Mommy Blogger Admits She Didn't Know People Died on 9/11

[Destiny]

4 hours ago, Alisamer said:

For days afterward there were NO PLANES IN THE SKY. That was the strangest part to me. So quiet, no planes, an empty sky. To this day if the sky is completely empty it makes me uneasy. For days and weeks there was continuous TV coverage of the disaster.

I lived in a major city at the time. There were planes in the sky at times, but they were fighters patrolling. It was fucking terrifying. I have no idea how anyone could miss that. Even the kids, who were very small at the time, and we tried to shield from the worst of it, remember 9/11.

[RidiculousFundies]

Self absorbed or not, how can someone be THAT dense? I live in south africa and was 12 when 9/11 happened and I read and watched everything about it. Wow 

 

[AmazonGrace]

Not sure I believe she didn't know... It sounds like she's trying to apologize for something crass she said earlier and this is the best she could do.

Everybody knows that people died in 9/11.

[acheronbeach]

@laPapessaGiovanna @RidiculousFundies similarly, I'm not American.  That day, all of our radio and tv broadcasts were interrupted for coverage of the disaster. It was on every newspaper.  It was the only topic of conversation. It just seems like an impossibility that this woman didn't know anyone died.  

@AmazonGrace I also think this is some sort of excuse for some earlier idiotic statement that we don't know about.  It's the only logical explanation.

[Briefly]

6 hours ago, Loveday said:

For me, as well. I live very  close to a massive Navy air base, and when THEY stop flying, you notice it (in fact, I don't think it had ever happened before, and certainly hasn't happened since). It was so eerie not to hear the jets doing their usual flight ops every day, and to look up at the sky and not see the jet trails. I will never forget it.

I know what you mean about the sky, it was so strange for it to be empty.  We lived very close to the airport in Tulsa at the time and heard planes all the time.  It was really odd, how much we noticed them not flying.  The  first plane we saw afterward, I think it was about the next Friday, was a major moment for us.

I don't know how she could not have realized that people died.  She does at least admit it, but still.  How?

[Briefly]

3 hours ago, louisa05 said:

The notion that you can't have a news broadcast on around young children is really not a good one. What you are modeling to them is that you don't interact with current events. Read news in their presence, turn on the news on the radio--NPR is good about warning when a story might be explicit or unsettling to some listeners so then you can flip the station. Talk about current events that are age appropriate. Discuss events with your partner in their ear shot--again to model that it is good to be aware and interested. Take them with you when you vote or let them see the ballot if you vote by mail and explain what it is and why you do it. During presidential elections, talk about the candidates--again in an age appropriate manner. You're not going to tell a 4-5 year old that Trump brought up the size of his penis at a debate, but you can tell them who is running and that before we vote, we want to know what they think about important things. Talk about local issues that affect them. If you have a primary kid and there is a school bond in your district, explain that all the adults get to vote to decide if they get a new school/expanded school/whatever is on the bond. 

My nephew was 6 and in kindergarten when 9/11 happened. His mother explained to him that some bad men crashed planes into buildings and hurt a lot of people. We answered his questions. We let him see pictures and video of memorial services. We did not let him see the video of the planes or the buildings collapsing. Obviously, the most disturbing event in our recent history. It was not possible to hide that from a kid nor would it have been healthy so you explain it in an age appropriate way and let them interact with those things in the media that are appropriate for them to see. 

My daughter was just past her 3rd birthday when the Oklahoma City bombing happened.  I always watched the news and she generally listened to it when I was watching it.  We didn't try to hide things from her, but we did have to censor to a point and then make sure she understood things.  She spoke like an adult from a very young age and there were quite a few times we tended to forget she was so young because she knew (and used correctly) more big words than most adults we knew!  She has some memories of the bombing, mostly she remembers the pictures of the building after the bombing.

I think there is a happy medium, between knowing too much and not enough when kids are young.  It probably depends on the child.

[ViolaSebastian]

Hold onto your butts; I found a blog post from 2009 in which she talks about 9/11 in greater detail. I do think she’s actually that oblivious. She even talks in the comments about how she thinks that it was God shielding her heart from breaking into a million pieces. Shame God couldn’t spare the rest of us from it. And as a special bonus, she’s a teacher!

https://www.bowerpowerblog.com/september-11th/

[unsafetydancer]

I was 11 when it happened. I came home from school and thought I was watching a movie on TV until my dad told me that "some people had crashed planes into buildings and killed a lot of people." I remember that being the time I realised that there were terrible people in the world and not just in stories. I grew up in and still live in Scotland in a smallish town on the outskirts of our smallest city. I have no idea how anyone could not realise that people died. It blows my mind that this person did not realise this. I grew up with an overprotective mother, I was still able to figure this stuff out on my own.

[Don'tlikekoolaid]

911 still feels to me like it happened yesterday.  It sure changed everything.  Hubs and I drove over the Hoover Dam after 911.  We were pulled over and boarded by an Army Swat Team.  They looked at everything. They said they were worried about the dam being attacked.    They were super nice guys but they sure were serious.  We were in a motor home that’s why they pulled us over.

