9/11 seems so long ago...

[Vallermoore]

And yet I still remember the unique horror of it even now. The planes crashing into buildings like a superhero film where all the superheroes were on strike, the damage and the deaths. Do you think fifty or more years later the US President will still visit the site of the twin towers? I think it was our generation's Pearl Harbour moment. RIP to all those who died on that terrible day.

[Katganistan]

Living here through it certainly has made a lasting impact on me.

I shudder to think what ultra-nationalistic drum-beating and self-aggrandizement will be made out of this tragedy two days from now.

[Rykil]

It does seem so long ago, it just feels like a thousand years have passed in a moments notice.

[Vassenor]

Living here through it certainly has made a lasting impact on me.

I shudder to think what ultra-nationalistic drum-beating and self-aggrandizement will be made out of this tragedy two days from now.

If we're lucky it's just going to be Trump grandstanding about crowd sizes. But in this day and age I get the feeling there's going to be bodies being pulled out.

Then again him using whatever event he holds on Monday to go on at length about how great he is might just do him more harm.

[Luziyca]

Yes, yes it does. I was only four at the time, so I had no real firsthand knowledge of the event.

But in hindsight, that was probably the spark that led up to the world that we are now in: when many of us routinely accuse over a billion people of being "savage terrorist scum who deserve some evil punishment" just because their faith had been hijacked by extremists who have used it as an excuse/justification for their actions, and where far-right ideologies, which had been subject to a cordon sanitaire for decades, become more and more accepted, especially in the western world. Whether Islam has problems or whether the far-right has any good ideas, that's not the subject of this thread.

From today's vantage point, extremism has penetrated both the left and the right, but it just so happens that the extremist right have a lot of power in this point of time, while leftist extremists are only confined to several areas across the world. There is no longer a real centrist position; no longer a place where people can learn to disagree and still get along as people.

*sigh*

But meh. Maybe recent technological innovations have just removed the "veil" of civility that we all profess to have, and revealed us humans to be savage monsters who will always treat one another as though they are mere wolves. Maybe the scars left by 9/11 haven't helped. I do not know, and I am not sure if I can know.

[The of Japan]

obviously most don't support outright terrorism in those countries, but a shocking amount do support things such as full sharia law that are completely antithetical to our way of life.

[Steffan]

I mean, 16 years is a long time. I was only 5 when it happened; I'm 21 now. I don't remember much, but my dad does. He was working on flooring at Barnes Air National Guard Base. He didn't think too much of the first plane hitting the towers; accidents happen. He was horrified when he heard about the second plane hitting and when armed soldiers started forcing everyone to leave the base...
The crashes heard around the world...

[Ethel mermania]

I watched it on tv, I was out of work at the time and was interviewing with a comany at 2 wtc, needless to say the job was cwncelled. Went to a few funerals. Not a lot of fun. I was workijg at the wfc during the first bombing ( I was off thwt day). Also not a fun time.

[Oil exporting People]

And yet I still remember the unique horror of it even now. The planes crashing into buildings like a superhero film where all the superheroes were on strike, the damage and the deaths. Do you think fifty or more years later the US President will still visit the site of the twin towers? I think it was our generation's Pearl Harbour moment. RIP to all those who died on that terrible day.

It blows my mind to realize that there are kids driving now that weren't even alive them. Also pretty crazy, in a technological sense, to recall watching it unfold live on a bulky TV (Pre-Flatscreen days) then but now you could do so from a tiny smartphone today.

[Varkina]

The worst part during this age of time the internet started making jokes about 9/11 but you can't really stop that can you? People who make jokes about people dying shouldn't be doing that. What if they lost a loved one in the Towers? Would they still make jokes about it now?

Rest in Peace to all victims of 9/11.

[Rykil]

The worst part during this age of time the internet started making jokes about 9/11 but you can't really stop that can you? People who make jokes about people dying shouldn't be doing that. What if they lost a loved one in the Towers? Would still make jokes about it now?

Rest in Peace to all victims of 9/11.

You have my utmost respect.

[Truemerica]

The worst part during this age of time the internet started making jokes about 9/11 but you can't really stop that can you? People who make jokes about people dying shouldn't be doing that. What if they lost a loved one in the Towers? Would still make jokes about it now?

