Post-9/11 Credibility

More than enough people are still terrified that the world is in danger when it comes to dealing with terrorists and their threats. Today people make it seem like we’re in harm’s way and that authorities aren’t doing anything to protect us. When it comes to 9/11 the people that were younger back then are now in college and are old enough to remember the tragedy that happened. It’s been over a decade since thousands of innocent lives were lost. This day was and still is a tragedy for family, friends and loved ones of the victims. Many authorities rushed down to help the victims and try to get them out of the buildings before they collapsed more than what they have. In the article “We’re safer post-9/11” Eric Holder argues that “today we’re working together like never before to share information, tactics, and training to fight terrorists to stop them from putting their plans to practice.” ( PA, pg. 707)

Throughout the article, the author uses many successful sources which strengthens their credibility to law enforcement and constructing their argument.

These sources include “National Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative and the National Security Division and the FBI’s National Security Branch.” (PA, pg 708) Citing the sources gave the author more credibility by showing that they have facts to fall back on and having someone else’s opinion to support their claim. The author is giving us logical information which is going to lead us to believe that we’re better off now than before 9/11. The author’s style is to basically tell us about information that we would never know, especially the people that don’t care to know or don’t care to do research on the

topic.
Within this article, you can tell that there is some change of tone and that there is a good bit of emotion within what is being said. He goes from being upset and in distress about what happened on 9/11 to having confidence that law enforcement is doing something to prevent these attacks. The strengths that the author has throughout his article is that he doesn’t go back on his word or change what he’s saying. He is consistent about what he believes in and nothing is going to change his mind. Holder holds a firm argument about America today. He also talks about how American was before and is comparing it to how it is now. The weaknesses of this article are that he has facts, but it may not be enough to convince everyone else into what he believes.
The audiences that Holder may be trying to reach are most likely adults or parents. Adults are the ones that are more likely to be more interested in this topic. They may also be the ones that are more scared of what can happen on American soil today, especially if they have children. To reach out to this type of audience, the author must have a personal connection to the audience. He may be an adult or maybe a parent that is trying to create peace. In this article, it seems as if it’s not completely biased, but it can be justified as so because not many people think how he does.
My position is that we’re safer now after 9/11 than we would be before or during. The simple fact behind that is before 9/11 terrorists were already plotting and planning on taking down the towers before it happened. They already had the intentions to make thousands of people suffer they just didn’t know how to right away. The law enforcement is taking the time to make sure nothing suspicious is happening and making sure there are 0 signs of a terrorist attack. They may not be able to stop every attack or catch all threats but they are putting forth some effort.