remembering 9/11
 

My heart goes out to all families involved in that terrible tragedy.


Where were you on that day?

I was getting ready to go to school, when my mom and dad, glued to the T.V., called me over and told me I could stay home. I actually couldn't fully understand the signficance of what I was watching, at the time, especially that it was all unfolding LIVE. But I do remember it quite well. I remember many images from the event, and also watching overnight coverages of a few military bombardments.

Several days after the attack, one of the new students in our class, an Iraqi boy, stopped attending. Apparently, his family moved back to the Middle East.



Shamefully, it's only occured to me within the last few years what I actually witnessed on my T.V. and of the nation. I can now comprehend more the losses of that day, and the conflicts that escalated as a result. And it's a humbling awakening.


R.I.P., the victims of 9/11. And to the relatively innocent people who lost their lives to the war, Coalition and Iraqi.

I was in 8th grade history. She went out for a minute or two in the hallway then she came back in and turned on the television. I had never hear of the twin towers before then and I couldn't hear the t.v. that well so I thought it might be a part of the class lesson. However, the day kept getting strange as more and more students were being checked out. I was only one of the very few people left in school by lunch time. It was only after school did I learn what all of it was.

Rest in peace those who lives were lost

This is the first time (I think) that I actually say what it was like for me, please read it to the end if you read it at all

I was in first grade, I don't remember being at school but I do remember coming home feeling like I had been rushed so maybe they took us out of school. I see a plane crash into a building and saw it as some kind of stunt show inspired b a cartoon and imeadietly yell out "Cool!" at the secene, I did not consider that people were in those planes that crashed and got killed which is what my mother yelled at me and I was speechless.

Like Jaydelart I didn't REALLY see this until sixth grade as our English teacher showed us coverage of the hurt and pain it caused.

To all involved in 9/11, in the planes, in the buildings, in the Pentagon, the respritory disease victims who emerged from helping at the scene, to those who fought in Iraq, to the Iraqi citizens caught in the middle . . .

May they all Rest in Peace in Heaven . . .

I cant wait for this thread to turn into a political debate.

Im not going to fire the first shot this time round... :mtongue:

9-11 was a sad day.. but to me it was just like any other day. I cant remember what I was doing.

I love bandwagons.

I'm rather old. I moved to the states 3 years prior to the attack and had a job. I usually don't watch TV in the morning but my girlfriend called and told me to watch the TV.

It was unreal. I didn't feel compassion, didn't think about the people who were actually dying. I don't know if it was because I didn't speak English very well back then and was not attached with the US as much as I am now, or because it looked just too unearthly I couldn't relate myself with it.

What DID scare me though, is the bedlam after that. Everybody on TV was screaming about Pearl Harbor (with which I have a bit of a beef, in terms of the general American view) and President Bush started the war in Afghanistan. To this extent, I understood. But Iraq? Anybody could see that was soooooo made up. It was scary that NO TV station questioned WMD crap that was clearly a fraud to my eyes.

It made me think about how WW2 had to have started, and it was scary to see how even a respectable county like the US can lose its temper and act impetuously once provoked.

About what in particular?

My brother was on a flight from Florida to Colorado when 911 happened. They grounded his plane in Texas. After it became clear that no flights or trains where going to operate anytime soon, he rented a car and drove for 3~4 days to get back home.

He's from New Zealand, I believe?

well i was at home.. it was evening and my parents were watching the breaking news. i saw some 3 times the repeated footage of planes crashing and then simply went out to play with my friends thinking - well that's something new.

to be honest...at this point i feel more sorry for the middle east. not saying accident wasnt terrible.
anyhow for me more note worthy are events like 2004 tsunami were 200 000 were killed and i think it is more or less unjust that things like that compared to 9/11 are almost completely left under the radar.

I was cooking curry for dinner.
One of our friends sent my husband`s phone mail asking what I was saying or if I knew anything more from English language sources.

We don`t watch tv so had no clue what was going on. When my husband asked, the reply was simply "turn on the tv".

We watched for hours, mainly because it was live coverage and had countless unverified reports of other bombings, etc, from all over the country - they slowly dwindled as they were confirmed to not have happened or be something completely unrelated.

At first glance, I thought it was a normal war attack - not terrorism - and that some sort of (formal) war had started. I don`t recall feeling particularly emotional about it, and still don`t, really. Not that I don`t care, but it ranks on the same level as other disasters - man-made and natural - with numerous casualties. It`s very sad for those directly involved, and unfortunate that people lost their lives... But that`s the extent of my feelings about it.

I was in front of the TV went the accident happened..
My family was so shocked that we thought it's April 1 that day..
No body would have thought that America can be attacked that easily..
Although the conspiracies behind the accident is still unsolved, I would like express my condolences to those who had lost their love ones during the event..

That's exactly how I felt too.

I also remember saying "Wow..coooool!" the beavis and butthead way after seeing the second plane crash. But it became boring quite fast, so I switched to watch the sports channel.

"Wow..coooool!"
"... became boring quite fast, so I switched to watch the sports channel."?

