I want to point out how the collapse of the twin towers has changed America’s notion of good versus bad.

First off, without the bad, there would be no good. In addition, sadly, this Western philosophy believes in this “perfect good” while it strives to “eradicate any bad.”This is true, because as an American, I am influenced by movies such as “Star Wars,” where the evil Sith lords are covered in black wardrobe, using their red light-sabers against the divine and good Luke Skywalker, who is clad in white clothes and smote the darkness of the Sith lords with his blue light-saber.

In Medieval fairy tales, we are given the happily ever after image of a beautiful and elegant princess falling in love with a bold knight in shining armor while the evil sorcerer is kept alone in his prison. Yes, these are unreal examples, but we see these examples of good and bad pointed out in actual history as well, which I will explain later.

These are all things that have led to the division of good versus bad in Western culture, and since the September 11th attacks, this subject of good and bad has triggered a debate. I think us Westerners should realize that the “bad” is not evil in its purest form like a cold black coal with no glint of salvation. Rather, this “bad” is a necessary part of the “good” versus “bad” formula.

Therefore, in layman’s terms, without Darth Vader, there would be no Luke Skywalker. Without the evil sorcerer, there would be no reason for the knight to save his damsel in distress.

Since these are all fictitious examples, then, in reality, there would be no cops to put on trial in a worldwide case showing the split division between the white and black race if there were no Rodney King, O.J. Simpson, etc.

Moreover, on a more serious note, without the 9/11 attacks, we as a Western culture would have our superiority over the world unchecked.Our greedy globalization of other countries resources, our “regime change” of third world countries would continue to exist, and we would continue our beliefs that the “bad” can always and completely be replaced with the pureness of “good.”

I do not intend to glorify terrorism, however, all it took were a small group of terrorists to make the twin towers collapse, and question our nation’s philosophy of how the bad is only a pure form of evil, and how the light of goodness (or our military’s unquestioned logic) will smother that darkness found in the “bad.”

I think the bad is not always a crystallized form of evil. If this was the case, then Superman would become fat and lazy because Lex Luther and his infamous kryptonite would not exist. If this was the case, people like Rodney King, Malcolm X or even Michael Moore would not be viewed in society as the “corruption which disrupts the good of the people,” but rather, individuals who have the courage to question in what direction Western civilization is heading.

In addition, if bad were not viewed as a crystallized version of evil in America, then our nation would have already become a total, undefeatable, global superpower in which everyone’s unique identity as Spanish, French or Asian would become replaced with a universal sect of American identity.

Bluntly, things like the 9/11 attacks prevent this idea of dominance from happening, and without any realization of our own sometimes senseless occupation of countries considered less than us, without any protests or terrorists attacking America who are considered “bad” in an evil way, then globalization and corruption would take over the world, and the idea of a “bad” ingredient as a crucial element of the “good,” in terms of balance, would never be questioned.