Fight Now, Love Later

ON September 11, a colleague of mine rang Henry Kissinger to ask if he’d write something for the op-ed page of Sunday’s paper. On the Thursday, my friend called him back just to be sure he was still doing the piece. “Ah,” the good Doctor growled dryly, “so this story has not been superseded?”

Kissinger makes a good point, though not just about the news media. The urge to (in the dread Clintonian phrase) “move on” is the natural condition of our culture. If anything, the news operations tend to be a little behind the curve. When so many people watching TV that morning said it was “like a movie”—like Independence Day or Armageddon or Swordfish—I began to get nervous. Not because it wasn’t like Independence Day, but because the defining characteristic of those movies is not the “money shot” of the atomized White House or any of the other special effects but the fact that they’re huge, boffo, smash, record-breaking mega-block- busters for three weeks and then utterly forgotten. Movie’s over. What’s next?

About the Author

Mark Steyn

Mark Steyn is an international bestselling author, a Top 41 recording artist, and a leading Canadian human-rights activist.

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ON September 11, a colleague of mine rang Henry Kissinger to ask if he’d write something for the op-ed page of Sunday’s paper. On the Thursday, my friend called him back just to be sure he was still doing the piece. “Ah,” the good Doctor growled dryly, “so this story has not been superseded?”

Kissinger makes a good point, though not just about the news media. The urge to (in the dread Clintonian phrase) “move on” is the natural condition of our culture. If anything, the news operations tend to be a little behind the curve. When so many people watching TV that morning said it was “like a movie”—like Independence Day or Armageddon or Swordfish—I began to get nervous. Not because it wasn’t like Independence Day, but because the defining characteristic of those movies is not the “money shot” of the atomized White House or any of the other special effects but the fact that they’re huge, boffo, smash, record-breaking mega-block- busters for three weeks and then utterly forgotten. Movie’s over. What’s next?