I can understand if you weren't much affected by 9/11, be it you're living abroad or what have you. Even my own, genuine sympathy can only go so far; I can relate to you. But it really does disturb me when you can just blatantly make an insensitive remark about it like that, knowing that people were hurt by it.

I would never make that remark personally...

But I can understand where Aniki is coming from. I mean just watch the latest action movies with big explosions.. Bruce Willis downing a chopper with a car etc.

I dont think he was thinking "wow.. cool lots of people died!" I think he was thinking "wow.. cool! A plane just flew into a building at full speed and exploded"

People like Aniki (and I suppose me to an extent, and anyone else who consumes such media) are conditioned to think that with all the action movies and video games that exist today.

I agree.

Me, I'm from new york. It was a rather sad day and in the years to come, pretty annoying. Spending hours underground in subways stuck at times is very bothersome when you're in a state, in the city, that is a target. I was on edge all the time in new york and could freak out to the point of mild panic attacks whenever a plane flew by. This actually bothers me. There was a near miss while I was in the federal building, why a plane was allowed to fly so low by the federal building is beyond me.

I rather not remember the day, I rather not see news repeating off the names, and the whole 10 year anniversary coming up is ridiculous to me. I would like to fully move on from it but it's like America wont let that happen. I wonder for how many years this is going to continue.

On the day I was scared. I lived in a very tall building in new york. The days after I was bombarded with news of it, seeing sad people and all. New york was in mourning. Traveling into manhattan on 9/11 is unnatural. I travel by the path which runs under wtc. The train may have a bit of noise before it gets to new york but when it does, it's dead quiet. So quiet, the whole station. Then you get outside and there are protesters and mourners everywhere.

Aniki is disrespectful. Becoming bored fast? 9/11 isn't something you should have been entertained by unless you're a sick person. it wasn't cool in any way, watching as a plane with hundreds of people flew into a building instantly killing everyone on the flight and then anyone who was on the floor, exactly how was this cool to you?

As far as conspiracies go, the truth of them is that they are theory. In the Science community, theories are often worked out, disproven, and eventually the truth is realized. Other times we are presented with gems such as Newton's law of universal gravitation, and Newton's laws of motion. However, at this point in time, we can only speak of conjecture when we talk about a conspiracy surrounding 9/11. Perhaps one day in the future the truth will be revealed to us, but for now we must accept that 2977 people lost their lives that day, and that 6807 soldiers have died to keep the shores of multiple nations safe since then.

That's roughly 9784 people that have lost their goddamn lives due to the events orchestrated by Al-Qaeda leading up to the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States of America. The burden is too much for me to accept sometimes, that 6807 soldiers have died to keep our civilization free from the tyranny of those who would act in the name of an absent god for their own benefit. That is what I find most regrettable about the September 11th attacks.

The fact that I have been unable to sleep without telling my family that I love them weighs heavily on me every day. It's all affected us in one way or another. We've lost dearly missed loved ones, or those close to us have, and nobody can deny that September 11th, 2001 hasn't shaken them in one way or another. And on September 11th, 2001 we honor those who have died by living our lives the best we can, and perhaps honoring them by taking a moment of your day to honor them in silence. I know that's what I did on September 11th, 2010. And I'm going to do the same tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, and the year after that.

6807 soldiers died because of bad government and foreign policy. Not because of 911

I guess you could spin it however you want, but it's 6807 less soldiers on this planet due to the repercussions of the September 11th attacks. I'm pretty sure this thread wasn't made to blame our governments for bad policy, but to pay tribute to those that have lost their lives on or because of September 11th, 2001.

More people than that die every year in the US from murder. About 90,000 women are raped each year in the US and have their lives irreparably damaged. On average 35,000 people die every year in the US from the common flu. Worlwide almost that many children die everyday fron hunger related illnesses in the 3rd world. Just putting those numbers into some sort of perspective ;)



Terrible but not really large numbers...

Guess what happens to women who are raped in Saudi Arabia? They get the consolation of a flogging. And Japanese media, primarily anime and manga, have a huge market for rape erotic fiction.

I happen to live in Chicago, IL, one of the cities in the USA with a high murder rate. I know very well how many people die from violence. It's almost every day that I open up the Chicago Tribute online and read another story about someone murdered between the day before and the morning at hand.

But this thread isn't about the inadequacies of the USA, is it? No, again, it's about paying tribute to those who lost their lives on September 11th, 2001 and due to it. But, what you're doing is downsizing the effect that September 11th, 2001 had on the world, and you're smearing the country that was attacked by citing a rape statistic. What exactly is your problem, mate?

You are conditioned to think and feel that way only if you allow yourself to be. I watch all the same movies and play all the same video games, but fortunately I am still able to disconnect emotionally with movies and video games, and am able to connect emotionally with reality.

I dont think you understand what repercussion means.

The US government had a choice to respond differently.

The only one spinning anything is you.

The point of the 9/11 memorial is not the AMOUNT of people that died.

