The Aporia · Arthur Brooks: Why Americans No Longer Grieve Together

Arthur Brooks: Why Americans No Longer Grieve Together

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Brooks, A. (2026, September 14). Arthur Brooks: Why Americans No Longer Grieve Together. The Free Press. https://www.thefp.com/p/arthur-brooks-americans-cant-grieve-911

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Quick Summary

Arthur Brooks reflects on the events of September 11, 2001, recalling his personal experience in New York City that day and noting how Americans united in response to the attacks. He cites Pew Research data showing a significant increase in trust towards the federal government from 31% before the attacks to 60% immediately after, alongside heightened volunteerism across various causes unrelated to 9/11.

Written by AI on 2026-09-14, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, New York City's first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, faces controversy over his decision to attend memorial events despite calls from some victims' families and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for him to stay away. Mamdani, who lost an older brother in the attacks, insists on honoring those affected by reading out names at Ground Zero. Meanwhile, nearly 110,000 signatures have been collected through a petition urging Mamdani not to attend, citing concerns over his past associations and appointments that some see as conflicting with the solemnity of the event. Despite this opposition, Mamdani is moving forward with plans to release more than 170,000 pages of documents related to air quality around Ground Zero in the months following 9/11, aiming to provide transparency on what the city knew about toxic conditions and how they handled it.

Written for “9/11 Memorial Controversies” on 2026-10-29, grounded in this article and the 169 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans right and hedges 12% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, a divided U.S. gathers to remember and grieve Different event

NPR

Hedges 2 of 47 claims Outlet record 60/100

“Article A describes commemorations on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, while Article B recounts personal experiences and reflections from the day of the attacks themselves.”

London remembers 9/11: Families of British victims mark 25th anniversary of the terror attacks as Andy Burnham says 'those who seek to destroy our way of life will never win' Different event

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Hedges 1 of 46 claims Outlet record 68/100

“Article A describes a memorial event in London for the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, while Article B is an account by Arthur Brooks describing his personal experience on the day of the original 9/11 terrorist attacks.”

Twenty-Five Years Later, We Must Rebuild Different event

The Dispatch

Hedges 0 of 4 claims Outlet record 61/100

“Article A discusses a call made by the author's mother on September 11th to check if he was safe, while Article B recounts the author’s personal experience of seeing the attack from his taxi on its way to Manhattan. Although both refer to the same historical day, they describe different specific occurrences.”

Globe journalists share their 9/11 experiences from New York and beyond, 25 years later Different event

The Globe and Mail

Hedges 4 of 70 claims Outlet record 52/100

“While both articles describe experiences related to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, they refer to different individuals' experiences and are not reporting on the same specific incident.”

On Being a 9/11 Kid Different event

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Hedges 0 of 3 claims Outlet record 61/100

“Article A discusses personal impact and loss from September 11, while Article B recounts the author's firsthand experience witnessing the events as they unfolded on that day.”

Jay Nyandak: I was a child at 9/11. I survived and so did my mother, thanks to fate Different event

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Hedges 4 of 86 claims Outlet record 60/100

“The articles describe different events: one is a personal account of being in school near the World Trade Center on 9/11, while the other describes witnessing the attacks from a taxi en route to Manhattan.”

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Hedges 7 of 121 claims Outlet record 59/100

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⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this Hedges 3 of 42 claims Outlet record 59/100

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Persuasion

⚖️ Leans strongly right further right than this Hedges 7 of 98 claims

“Article A discusses the broader impact of 9/11 on American politics and national identity, while Article B describes a personal account of witnessing the events of 9/11.”

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The Guardian

⚖️ Leans left further left than this Hedges 2 of 36 claims Outlet record 67/100

“Article A describes the commemoration of the September 11 anniversary on its 25th year, while Article B recounts a personal experience during the actual attacks in 2001.”

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

12%

2 of 16 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

Leans right

of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate

Publisher signals

96/100

The Free Press's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

170

Politics

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-09-14 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Free Press · 392 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected

No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Arthur Brooks

6 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

🔮 As a social scientist, I have quibbles about the experiment design: A proper study would compare different groups with varying degrees of power, in a treatment and control format.

2026-10-26 · assertive framing · Arthur Brooks: You Are Not the Victim

🔮 This column is named for the Declaration’s founding promise, so you’d hope that I would know something about exactly how to pursue happiness.

