September 11 in T-Shirts and Posters

In addition to promising to educate visitors with information about what occurred on Sept. 11, the New York museum also includes among its cultural offers a gift shop where customers can obtain miniature twin towers, firefighter figurines and mugs.

The memory of a traumatic experience turned into a souvenir. Perfect for sticking on the refrigerator.

The families of the victims were not happy about the pain of their losses being turned into economic profit. Detractors request that the directors of the museum reconsider, while the directors quite calmly argue that they have to make a living. Although provocative, this is not a new conflict. Memory is no longer that sacred place from which a personal experience comes to us. Memories are shared, but they are also marketed. Among all other things macabre, there are key chains with a picture of a tender Pinochet.

What is new is the police presence that was deployed since the opening of the new towers and their impressive pools. Anyone interested in entering must endure the same machines, lines and orders that were observed in airports following the terrorist attack on Sept. 11. The attraction said “under construction,” but what they had to offer was already on display outside the museum. Unfounded fear, paranoia and sweaty palms in front of the Yankee police are a necessary part of what the museum must include.

After all, the experience of Sept. 11 cannot be summed up with a firehouse dog. If the task at hand is to traffic memories, they should request a stamp with a Guantanamo detainee, a bin Laden that can be taken apart (in his respective rat trap), Play-Doh drones, buckets for torturing in pastel colors, some edible maps of Iraq, a Bush with no gun, or even the simple passport of any citizen that appears to be Muslim.