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[MALE ANNOUNCER] This is CNN.

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[Omer Fast: "CNN Concatenated"]

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[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]

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I / just / feel / like / I / have / so / much
/ to / give / but

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sometimes / you / can / be / so / full / of
/ resentment.

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[MAN TAKES A BREATH]

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Why / is / that?

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[MAN TAKES A BREATH]

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Perhaps / I / talk / too / much.

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[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]

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Maybe / I / come / on / a / little / too / strong.

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[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]

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Sometimes / even / I / over / react.

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[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]

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Okay.

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[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]

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[OMER FAST] So "CNN Concatenated" is an 18-minute-long monologue, in a sense,

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that's composed from thousands of very small clips

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recorded on the Cable News Network.

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[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]

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If / we're / going / to be / in / this / relationship

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for / some / time,

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we / may / as / well / begin / working / on
/ this / together / now.

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[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]

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It's / not / enough / to / turn / me / on
/ once / in / a / while.

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[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]

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It's / not / enough / for / you / to / turn
/ to / me

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every / time / you / need / something.

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[MAN TAKES A BREATH]

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[FAST] I started the piece earlier than 2001

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and began collecting material not really knowing

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what I was going to do with it,

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and began to form very primitive sentences

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with these little words that I was collecting.

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...statistics / and / their / partisan / priorities,

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between / the / Middle / East / and / the
/ Far / West,

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between / the / Mid / West / and / the / Far
/ East,

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between / the / coasts / and / the / swing
/ states,

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between / the / standards / of / reporting
/ and / the

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measures / of / the / demographic / tastes

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between / the / spy / plane / and / the / space
/ station,

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civilians / on / submarines / and / billionaires
/ in / orbiting / vacations...

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[FAST] And then I moved to Germany on September 1st, 2001,

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and, while sitting in German classes learning a language--

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and writing downs words and reciting them--

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I heard about the attacks on the World Trade Center,

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and realized that the piece, in a sense,

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would have to change.

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I kept ordering VHS cassettes from CNN

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of the aftermath.

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And through that footage,

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the challenge was to articulate a voice--

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to try to locate a voice-

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that sort of responds to all that,

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or rather speaks through it at the same time.

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[MAN TAKES A BREATH]

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Where / do / our / respons- / -ibilities / begin?

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[MAN TAKES A BREATH]

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Where / do / our / needs / end?

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[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]

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What / have / we / done / to / deserve / this?

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[MAN TAKES SILENT PAUSE]

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What / could / we / have / done / to / prevent
/ it / from / happening?

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[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]

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What / can / we / learn?

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[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]

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Where / do / we / go / from / here?

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[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]

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What / do / we / know?

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[MAN TAKES A BREATH]

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How / have / we / changed?

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[MAN TAKES A BREATH]

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What / should / we / have / done / different
/ -ly?

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[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]

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Who / can / we / trust?

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[FAST] But if the work succeeds,

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it's when you pass that point--

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you begin to almost close your eyes,

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with all the clutter

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and with all the noise that it makes

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and begin to listen to that voice

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that's speaking through the footage.

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That voice, it's a pretty scared voice.

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It's pretty urgent,

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demanding, aggressive, scared voice.

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I / don't / know / what / to / say.

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[WOMAN TAKES SILENT PAUSE]

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[FAST] That voice is, I suppose, in a way,

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that kind of...

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those sort of agents or their doppelganger

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that are used for me.

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[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]

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Every / time / I / try / to / speak / carefully,

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I / fuck / up / and / make / a / big / mess
/ of / it / all.

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[WOMAN TAKES SILENT PAUSE]