[PumaLover]

OMG this lady is a teacher?? Wow. I have no hope for humanity.

I was 22 when it happened and had just gotten married. I had just gotten to work and my boss and coworkers had brought in a TV and I saw it all. At home we had the news on for the next several days, just watching and waiting to hear how many of the missing people would be found. I witnessed a plane crash when I was 6 and seeing the planes hit the building just brought that back. It stayed with me for a long time. I was able to get on a plane recently and finally did not have panic attacks, aside from the first takeoff. 

My daughter is 14 and when she came home from school I asked her if any of her teachers talked about September 11th. She said, "What's September 11th?" She only knew it as 9/11. They hadn't really mentioned it at school so I pulled up some news articles and read them to her. She had no idea it was such a huge event. She also has no idea that because of 9/11/01 we had to take off our shoes and be scanned by the TSA before we got on our flights. It really did change everything, forever.

[Somer]

I have followed her blog for years. I like her. I don’t think she puts her best front forward here, but I think I can understand what she was trying to get across. I have personally never heard anything about this before.

That day was my very first day of classes at the university. I am Canadian and I heard about the attacks in the morning on the radio. It took some time to process my thoughts from “omg what a horrible accident!” To — “wait, it was on purpose?!!” — “WHY?!” — “omg there were PEOPLE on those planes!” — and inside the offices too! Omg omg omg!!! — “what’s happening?” — “are they coming here next?” — “I’m going to be near the CN tower and on the subway, is that safe?”... I mean a while for me was only a few minutes. I’m not defending her continuously reminding her followers, I don’t think that’s right. Her need to grieve is no less valid than any other American, or human being, affected by that horrible, horrible day. But out of respect for those who bear more personal scars it would be kinder to keep it offline instead of rubbing the old wounds year after year. Just my thoughts fwiw.

 

oh yeah - she is religious but definitely not fundamentalist. They go to church and reference god from time to time but that’s it for the most part.

Also, she stays at home with her kids and does blogging full time for income. I would argue that she is actually quite intelligent as far as I can tell. They definitely have the money to spend on all the fancy projects they do though!

 

[Beermeet]

21 minutes ago, Don'tlikekoolaid said:

911 still feels to me like it happened yesterday.  It sure changed everything.  Hubs and I drove over the Hoover Dam after 911.  We were pulled over and boarded by an Army Swat Team.  They looked at everything. They said they were worried about the dam being attacked.    They were super nice guys but they sure were serious.

We may have been around the same area at the same time.  I got married on 9/17/01 in Vegas.  It was so empty!  3 people from LI flew out to see me.  Almost couldn't and I told them no worries if they no longer wanted to fly out.  It was so gnarly.   My cousin was there and saw the people jump.  He started drinking heavy and family had to step in and help him.  My lifelong friend is NYPD and was on duty and was a fucking hero that day. She made her brother come out of the building even though they said stay, saved his life.  So many more stories.  It was the worst day in modern American history.  This chick can go F herself. 

A family friend flew us out on his private jet and it was really weird.  We drove a car up to the plane, loaded our stuff and took off.  No one even bothered us.  It was upsetting because,  well shit....9/11!  Didn't seem safe to us to allow this to be happening.  That was at LAX.

[FecundFundieFundus]

I've read enough of her blog to recognize her face and just remember I find her obnoxious. 

That is a bold move to admit on a public forum! They say that no publicity is bad publicity. I guess she's putting that to the test. 

I do remember where I was when I heard about the planes- in class, our teacher came in looking serious and told us even though the administration told her to let our parents break the news. She said we were old enough to know and allowed kids who had family in NYC or felt scared to call their parents on the class phone. Everyone was mostly excited about something so big and diferent happening, one girl tried her hand at histrionics because her dad sometimes worked in NYC (not the WTC and he was home at the time, not in any danger), but everyone pretty much processed it and moved on. I immediately filed it away as a bunch of strangers dying in a sad event I had no control over, like the Titanic, the Boston Strangler, earthquakes overseas, Yellow Fever epidemic, etc. Genuinely didn't understand why we were expected to endlessly mourn the victims of 9/11 but people dying every day in car wrecks or the hospital were just business as usual. Still don't, really. 

[Seahorse Wrangler]

I remember having dial-up internet that kept crashing that day. You couldn't get onto any of the major news-sites unless you were lucky.

I was talking to my husband who was supposed to be flying to Philly later that day when the south tower went crashing down. It was totally surreal. I was saying that the tower had fallen and he kept repeating it to several of his co-workers. One of them had driven to a nearby mall to buy a TV so they could see for themselves what was happening.

[Tangy Bee]

Wow....at first I thought you all were talking about someone who use to be Amish or something. I'm willing to bet there are other nomadic fundies that have NO contact with the modern, outside world. Imagine never seeing a magazine, tv, computer, or even listning to a radio. They wouldn't go to any stores, because they grow their on food and sew clothes. Have you seen a movie called, The Village? 

[frumper-rump]

My 19-year-old was only TWO on 09/11 and he understands the brevity and knew from a young age that many, many people died. It's something that was taught in school from the beginning for him in an age-appropriate way each 9-/11.

