The answer is “No” from me too, but that’s because when I got home from work (our building closed early) on 9/11, I watched TV all day and all evening, and the TV was on when I went to sleep. However, when I left for work the next day, I shut off the TV and didn’t, literally, seriously, didn’t turn it on again until mid-January. I didn’t listen to the radio either. My head wasn’t in the sand. I read several different newspapers, and magazines such as Time and Newsweek. I read many articles online too. I just couldn’t handle the TV/radio coverage.
Now, I’m better able to process it, and I look forward to some of the coverage, though I’m watching hardly any network programming. I’m more interested in the documentaries on The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, Sundance Channel and PBS. I just counted and I have 27 separate programs set in my Tivo between the 8th and the 15th. Will I watch all of them? Doubtful, but I can pick and choose.
I need to immerse myself, because I distanced myself from it all too soon.
Did 9/11 rob you of a close family member or friend? Did it kill your best man, your wife, or your uncle? No? Well, you’re in the majority. You have a right to feel injured as a nation, but Bin Ladin did not personally kick you in the nuts. So stop the jingo and 24-hour CNN watching. Millions in this nation were not personally affected by September 11. Go out and make a difference on 9/11. Be proud of your country, don’t hate others. Give blood. Volunteer your time or money to a worthy cause. Don’t sit on your sofa and watch CBS “re-create” the events as they unfolded.
Myself? I am gonna visit the Church of the Holy Pillow, which is something terrorists cannot take away from me, and then I’m gonna get my veins punctured to save 3 people’s lives.
So somebody in, say Iowa, who has no personal connection to the events is supposed to feel nothing? And who the fuck does Red Dragon think he is to tell others how to feel?
Argh, I knew that was going to go over badly. I paraphrased the first bit from another website. The real gist of what I was trying to say is that instead of staying glued to your TV on 9/11, do something good for your country. Gobear, I am very sorry that 9/11 affected you in that way. It is surely a national tragedy. A person who has seen the attack on the Pentagon or the Twin Towers collapse has a different set of experiences for that day than someone who watched it on TV. There is a sense of terror that was experienced more by one set than the other. For someone who only read about it to pretend like they personally saw the plane hit the second building seem to be cheapening the event to me. Maybe I am just spewing shit today though. Sorry I offended you Gobear.
And, for that matter, who are you, Gobear, to indulge yourself thusly. Even if we grant special status to your feelings, due to your proximity, that does not entail the granting of extra bullying status, solely on the basis of your victimization.
If we have someone at hand who can lay claim to more victimization that yourself, are you thereby instantly neutered if they disagree with you.
Victimization does not render special insight. A cancer victim does not become an oncologist.
Who is responsible for the deaths of the CD, though?
The terrorists and those who harbored them, that’s who. By hiding amongst a civilian population, and bribing a government to the tune of $1 Million a month, Bin Laden and his ilk are responsible not just for the 3,000 on 9/11 but also for every “CD” since.
You know, people in some quarters are so interested in understanding the terrorists, explaining their actions, etc. As in “the Palestinians are oppressed” or “the terrorists were wrong but the Americans have troops in the Muslim holy lands, support the Jews, and have too many McDonalds in the world”. Funny how it only goes one way though.
How about this formulation: Al Queda brutally murdered 3,000 Americans without provocation, their Taliban hosts (well, stooges) wouldn’t turn them over, so we fought back and took them out. Why doesn’t the “understand” crowd understand that? It’s a pretty straightfoward case of cause and effect as I see it.
Rather unlike the machinations some go through trying to understand murderers, saying oppression, poverty, American hegemony and/or isolationism, support of Israel, etc. somehow caused the terrorism.
Believe what you want, but as PLD alluded to, couldn’t we have ONE day without the “blame the victim” crap? Please, out of politeness or decency or respect? Unfortunately, I doubt it.
I know where you’re coming from, pld, but, sadly, the people who want to fly airplanes into our buildings would enjoy seeing this demonstration of our pain. It only makes their perceived victory sweeter. No lessons will be taught to people who think mass murder is an appropriate response to political differences.
Personally, I don’t want to wallow in tragedy anymore. The news media should be keeping us abreast of any new developments related to the attacks, and informing us of any new threats. I think a brief remembrance of some kind is appropriate, too, but the media’s patting themselves on the back for showing us how “concerned” they are is almost masterbatory. I’ve cried enough.
