Survivors' Network, a nonprofit devoted to helping 9/11 victims and families. There has not been any suggestion so far that she has skimmed money, or stolen it.
So, is she hurting anyone? Everyone knows someone who has slightly exaggerated their proximity to the events of 9/11, people who claimed they stood in the street six blocks away when in fact they were twenty blocks away, for example. It's human nature. This may be an extreme example of the phenomenon, but is it worse? Is she trivializing the experiences of those who did actually survive? (And, if so, is she countering that by serving on their behalf?) I'm not saying that lying is right or good, only that sometimes, when experiences are too large to fathom, it's useful to have smaller, digestible narratives that help us process them.
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Is 9/11 Survivor a Liar?
Posted Sep 27th 2007 8:14AM by Ben Greenman
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16. At this point, who cares? Of course there are plenty of nut cases... As long as she isn't taking money from the fund, or bringing reproach upon the survivors, what difference does it make? I am so tired of people who try to get attention by lying about their whereabouts, on 9/11/01...
Carolyn Bond at 12:53AM on Sep 28th 2007
17. #11 Ray, Is Captain Negative now penning under the pseudonym, "K" ?? Do you REALLY want to invest the time to explain 'reasonable deduction' to these liberal simpletons again? You know how much work/frustration is involved from the whole Captain Knucklehead event several days ago...lol These are the same people that have to test the authenticity
of a "WET PAINT" sign. Well, I'm taking notes and quotes from these libs to someday write a book about them. Look for it in the "Fiction" section.
lizard at 1:22AM on Sep 28th 2007
18. Lizard - your point is perfectly valid.
I questioned the wisdom of submitting ANYTHING on the subject, but, then decided that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". I figured a few early details might head off anyone being easily misled.
No evidence that K = CapNeg.
In fact, I have some doubt about my early claim that CapNeg = "libleftiewhatever". Their writing styles were so similar, and with the timimg, it was hard to ignore the possibility. It appearred that CapNeg was getting desperate to salvage his/her credibility.
ray at 8:29AM on Sep 28th 2007
19. In response to #5, #8, #11
Has anyone offered the idea that just maybe
there was a flaw in the overall design of the
towers themselves. Something that was overlooked or missed. I believe the design used was not tried before in other construction where the "outer skin" of the building carried a major load.
If you look at a documentary regarding the Citicorp
skyscraper in NYC , it was found after full occupancy was attained, that there was a design flaw. This flaw was that under certain wind conditions, the building might just topple. It was
so simple an oversight that nobody had checked the calculations. The result was over a period of months, at night when most of the building was empty, steeel workers went in and added structural
bracing to girders. They had to be all cleaned up and out of sight before the tenants returned to work in the AM. This was done when it became apparent that should NYC get hit by a hurricane, the building stood a very good chance of falling.
johnzabchuk at 9:03AM on Sep 28th 2007
20. by lying about her "experience" on that fateful day, she diminishes the heroism displayed by those who gave their lives to save others as well as disrespecting the miracle of the perseverance of true survivors and their families and loved ones. shame on her.
gb at 11:56AM on Sep 28th 2007
21. by fabricating her "experiences" on that historical and fateful day, she diminishes the sacrifice made by those who gave their lives in service to their fellow Americans and furthermore insults the perseverance and bravery of those true survivors, thier families and the families and loved ones left behind. SHAME, SHAME on her!
gb at 11:58AM on Sep 28th 2007
22. I will always have problems seeing the footage of the plane hitting the World Trade Center and thinking of the horror of every passenger on each and every plane that horrible day. And of all those within the buildings in New York and in the Pentagon. If that woman is lying, then God help her. I will nwvwe ever believe that this was an inside job....I firmly believe that it is solely the work of terrorists who don't give a damn about human lives and are willing to do the unthinkable in their so called holy war. It is hard for people to believe in this day and age that human beings could stoop so low but what about all those who murdered people in the concentration camps of World War II in the name of Nazism....and the murders of untold millions since then in countries all over the world due to these monsters? I firmly believe that al queda would do whatever it takes to bring us down if we let them. If that woman is lying it is a slap in the face of all those who died in the planes, in the buildings and those who risk their lives trying to save those still trapped. God bless America!
loyal citizen at 1:52PM on Sep 28th 2007
23. #22 loyal citizen Well done! I couldn't have said it better myself.
lizard at 2:20PM on Sep 28th 2007
24. Please she isnt hurting anyone but herself. No one should give her or anyone's story that much significance when everyone has a significant story of their own depending on what is going on in their lives.