Rest in Peace to all victims of 9/11.

Some of my generation seem to not care, which is upsetting

[Arkinesia]

I remember my parents broke their “no TV” rule and had a TV brought in by a congregant when it happened so we could follow what was happening. I was barely ten at the time and remembered wondering if some terrorist would pop out of a cornfield and shoot my dad on the way home from the church office.

I was pretty sheltered at that point.

[Carartia]

I watched it on tv, I was out of work at the time and was interviewing with a comany at 2 wtc, needless to say the job was cwncelled. Went to a few funerals. Not a lot of fun. I was workijg at the wfc during the first bombing ( I was off thwt day). Also not a fun time.

Needless to say you were lucky to be off

[Skylus]

I was 2 when it happened, and I feel weird just being at school on 9/11 because there's a flag ceremony, we watch videos and stuff.
Yeah, it did happen, but I don't remember it happening live or anything....
It feels surreal.

Also that picture of that guy in the white suit falling to his death.....It will never go away.....

[MERIZoC]

9/11 this year is gonna be fucking hilarious

[Ethel mermania]

I watched it on tv, I was out of work at the time and was interviewing with a comany at 2 wtc, needless to say the job was cwncelled. Went to a few funerals. Not a lot of fun. I was workijg at the wfc during the first bombing ( I was off thwt day). Also not a fun time.

Needless to say you were lucky to be off

Indeed, my bosses car was in fhe garage, he didnt get it back till 6 months later. THey. would up closing the underground parking garage. It was a good and reasonably priced place to park downtown.

The world changed o. 9/11 and not for the better.

[Varkina]

9/11 this year is gonna be fucking hilarious

So people dying is hilarious?

[Dushan]

I recall it still vividly, I was in my early teenager ages and had the evening before a sort of foreshadowing about something going to happen in New York.

There was an before, and an after. It was back then a traumatic and confusing event. I initially believed that it was an massive military assault on the east coast of the US, a beginning of WW3.

Over the Years I got pretty much over it, but for me New York will never be complete without the World Trade Center.

What also makes me think a lot that by now Soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan in a War that started when they were young Children and - very soon - before they were even born.

[MERIZoC]

9/11 this year is gonna be fucking hilarious

So people dying is hilarious?

Do you plan on making anyone die in two days?

[AiliailiA]

Depends on your age I think. I'm in my fifties and it doesn't seem so long ago. "Long ago" is Watergate.

[Varkina]

So people dying is hilarious?

Do you plan on making anyone die in two days?

No?

[MERIZoC]

Do you plan on making anyone die in two days?

No?

Well then I dont see the fuss

[Katganistan]

I was teaching that day. In addition to trying to keep roughly 3000 students in our school safe and in place until their parents could come get them, there was also the fun moment when I heard a jet scream by overhead and I probably went chalky white as I realized that if a plane were to hit our school, even with warning, there was literally no place I could take my kids that would be safe in time. I was still talking to them about Macbeth, but walking to the windows to see if I could get an idea of what was happening.

I'll never forget the 13 year old boy who got out of his seat, got in front of me, and said very quietly but intensely, "It's ok Miss. We're ok. The only planes flying now are our Air Force."

Nor will I forget that for three weeks, some of my students stayed home in fear -- they'd been beaten on the way home that day just for 'looking Muslim'. Some were Sikhs. Some were just 'Arab looking'. None had a damned thing to do with what was happening across the river.

The end of the school year ended with me in tears because one of the students, a beautiful young lady who was always very stunningly attired with the most beautifully patterned and folded hijabs, gave me a lovely scarf. Why? Because according to her I was the only teacher she came in contact with who didn't treat Muslim students any differently from other students that year.

All I could think of was how horrible it had to be for those kids being blamed for something they had no part in.

[Socio Polor]

I was a baby when 9/11 happened, so I don't really remember the day. But I have seen videos online of the attack and let me tell you just watching it makes you depressed and angry at the fact there are people out there in the world that would take the lives of thousands of people and leave the families of those lost hurt.

RIP, to all those who passed on that day as we approach the 16th anniversary