The hijacking of a tragedy

Today is the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon and, like all events that are world changing, I am sure everyone can remember where they were and what they were doing at the time it happened.

There were no words to describe the horror of watching those terrible events unfold live before our eyes, as an invisible line was drawn between "us" and "them" - you were either on the side of "freedom" or you weren`t, there was no middle ground.

And yet, a year further on, one begins to wonder whether another line hasn`t been crossed - the line between right and wrong, between patriotism and profit.

It is nothing new for war, destruction and fear to be used as springboards for a variety of industries to sell more products, and it is something that has occurred regularly over the course of the last century or so.

During World War ll, for example, cigarette manufacturers traded on their product`s popularity with the frontline troops by inserting collectible cards that showed various patriotic images of the military machine.

A certain manufacturer even went so far as to produce a brand called "Victory" cigarettes, trading on the fact that everyone wanted to "do their bit" to ensure Allied success.

The last major conflict was the Gulf War in 1991 and in this clash of ideologies, it was the media that sold themselves to the people. It was the first war to unfold live on television and, to a large extent, changed the way the media was perceived, while massively boosting the ratings of channels like CNN.

Now the IT industry has used the 11 September tragedy as a means to cash in on the fears of the population in general - and business in particular - to sell more products.

The IT industry has used the 11 September tragedy as a means to cash in on the fears of the population in general - and business in particular - to sell more products.

Rodney Weidemann, journalist, ITWeb

This is not the first time the industry has played upon intangible terrors in order to make a profit, as anyone who recalls the hype and nonsense that surrounded the spectre of the Y2K bug will note.

The difference, of course, is that Y2K was a disaster supposedly waiting to happen, whereas with 11 September, it is a tragedy upon which the IT industry is retroactively making money.

While there is no doubt that many companies were negligent in backing up data and were, perhaps, shocked into action by the events of that day, it is also true that the purveyors of disaster recovery and backup storage products have been trying to make a mint from the aftermath.

When trying to sell their products, they point an accusing finger at organisations that lost all their data during those terrible few hours as a consequence of not having had a proper backup plan and, as a result, went under.

People will make up their own minds as to whether this is a simple case of learning from a disaster and putting into place systems to ensure such an event never occurs again, or whether it is a crass attempt to make money out of the largest single loss of life involving civilians that the world has witnessed in recent years.

However, before you make your decision, let`s have a quick look at some of the other industries that are making a profit in some way from the events of 11 September.

For starters, there`s the publishing industry. Already, several books focused on one or another aspect of the terrorist attacks have been published, and more are in the works.

These range from eyewitness accounts to salutations of the bravery of those working at ground zero, through to the nutty conspiracy theorists - who inevitably jump on the bandwagon of any major event, seeing the shadowy hand of anything from the CIA to UFOs as the cause behind the catastrophe.

Then we have the Hollywood scriptwriters, who are waiting in the wings to turn out "true life dramas" based on the "bravery of ordinary people, caught in extraordinary circumstances".

Of course, don`t think for one minute that the US network television stations aren`t charging a fortune for advertising slots during today`s mammoth memorial broadcasts, while at the same time appealing to their advertisers` patriotic instincts.

While our hearts should and do go out to all those who lost friends and relatives on that terrible day, I cannot help but wonder whether even they are not appalled by the over-commercialisation and profit-turning that has accompanied the anniversary.

It is unlikely that the concept of making money from a tragedy will ever go away, but we do need to maintain a sense of perspective about such issues. Ultimately, it is the people that matter, and a tragedy such as we witnessed a year ago should never be manipulated as a marketing tool to sell more products.

There`s a very fine line between commiseration and exploitation, and I wonder whether we haven`t stepped over it.