9/11 12 Years Later

[ljohnson2006]

It's hard to believe that it's been 12 years since the attacks of 9/11. How much do you think Fundies know about this event that changed our nation? How do they teach what happened to their kids? God Bless America!

[sparkles]

What do they teach their kids? That it was god's punishment for gays, feminism, premarital sex, contraception, abortion, atheism, free thinking, separation of church and state, government, taxes, modern medicine, bottle feeding... And that it will probably happen again because we've rejected Jesus and we deserve to be destroyed.

Fuck every last one of them, sideways with a chainsaw.

[2xx1xy1JD]

Here's one lesson I would hope that they could learn:

9/11 showed the deep contrast between a world view that saw the United States as evil and depraved, and the reality of the goodness and often heroism of the victims. They were people from all sorts of backgrounds, ranging from corporate executives to waiters. They had families that they loved. Many of them, in their last moments, wanted to call their families for some last loving words. The heroism shown by many was quite astonishing - most civilians below the impact points were evacuated, people helped each other get out of the buildings, the passengers on United 91 revolted and prevented that plane from doing damage to its intended target even though they knew that they would die, and fire and police personnel responded - even some who weren't on duty - and stayed even after it became unsafe to do so.

THAT is what I want everyone to remember when we hear about how evil and depraved society is today, and whenever someone tries to act as if morality only exists in their own little community.

[Ariel]

Beautifully put 2xx1xyJD. I wish more people would think like that as opposed to what I'm seeing. I feel like every year more and more of my acquaintances become 9/11 truthers.

a quote from fb

After you reconsider what the real truth is about 9/11, that our own government planned it to take away freedom trough the patriot act. You may want to think hard and look into the other things they do for our "freedom." Syria for instance, we have no purpose of going over there. The only thing it will do is cause war. Maybe even WWIII. Not everyone in the government wants this fate for America but the greedy members of the government who profit and benefit from war want more of it. When you watch the news, watch Fox. Every other news station is influenced or ran by the government. All I want are the freedoms I am guaranteed to be guaranteed not taken away.

It just makes me sad that people are that angry and willing to believe this sort of thing.

[laura oz]

I'll never forget Fallwell and Robertson saying it was God's punishment for America tolerating the gays. I'd be willing to bet they still believe that.

[Dandruff]

The zealots love taking tragedy and using it to spout their own views, at a safe distance. They milk publicity that's already there and don't need to be logical (as if they'd bother) about a situation that defies logic. When good things happen to people they don't approve of do they claim the people have been blessed? When tragedy hits a church group do they claim it's divine punishment? They're shameless hypocrites, and can go STFU.

[O Latin]

Here's one lesson I would hope that they could learn:

9/11 showed the deep contrast between a world view that saw the United States as evil and depraved, and the reality of the goodness and often heroism of the victims. They were people from all sorts of backgrounds, ranging from corporate executives to waiters. They had families that they loved. Many of them, in their last moments, wanted to call their families for some last loving words. The heroism shown by many was quite astonishing - most civilians below the impact points were evacuated, people helped each other get out of the buildings, the passengers on United 91 revolted and prevented that plane from doing damage to its intended target even though they knew that they would die, and fire and police personnel responded - even some who weren't on duty - and stayed even after it became unsafe to do so.

THAT is what I want everyone to remember when we hear about how evil and depraved society is today, and whenever someone tries to act as if morality only exists in their own little community.

A friend of mine heard a story about a blind man in one of the towers who took the leash off his guide dog and told the dog to go with the people who were evacuating, but the dog wouldn't leave him and led the man down however many flights of stairs, out of the building, and down the street to safety. After hearing that story, she decided she wanted to raise and train guide dogs and she is currently training her 13th puppy. All of her previous dogs have gone on to work in some capacity. She and her dogs have changed a lot of lives for the better.

[PennySycamore]

Good for your friend, O Latin! I've heard that story about the man with the guide dog before. I'm glad your friend was inspired by this man and his dog. Both of them were tremendously brave.

ETA: I was remembering while I was out today how quiet it was on 9/11/01. We had a La Leche League meeting that evening and I had to go make sure that the mothers knew it was cancelled. The bookstore where we held the meetings at that time was closed as were many other businesses. I stayed outside for a short while and then went home.

[ljohnson2006]

9/11 showed solidarity as a country. No religion talk. What a beautiful story about man's best friend.

[canbritam]

9/11 showed solidarity as a country. No religion talk. What a beautiful story about man's best friend.

This isn't what a lot of my American Muslim friends experienced. They experienced being verbally attacked, told our religion is evil, we had lots of false information spread about our faith. Maybe Christianity wasn't discussed but attacks on Islam were rampant. There were two Sikh men killed within days purely because the people that murdered them thought they were Muslim. So yeah, there was LOTS of religion talk. It just depended what religion it was.

[2xx1xy1JD]

This isn't what a lot of my American Muslim friends experienced. They experienced being verbally attacked, told our religion is evil, we had lots of false information spread about our faith. Maybe Christianity wasn't discussed but attacks on Islam were rampant. There were two Sikh men killed within days purely because the people that murdered them thought they were Muslim. So yeah, there was LOTS of religion talk. It just depended what religion it was.

QFT.

One question I've asked before is whether people remember not just September 11, but also September 10, 2001 - in other words, whether people can remember what the world, and in particular the United States, was like before the attacks.

On September 10, terrorism was thought of as something that happened in Other Places. Domestic terrorism, when it happened, was usually linked to extreme right-wing/racist politics. Sure, Bin Laden had attacked the USS Cole and some embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es Salaam, but this was far less interesting to most Americans than hearing about Clinton and Lewinsky and a cigar. Americans were still in the process of adjusting to the end of the Cold War, when Communists had been the great evil force. The US and NATO had intervened in Bosnia just a few years before, when the Bosnian Muslims were seen as the good guys and the Serbians were seen as bad. Sure, people may sometimes hear about problems in the Middle East, but that was Over There. The Arab-Israeli conflict was seen as a political and ethnic issue, not a religious one. In short, there simply wasn't a culture of widespread fear of American Muslims prior to 9/11.

[crazyforkate]

QFT.

One question I've asked before is whether people remember not just September 11, but also September 10, 2001 - in other words, whether people can remember what the world, and in particular the United States, was like before the attacks.

On September 10, terrorism was thought of as something that happened in Other Places. Domestic terrorism, when it happened, was usually linked to extreme right-wing/racist politics. Sure, Bin Laden had attacked the USS Cole and some embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es Salaam, but this was far less interesting to most Americans than hearing about Clinton and Lewinsky and a cigar. Americans were still in the process of adjusting to the end of the Cold War, when Communists had been the great evil force. The US and NATO had intervened in Bosnia just a few years before, when the Bosnian Muslims were seen as the good guys and the Serbians were seen as bad. Sure, people may sometimes hear about problems in the Middle East, but that was Over There. The Arab-Israeli conflict was seen as a political and ethnic issue, not a religious one. In short, there simply wasn't a culture of widespread fear of American Muslims prior to 9/11.

On the night of September 10th, my parents and I had a discussion at dinner about why wars were fought over religion (Northern Ireland, Israel, etc). My mother explained (I was 9) that it was rarely about religion, but instead a conflict consisted of three components - financial, militaristic and political. The very next day, terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and were probably headed for the White House (or was it the Capitol?) - fulfilling my mother's theory perfectly. It was really eerie.