Its easy to say... but you dont have the power over your consciousness that you like to think you have.

It has been proven that violence on screen desensitizes us to violence in real life.

I admit to feeling more awe than shock when I saw footage of 911 for the first time.

Thankfully I have a conscience that was strong enough to check that feeling...

But that initial feeling of awe... the one that Aniki alludes to is something that could only have come about through desensitization to violence and things blowing up in my opinion.

My first thought was not... "Holy shit lots of people have died" It was... "DAMN! A plane just slammed into a building and took it out! You dont see that everyday"

No problem at all. Just pointing out that terrible things happen the world over all the time and the numbers involved in the 9/11 incident are comparitively small when even only compared to annual crime statistics in the US. You guys are far better at killing each other than any terrorists anyway!

You might find this hard to accept but not all of us are as affected by the deaths of a few thousand Americans. Just like most Americans will probably barely give a 2nd thought (assuming they've heard about it at all) about the 21 million or so people affected in the floods in Pakistan this monsoon season.

If you really believe that is true: that you are desensitized to reality because of the violent movies and video games you play, then I weep for the future.

I had overslept that day and had called in saying I'd be late for work, I was on my way there when I found out about it. We listened to the radio updates over the store speakers all day. I was worried for many reasons but mostly for my friends who live in NY.

I found out a few days later that my friend who worked in the Towers had overslept that morning and had called in saying he was going to be a few hours late. That may have saved his life. Quite a few people he worked with died that day.

It is true. I have a strong conscience that recognises it and doesnt condone violence though so dont worry about me.

Unfortunately there are many that dont have such a conscience... so yeah... I wouldnt exactly say that I weep for the future.. but it wont be a very compassionate place.

More people were killed in the fire-bombings of Tokyo than were killed in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Sometimes it isn't the numbers of deaths that make an event noteworthy.

Assassinations are generally the killings of a single person, but few in America forget where they were when they heard that JFK or John Lennon were killed. I will never forget where I was when I heard Princess Diana had died. I was very young but I remember the day Elvis died very distinctly. If you want to throw a bunch of statistics up and say the 9/11 attack isn't a very distinctive event or worthy of the attention it has and will continue to get throughout our lifetimes, I would say you are being a little naive.

If the future is a place of people without compassion, then that is worth weeping over.

However, I don't think that is actually true. I think younger people today like to fantasize about how thick their skin is...but I don't think it is as true as they would like to think.

I was speaking in a context of watching stuff happen on TV. The real footage vs the fake. :cool:

Anyway.. cant argue with the evidence.

This link was something I just googled but its findings are similar to ones Ive seen before on the issue.

YMA - Violent Video Games and Other Media Violence: Craig Anderson answers FAQs

You are not a member of the first "video generation" and I still think you can make the distinction between fantasy and reality.

Well of course I can make the distinction. Thats what I meant by the conscience thing.

Im just saying that had I not been conditioned by movies etc. My first initial, gut reaction to 9-11 might have been "OMG.. all those people inside!" instead of "God damn! A plane just slammed into a building and took it out dude!".

However due to the conscience that I have... I was able to check that initial gut reaction.

With fear of hijacking the thread, let me ask, why do you think you would be that "conditioned" by movies when previous generations would not be?

What makes you think previous generations werent?

In the book "Superfreakonomics" (followup to the bestseller "Freakonomics") they make a comparison between violent crime rates and the introduction of television accross the US.

Since TV was introduced accross the US at different times, it was interesting to note that a rise in crime followed the introduction of Television all accross the states.

Coincidence? Maybe... though that would be an awfully big one.

I will say that images in the movies and on TV have become a lot more vivid and realistic in their portrayal in recent years though.

I have read both those books, and although that is an interesting notion, it is hard to prove considering what was on TV at the time.

Actually I think images in many movies have become LESS realistic in recent years since many directors started depending on CG. Video games look more real, but I don't think anyone would say they look real.

Many would agree they are much more frightened by lower budget movies like Blair Witch Project...but if you can, look back in history. Movies like Psycho scared the pants off of people. The Exorcist scared the pants off of people. The movies made today are not scarier than some of the greats from the past. However the people scared by Psycho and The Exorcist have not made a break from the reality of what they see on TV.

My point is, to say "things are more realistic on the big screen now" is simply a false argument, as I would say they are NOT more realistic now. You don't watch a movie thinking you are watching something real. I can watch something like Saw and enjoy it, but if I had any inkling that it was actually real, I would be completely disgusted and horrified. I don't think your generation is so sad as they cannot make that distinction. If you choose not to care, you choose not to care. But don't blame movies and video games for your apathy.

I dont think you are reading what I wrote.

I dont CHOOSE not to care because obviously my CONSCIENCE kicks in and reminds me what is real and what is not.

I have been conditioned to violence though because my INITIAL GUT REACTION was not "shock"... but "awe" so to speak.

Do I think video games and movies cause violence? No I dont... at least not directly.

But evidence shows that they probably have an INDIRECT effect on society in the way I mentioned.