2026-10-11 · assertive framing · Arthur Brooks: Don’t Pursue Happiness

🔮 At the time, I wondered less about his decision, and more about how someone could possibly do a job like that for 19 grueling years and maintain his sanity.

2026-10-02 · assertive framing · Arthur Brooks: Mike Tomlin’s ‘Minecraft’ Hobby Is a Lesson in Happiness

🔮 And it was practical, as well: They are having children at an alarming rate, and could use some help with their kids.

2026-09-27 · assertive framing · Arthur Brooks: Your Parents Raised You. What Do You Owe Them?

🔮 For all the horror of that day, however, most of us will also remember something very positive that happened in the immediate aftermath: America came together.

2026-09-14 · assertive framing · Arthur Brooks: Why Americans No Longer Grieve Together

🔮 According to a survey of college grads by the National Association of Colleges and Employers in 2023, when asked if they would go to college again, 91 percent say they would.

2026-09-08 · assertive framing · Arthur Brooks: How to Be Happy at College

Also by Arthur Brooks

Arthur Brooks: You Are Not the Victim

2026-10-26 · The Free Press

Arthur Brooks: Don’t Pursue Happiness

2026-10-11 · The Free Press

Arthur Brooks: Mike Tomlin’s ‘Minecraft’ Hobby Is a Lesson in Happiness

2026-10-02 · The Free Press

Arthur Brooks: Your Parents Raised You. What Do You Owe Them?

2026-09-27 · The Free Press

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 6 articles by Arthur Brooks →

Topics

America Manhattan New York City Queens Sunnyside

Subjects

America GPE · 2× New York City GPE · 2× Americans NORP · 1× George W. Bush PERSON · 1× Manhattan GPE · 1× Queens GPE · 1× Rudy Giuliani PERSON · 1× Sunnyside GPE · 1× the Pew Research Center ORG · 1×

Narrative

In that tunnel about 15 minutes later, I learned via the taxi’s radio that an airplane had smashed into the North Tower, and that the South Tower had now been hit as well.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-14

🔮 For all the horror of that day, however, most of us will also remember something very positive that happened in the immediate aftermath: America came together.

2026-09-14 · The Free Press

Arthur Brooks: Why Americans No Longer Grieve Together · assertive framing

Claims (16 extracted, 2 hedged)

One gorgeous Tuesday morning 25 years ago, I grabbed a cab from LaGuardia Airport into New York City. asserted

I → grab → City

I was there for only a day to do a few meetings. asserted

I → do → meetings

From the Long Island Expressway, somewhere around Sunnyside, Queens, I looked out the window at the remarkable Lower Manhattan skyline. asserted

I → look → skyline

At which point, the side of the World Trade Center’s North Tower exploded. asserted

side → explode → Tower

Traffic snarled almost immediately, and within minutes, fire trucks began to race past us into the Queens–Midtown Tunnel toward Manhattan. asserted

trucks → snarl → Manhattan

In that tunnel about 15 minutes later, I learned via the taxi’s radio that an airplane had smashed into the North Tower, and that the South Tower had now been hit as well. asserted

Tower → learn → Tower

I got out at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 37th Street, where I had a direct view of the towers, which were both engulfed in smoke. asserted

which → get → smoke

Over the next 90 minutes, it became clear that this was no accident. asserted

this → become → minutes

I watched as the towers crumbled to the ground. asserted

towers → watch → ground

Every Free Press reader over a certain age has a story about where they were when this terrorist atrocity occurred. asserted

atrocity → have → story

Many, like me, witnessed it with their own eyes—or, far worse, lost friends and loved ones in the attack. asserted

Many → witness → attack

For all the horror of that day, however, most of us will also remember something very positive that happened in the immediate aftermath: America came together. asserted

America → remember → aftermath

According to the Pew Research Center, right before the attacks, 31 percent of Americans said that they trusted the federal government to do what was right “just about always” or “most of the time”; shortly after, that number had nearly doubled, to 60 percent, a 30-year high. uncertain

number → accord → percent

New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani was widely celebrated as “America’s Mayor,” and President George W. Bush’s favorability rating sat at 90 percent by late September 2001. asserted

rating → celebrate → September

Trust in government and leadership may not seem like an automatic proxy for national unity but, in fact, it does track closely with how positive and engaged citizens feel about their larger community. uncertain

citizens → seem → community

Volunteering rates skyrocketed, not just for 9/11-related charities, but for those unconnected with the tragedy as well. asserted

rates → skyrocket → tragedy