1......... September 11, 2001, at 8:46 A.M., a
2.hijacked airliner crashed into the north tower
3.of the World Trade Center in New York. At
4.9:03 A.M. a second plane crashed into the
5.south tower. The resulting infernos caused
6.the buildings to , the south tower
7.after burning for an hour and two minutes, the
8.north tower twenty-three minutes after
9.that. The attacks were masterminded by
10.Osama bin Laden in an attempt to intimidate
11.the United States and unite Muslims for a
12.restoration of the caliphate.
13.9/11, as the happenings of that day are now
14.called, has set off debates on a vast array of
15.topics. But I would like to explore a lesser-
16.known debate triggered by it. Exactly how
17.many events took place in New York on that
18.morning ........ September?
19.It could be argued that the answer is one.
20.The attacks on the two buildings were part of
21.a single plan conceived by one man in service
22.of a single agenda. They unfolded ........ a few
23.minutes and yards of each other, targeting
24.the parts of a complex with a single name,
25.design, and owner. And they launched a
26.single chain of military and political events in
27.their aftermath.
28.Or it could be argued that the answer is two.
29.The towers were distinct collections of glass
30.and steel separated by an expanse of space,
31.and they were hit at different times and went
32.out of existence at different times. The
33.amateur video that showed the second plane
34.closing in on the south tower as the north
35.tower billowed with smoke makes the twoness
36.unmistakable: while one event was frozen in
37.the past, the other loomed in the future.
38.The gravity of 9/11 would seem to make this
39.discussion frivolous to the point of impudence,
40.a matter of mere "semantics," as we say, with
41.its implication of splitting hairs. But the
42.relation of language to our inner and outer
43.worlds is a matter of intellectual fascination
44.and real-world importance.
45.______ "importance" is often hard to
46.quantify, ........ this case I can put an exact
47.value on it: 3,5 billion dollars. That was the
48.sum in a legal dispute for the insurance
49.payout to Larry Silverstein, the leaseholder of
50.the World Trade Center site. Silverstein’s
51.insurance policies stipulated a maximum
52.reimbursement for each destructive "event."
53.If 9/11 comprised a single event, he stood to
54.receive 3,5 billion dollars; if two, he stood to
55.receive 7 billion. In the trials, the attorneys
56.disputed the applicable meaning of the term
57.event. The lawyers for the leaseholder defined
58.it in physical terms (two s); those for
59.the insurance companies defined it in mental
60.terms (one plot). There is nothing "mere"
61.about semantics!
Adapted from: PINKER, Steven. The Stuff of
Thought. New York: Penguin, 2007. p. 1-2.