[DarkAnts]

I was 17 when it happene. I remember watching the second plane hit the tower on the news. I lived on the west coast so it was early in the morning. I remember that every tv channel even PBS was covering the story 24 hours a day for a few days. The school I went to had it on a large screen in the cafeteria. My dad was in the national guard and was deployed a few days later.

How could she miss this?!

[SilverBeach]

3 hours ago, Somer said:

I like her. I don’t think she puts her best front forward here, but I think I can understand what she was trying to get across.

What could that possibly be, except that she is exceptionally stupid? I cannot stand people like this. AARGH, some things are better left unsaid.

[metheglyn]

10 hours ago, Loveday said:

For me, as well. I live very  close to a massive Navy air base, and when THEY stop flying, you notice it (in fact, I don't think it had ever happened before, and certainly hasn't happened since). It was so eerie not to hear the jets doing their usual flight ops every day, and to look up at the sky and not see the jet trails. I will never forget it.

I was in college near Philadelphia that September. Since I've had enough exposure that I've learned to tune out all kinds of airplane noises the weirdest thing was actually *noticing* planes overhead for the period after 9/11 when there was no civilian air traffic. There were military planes flying all over the place but they were the only ones. And they sound different than big civilian planes so they were really noticeable and that just made it even more unnerving. 

[Ozlsn]

I read her blog post. How on earth she failed to realise from the footage that there were people in the planes, in the buildings and on the ground I do not know. I knew, and I was (a) on the other side of the world and (b) getting periodic updates as drivers - who were glued to their radios - came in to unload trucks. I still remember the driver who came in after the first tower collapsed - he was white and shaking as he told me. "There's 10,000 people work in those buildings, they think no one can have gotten out." 

You know I could understand it better if it wasn't her country, an attack on her compatriots in one of her country's most high profile cities. If she said she knew nothing about the Madrid bombings, or London, or even the ongoing war in Syria I would at least think that she was only ignorant of the world outside her borders. But how on earth she could be that oblivious to a major event in her own country and in her own damn timezone even while watching the coverage - I have absolutely no idea.

The cartoon that summed up the pause in the rest of the world as we waited to see how the US would react for me was the Bruce Petty "wounded giant" one, which had the US as a blinded, flailing giant - discussion in my then-workplace included the possibility that nuclear strikes would be launched in retaliation, although no one was sure against who. On many levels the attacks changed nothing - and on othets they changed everything.

[nastyhobbitses]

You...didn't realize that there were people in the buildings?

What the fuck did you think the World Trade Center was, lady? A really imposing sculpture? Saruman's summer cottage where only he and a couple of Orc servants live? Jesus tapdancing Christ, this lady's about as sharp as a goddamn bowling ball. 

[Lisafer]

14 hours ago, ViolaSebastian said:

Hold onto your butts; I found a blog post from 2009 in which she talks about 9/11 in greater detail. I do think she’s actually that oblivious. She even talks in the comments about how she thinks that it was God shielding her heart from breaking into a million pieces. Shame God couldn’t spare the rest of us from it. And as a special bonus, she’s a teacher!

https://www.bowerpowerblog.com/september-11th/

This is so freaking disgusting. Her sooooper special precious snowflake heart would have broken into a million pieces? How about the people who lost loved ones? God let their hearts be ripped apart.

"Call me an oversensitive sheltered moron..." I think on some level that's an admission that she KNOWS she's being an oversensitive sheltered moron. 

@Somer I'm afraid the only options to describe this woman are narcissistic or stupid. Or both. This post is something that should NOT have been put out in the public. It totally negates the suffering of people who actually experienced 9/11 and makes it all about her precious snowflake heart. And yet, in the other post, she says she was ignorant and lived in a bubble. So which was it? Too sensitive or too self-involved? Even she can't make up her mind.

[formergothardite]

14 hours ago, Somer said:

I don’t think she puts her best front forward here, but I think I can understand what she was trying to get across.

I am trying to give a benefit of a doubt, but how does one watch towers collapse after planes crashed into them and not understand it is a big deal? I'll give her a pass for not knowing exactly what was done in the world trade centers, but she sat there watching huge buildings crash down and didn't understand why people were upset. She sat there watching the television coverage where she had to see people running in fear of their lives and sobbing and couldn't(or wouldn't) understand why people were upset. 

And now she brings it up and makes 9/11 all about her. She seems rather self-absorbed. 

[CatholicLite]

22 hours ago, ViolaSebastian said:

She was at college at the time. No mention of Church or Jesus in her Christmas and Easter posts, and her mother is pictured wearing pants. I think she's just that dumb. 

ETA: She was born in New Jersey. Which means that she and her parents most likely lived there for awhile. HOW?

Oh my word. In New Jersey you could hear the crying out in the street in our neighborhood. If she lived in New Jersey at that time, she would have had to be completely self-absorbed. So many people we knew were affected. A friend we knew worked at the Twin Towers (he got out safe, though).

[HarleyQuinn]

How self absorbed could you possibly be to miss something like this? Presumably her professors talked about it? I was in high school at the time and when it happened we watched the news in every class all day long.

What goes on in her brain?