"The Twin towers of the WTC stood as the very image of globalization, capitalism, and Western economic superiority... their collapse both exposed and symbolized 'the vulnerability of governmental power (Juergensemeyer, 2001, pg. 32), and the fragile nature of the dominant cultural worldview." September 11th The effectiveness of the World Trade Center towers as a symbol is apparent in the discussion that continues about them today. Many argue they were chosen because the towers represent Western power, wealth, commerce, and materialism. Not just the activities they represent, but also their stature, made them a good target. The towers dominated the New York City skyline, making their loss, and the symbolic destruction of American commerce and power, all the more visible. Similarly, the Pentagon was a strategic target because of its symbolism as the branch of the American government which protects the country. The terrorists behind 9/11 sought to undermine these greater themes of American life by attacking the symbols that embody them. Upon their destruction, the World Trade Center towers did not cease to exist as an important cultural symbol. In their book Defining Visual Rhetorics, Charles Hill and Margeurite Helmers discuss the revision of the symbolism of the towers upon their destruction: "Strong national symbols such as the eagle and the flag are liberally in use in the popular and mass media as a means of gathering together the imagined national community, and to these patriotic and sentimental images the twin towers of the World Trade Center have been added in the way that the red poppy came to symbolize the First World War." The Oklahoma City Bombing The Oklahoma City bombing is another terrorist attack that has become highly symbolic in the American psyche. As a member of the Patriot Movement, and fearing a New World Order, the choice of the Oklahoma City Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building by Timothy McVeigh was meant to convey a message of resistance to the federal government. McVeigh sought to undermine the role of the Federal Government in society by visually destroying its presence. Discussion of symbolism as it relates to the Oklahoma City Bombing now centers around symbols of hope, healing, and recovery. After the bombing, city planners carefully considered what to do with the remains of the building because of the importance it had to the public as a place were many were killed. Some referred to it as “sacred ground.”