America Experiencing "Historical Amnesia" Post-9/11, Prof. Kevin Howley Tells Philadelphia Inquirer

September 9, 2006

September 9, 2006, Greencastle, Ind. - "Historical amnesia is one of America's great failings," Kevin Howley, associate professor of communication at DePauw University, tells the Philadelphia Inquirer. Dr. Howley is among those quoted in a story on how the events of September 11, 2001 affected popular culture.

The Inquirer's Alfred Lubrano notes that experts predicted the "death of irony" after the terror attacks on the United States, but the retreat of American media personalities from the "smirking" and "smarmy" attitudes they'd exhibited before turned out to be brief. "While it's hopeful that the culture took the body blow that was Sept. 11 and moved on, we should be aware that our quick recuperative powers underscore a national weakness," he writes in the article, headlined "A more serious country? Get serious."

Read the complete text at the newspaper's Web site.

Professor Howley is prominently featured in yesterday's Canadian Broadcasting Corporation examination of culture's obsession with celebrity. It can be accessed here. The professor is the author of the book, Community Media: People, Places, and Communication Technologies.

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

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