Allie at 3:02PM on Sep 28th 2007
25. The more I think about it the more I'm beginning to believe that 9/11 was a test of GWB resolve and determination by the middle eastern terrorists. Recall soldiers being held hostage in the middle east during the Carter administration and Carter was unable to broker their freedom. However, within 90 days of Reagan winning election the soldiers were freed. I believe middle eastern terrorists respect and fear republicans in this country. Note that no major U.S. assest has been attacked since 9/11. Is it coincidence that the leader in Iran embraces the left in this country?.
Don at 3:29PM on Sep 28th 2007
26. I think ANYONE who is profiting from 9/11 is hurting others. 9/11 was a tragety that hurt the entire country. WE all lost something that day. We lost our feeling of security. We lost any trust we had in our gov't..and I mean the ENTIRE gov't because we all believed that through the years of paying outrageous taxes, that somehow we would be better prepared.
Loved one's were lost as well and families destroyed...although how one puts a price on that I still havent figured out. Everyone who was close to the actual events that took place, remembers the facts of how and what happened to them, differently...and perhaps that is the situation with this woman. She "remembers" events a certain way. I hope that's the case and not the case being she's lied outright and on purpose.
There certainly has been no shortage of PROFITING from 9/11.
I am wondering however WHERE the fundraisers/donations/memorials/survivors boards etc. are for all the soldiers we've lost who began fighting on foreign soil shortly after 9/11.....Families and loved ones of 9/11 victims have been given MILLIONS of dollars due to this event. Trust funds and college funds have been set up for the families/wives/husbands and children.
That isn't the case with our soldiers. Why is that? And why isn't every American in this country questioning it?
We're it not for 9/11....over 3500 soldiers would still be alive and we wouldn't have over 15,000 soldiers coming home scarred/maimed who can't even receive decent medical care/rehab.
Everyone is always looking for the "crime, the criminal"....If the fact that our military who fights for America, are not receiving proper medical care after losing limbs, being burned, blown up and shot, fighting in a war isn't CRIMINAL then I truly do not know what is. If the fact that young mothers, with little job experience because she stays home and takes care of the kids, who gets a knock on her door telling her that her husband and father to their children isn't coming home, who is then faced with no job, no college, kids to raise alone, who must be out of military housing within a year, who has only the survivor benefits to depend on and NOTHING else isn't CRIMINAL, then again, I haven't a clue what is. Yet few care about this FACT. So in the scheme of things....Do I care if this woman has made up some stories as to her role in 9/11 is lying. NOPE. What I care about is that our journalist choose to write about this kind of crap verses the true crime in all this..which is simply that those who stood up and chose to fight for America and her people when one of the worst days in history occured are now having those they fought for turn their backs on them. Something this country swore would never again happen, as it did during Viet Nam.
nvrenuff at 4:57PM on Sep 28th 2007
27. I don't believe for one minute GW was involved in 9-11 but i do think the dirty little weasal used it as a excuse to invade Iraq and put contracts out on it's leaders and their children
Robert Bretz at 10:51PM on Sep 28th 2007
28. So, this woman may be mentally ill. Either that or there is certainly a large conspiracy against her. Aside from that, Bin Ladin must be upset to see that the Bush/Chaney cartel is getting credit for his "masterpiece". Ha!
Barb at 12:03PM on Sep 29th 2007
29. Responding to johnzabchuk (#19)
You wrote: “Has anyone offered the idea that just maybe there was a flaw in the overall design of the towers themselves?”
An excellent question and the answer is YES.
I don’t really recommend it, but, if you really want to read a “less than brilliant” dialogue on this issue, go to this link:
http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/2007/09/11/9-11-truthers-ambush-geraldo/
If you want a VERY brief summary, I’ll offer a quote from Albert Einstein that says it all: “Occurrences in this domain are beyond the reach of exact prediction because of the variety of factors in operation, not because of any lack of order in nature.”
In short, we may never know why the WTC towers collapsed.
ray at 6:52PM on Sep 29th 2007
30. Ask anyone that has been in the milirary and gone to war what they think of people claiming they were there, saw action, killed people or worse for their psyche, saw their best friend killed or witnessed the death of little children; then it turns out they were LYING!!! Yeah, it doesn't mean anything, doesn't hurt anyone! Go ahead,make your false claims, JERK, FOOL, LOSER, LOWLIFE!!!!
Michael OBrien at 7:50PM on Sep 29th 2007