Life of the Closed Mind

Anna Quindlen is a journalist and an author, starting her career as a reporter for the New York Post in 1974 and moving to the New York Times in 1977. She left journalism to pursue writing full-time and has written four novels and two children’s books.

            The general argument made by Anna Quindlen in her work Life of the Closed Mind is that since September 11, we have become more like the terrorists. More specifically, Quindlen suggests that the way zealots think about the world is polar, black and white. She writes, “In the years since the class of 2005 entered college, America has become a country that sets its young people the terrible example of closed minds. The terrorists wanted to kill infidels. We only aim to silence them.” (pg. 67) In this passage, Quindlen is suggesting that since September 11, we have become just as close minded as the terrorists are. In conclusion, it is Quindlen’s belief that we are more close minded than we were before September 11.

            In my view, Quindlen is right because since 9/11 we have become judgmental of the Arabic race as a whole. We haven’t taken time to consider that the entire race isn’t the same as a group of terrorists. We have now implemented safety precautions that were not in place before then. For example, trying to get through security at the airports takes about an hour to an hour and a half because we are so worried about terrorists. Not to mention the fact that we screen only the minorities. Although Quindlen might object that we need the safety precautions in case we undergo another attack, I maintain that we need to make the screening fair and not stereotype a race as a whole. Therefore, I conclude that we have become more close minded since September 11.