Entirely? Not the man who loads the bomb, not the man who gives the order. Not us? Not us, when we know that all such military action, almost by definition, involves “CD”'s? The Taliban’s refusal to obey our righteous dictum, this is an absolution?
Nonsense. We decided that our needs overwhelmed thier lives, and thier lives were forfeit. Nasty break. Too bad. Can’t make omlettes, and all that.
Do you imagine, for one moment, that if the Taliban had said “get out, Osama” he would have meekly traipsed away? And if they had, and he had refused, would we have stayed our hand?
I think not.
We did not provoke the attack. Niether did they. We are innocent victims. So were they.
I’m going to reserve judgement until I’ve seen the coverage. Yes, I am going to watch. It’s my TV, my cable, my apartment, so nyah.
I think the coverage might not be upsetting. Now, last year, on Thanksgiving, I was almost driven back to bed. All the features were like, “This is Mary Smith, firefighter’s widow, and her twelve fatherless children…This is the Dass family, devout Muslims who can’t go outside because people throw rocks at them…This it Steve Jones, whose pregnant wife worked for Cantor-Fitzgerald, and now he drinks himself to sleep every night in the nursery they didn’t get to finish decorating…” But that was less than three months after the attacks, when the wound was still fresh.
Now, however, I’m confident that the news will forgo a 24-hour loop of the planes hitting the towers, to focus on the progress and recovery that has been made over the last year. Ground Zero is free of debris, businesses have regrouped, and people have had time to mourn. Babies have been born, and grass is flourishing on the graves of their namesakes.
No, I don’t mean to imply that everything has been healed over. But I’m counting on the media to prove to me that the world didn’t end.
The point, oh young one, is to remain vigilant. To honor those who gave and lost their lives. To remember that we are not safe. To remind terrorists that we have not forgotten. To show 3400 fatherless and motherless children that we love them. To make a statement that freedom comes at the price of being willing to defend it.
Of course, I suspect that you will wonder what the fuck is the point of all those things as well. If we forget that day, and pretend that it all is well as the new grass grows, then we will deserve when it happens again.
On Sept. 11, 2002, Americans will sort through emotions ranging from anger to grief, pain, and a profound sense of loss. But while the day will surely be difficult to endure, it remains unclear which television network will rise to the occasion, with its sensitive, cathartic anniversary coverage helping us decide what to feel while bringing a sense of closure to our national period of mourning.
What an effective work of satire, that it really made me examine my own feelings.
I am not certain what I feel about 9/11. I believe the event deies easy answers. And I find the idea of “closure” somewhat offensive. But I know I am not going to get my personal answers from watching TV.
IMO the programming is very emblemmatic of the desire of all too many these days to be told what they should think and feel. And seeking easy catharsis through group action, instead of doing the heavy lifting on their own.
There is a great difference between a hollow intellectual memory of what occurred and a lump-in-the-throat resolution never to forget. In my opinion, the latter is what we need, and the former is why 9/11 happened. America had lost its vigilance.
Thanks, DesertGeezer for summarizing things so nicely.
The local newspaper put 9/11 into every article on Sunday. The sports and entertainment sections was almost comical, dealing with how specific entertainment or sports stars were dealing with the tragedy. I’m sorry – I didn’t care what these people thought about politics / current events before, why should I care what they think now?
The short truth is, I’m tired of hearing about it all. Yeah, a lot of people died. Yeah, it affected a lot of people. And God bless those of you who are truly still suffering from it all. But it wasn’t an act of war any more than Tim McVeigh’s or the Unibomber’s actions were. It was an act of a group of fringe criminals. And the truth is, with all the attention we’ve given it, we’ve only served to exaggerate their status and diminish our own.
This society, with its freedoms, coordination, and faith in humanity, still rocks. And shame on the press that would have us wallow in our own self-pity and fear.
As for the additional investments we’ve made in “security” since then (not to mention the freedoms we’ve passed away), hardly any of it would have prevented the events from happening again. So one must conclude that we’ve added this security for another reason other than our own safety. But I’ll leave that thought for another thread.
As for the glib quotes of “turn off the TV and quit yer bitchen”… I do intend to turn off the TV. But the pathetic self-aggrandizing and playing off of people’s emotions that the press is going through is sickening, and deserves the contempt that it gets.
I should also add that locally, it’s been a lot more than just 24 hours of coverage. It’s been all the news available since last Friday, 9/6. Pathetic.
