I had the same reaction to Frank Rich's analysis of a 9/11 photo as Slate's David Plotz. Look especially at the body language of the two people in the foreground. Maybe the photog overheard a conversation that made him feel it was a relaxed outing, but that's not how I read the image.

UPDATE: One of the guys in the pic writes to Slate, and says the photog and Rich got it all wrong.

Comments

[Roch101]

Who knows. My personal experience though was that whether stunned, oblivious, or just too wrapped up in ourselves to realize the full extent of the events, some of us went about our business -- for a while.

I was registering voters at Guilford College that morning, when I got a call about "a plane crash." I went back to registering voters until it was time to head downtown for a meeting with Willie Hammer. After parking, I ran into Lorraine Ahern on the street and had what, in retrospect seems an embarrassingly casual conversation. Willie had the TV on in his office. We talked a little business, but it became apparent that what was going on was extremely serious and we agreed to reschedule. The president had his seven minutes. I had my hour or so. It took a while to sink in for some of us.

[coturnix]

Amanda has the same reaction.

[Mr.Sun]

Are we running so short of things to take sides and judge that we're down to mindreading of individuals in still photographs? My reaction is that it's stupid to have an opinion on the matter.

[Bubba]

"My reaction is that it's stupid to have an opinion on the matter."

That obviously never occurred to Rich. Thus, this thread ensued.