Film Analysis: Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire

Bush stated that “Saddam has chemical and biological weapons, he is using aluminum suitable for weapons He continues to process and conceal some of the most lethal weapons.” What made it so easily for America to be convinced that going war was a right solution, for their protection? The answer is vulnerability. Americans were vulnerable and had tremendous fear and believed that the president would know what to do with the terrorist attack. It is the year 2008, seven years after the 9/11 attack and yet the weapons of mass destruction have not been found. Investigators, journalist and political sociologist try to unveil the true reason why we are at war. In the film Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire, examines how The Neoconservatives used the 9/11 trauma for the benefit of US Foreign Policy. We can clearly see that there is a relationship between political sociology and what is currently going on in the Bush Administration. Four core ideas of political sociology that coincide with the war in Iraq are: power, state, hegemony and lastly struggle. But before getting into details I will first mention what is political sociology and how we can use this to better understand the Bush Administration. Political sociology is “the study of power and relationships between society and politics” (Neuman 2005, 3). Political sociologist view government as the key site in society where power in concentrated and consolidated. Referring this back to the current government this is completely true. The government of the United States has much power. It is those with power are free to achieve or impose their desires on others (Neuman 2005, 12). Bush clearly did this. He and his administration of neoconservatives took advantage of that power granted to them and decided to lead US citizen into believing that war is the right solution. Bush twisted and manipulated his words to the extent that I even fell for it. Those without power feel great pressure to do what they do not desire and follow the demands of others (Neuman 2005, 12). Linking this to our current position, not every resident in the United States agreed with Bush’s decision on going to war, the UN didn’t. The constant media and broadcasting gave pressure to the residents to follow ‘the majority’ regardless if they agreed or not.

Down below is the a short excerpt of the Media I analyzed