I live in Brooklyn BTW and although I didn’t like the outcome of the election it does seem to have run much smoother than the election in 2000 and I’m pleased that so many voters turned out. But I kind of felt that GWB would win.
However. after the election, there wasn’t this strange smell in the air that people don’t want to talk about or even acknowledge. Yes 9// made me angry and confused but the depression hit hard a few months after and really, I’m just now coming out of it. It still depresses me to look down an avenue and not see the towers.
I doubt that I’ll feel depressed about the election 3 years down the road. Mostly I expect to be saying ‘I told you so’ to my relatives that live in the Midwest.
9/11 was like a stranger coming out of nowhere and sticking a knife in my chest.
The election was more like my family telling me I was no longer welcome.
The former was far more intense, stirs much greater emotions and will be remembered for a much longer time, but the latter is more depressing.
Sort of along the lines of what** js_africanus** said. September 11 was a bad feeling but it was an open-ended feeling, like maybe it would lead to things getting worse, but maybe it would lead to things getting better. The election is just depressing because obviously nothing changes. The election makes me feel very hopeless.
I could have written this post, except I don’t live in Brooklyn anymore (and miss it desperately).
That smell gave me a panic attack many times. I lost two friends in the WTC, and was suicidal a month after it happened. I was so terrified that I could barely force myself out of my apartment for months.
Depressed? I guess you could call it that. Suicidal would be more like it.
I’m upset at the election results and was depressed for a few days, but NOTHING compared to what I felt after 9/11. And like Zebra, in some ways, I feel like I’m just coming out of it.
9/11 by such a wide margin it doesn’t even bear considering. I literally could not believe what I was seeing, and I was terrified for my wife in dowtown DC, and for our country’s future.
I didn’t vote for the guy, but I don’t believe Bush is a monster who is doing irreperable harm to the US. Add to that the fact that I had predicted, and accepted, that Bush would win long before election night. No contest.
9/11 enraged me, my primitive, vindictive side wanted to see nukes flying as soon as possible, my logical, rational side said to wait to find out who was responsible, then saturation-bomb them back to the stone age with MOAB’s and Daisy Cutters, almost as effective as nukes, with none of the nasty radioactive fallout effects, 9/11 left me numb
however, whenever i see a picture of bin-laden (notice lack of capitalization) i find myself longing for the nearest convenient firearm loaded with the nastiest, most powerful round available…
the election, sadly just proved my theory that most of the general public are idiots, i’m too burnt out to care anymore about the election
Look, another thing about 9/11 is that we all learned shortly afterwards how great our nation, and even the world, can be when we really need to be. People were volunteering, the rest of the world supported us, and was with us. There was nothing depressing about that, and it was infact inspiring. While the tragedy was huge, and it made a lot of people angry, it didn’t make me very depressed at all. Sure it made me scared, but depressed is something that happens when the situation is hopeless. I don’t think anyone thought the situation was hopeless. It was one quick attack, and we knew that we were going to take care of it as soon as possible. I couldn’t really find too much to be depressed.
The election was very bad, though, and extremely depressing in a way that can’t be compared to 9/11. Its just that simple. The idea that a small percentage of nutjobs in the Middle East want to kill us is bad, but they aren’t us, and there aren’t that many of them. The fact that half of the country hates me, and what I believe in, is depressing. The fact that we voted for excuses and coverups doesn’t make me happy either.
One good thing about the election is that Bush can’t blame anything on Clinton anymore. The bad thing is that the economy will probably pick up and vindicate him in the eyes of many.
One more that found the election more depressing. I was pissed and a bit scared after 9/11, but really don’t remember feeling depressed.
I think if you did a poll asking about a more general negative emotion, you’d get a different result. For example, I bet if you asked if people were more “upset” after 9/11 or the election, the result would be overwelmingly in favor of 9/11.
While “depressed” may only cover part of the emotions I experienced on 9/11, there’s still no contest as to which was more depressing. I was evacuated from downtown Pittsburgh, and I remember wondering if things would ever be right again, feeling the contrast between the day’s horror and the joy of my best friend’s wedding less than a week before.
On the other hand, while the election may have been deeply frustrating, it was overshadowed by a bit of news I got that evening while watching the returns with friends. I learned my childhood best friend, the one who shaped who I am, the one who was my best and at times only friend from when I was 4 until I was 14, had had a stroke. I’ve no doubt the country will survive Bush; I’m pretty sure we’ve survived worse. At the time, I wasn’t so sure my friend would survive the stroke.* I may dislike Bush and think he’s a lousy president, but there’s no contest between September 11, 2001 and November 2, 2004.
CJ
*I’ve seen my friend and spoken to her since then; she’s doing well, all things considered, but she’s a bit disappointed that, since the stroke happened on Halloween, she couldn’t vote for Bush! I didn’t tell her how I voted.
I don’t think “depressed” is the right word. “Which one upset you more?” might be a better phrasing. Just my .02
My guy won the election, so I wasn’t upset. References to the WTC, whether on TV or in books (Stephen King’s last two Dark Tower books have fleeting references to the attacks) hurt my heart, like a flick of a lash.
Every time I see the Twin Towers (like in Men in Black, when the alien is giving birth and J is trying to find out why the father is bugging out, and the towers are in the background) I focus on them and lose the thread of the plot for a few seconds. It’s like, damn, once upon a time they were there, the tallest buildings in the world. Then in less than two hours they were destroyed by fanatics.
It’s like BC and AD, there’s such a difference.
Vix, I’m so sorry to hear you were there. I watched it on TV, and that was horrifying enough. I can’t imagine actually trying to get out of the building, not knowing what was going on.
9/11 no question. I expected both outcomes although 9/11 ran late in my expectations. I thought it would happen at the millennium.
I will always remember that day as if it were yesterday. I know exactly where I was standing when I heard the news and I knew the buildings would fall (the nature of the construction) so the anticipation of their collapse was VERY VERY stressful.
The election. I already knew that human beings could be killers. I’ve seen coverage of the Oklahoma City bombings, the first World Trade Center attack… terrorism is nothing new, even in America. 9/11 just felt like an intensified OKC. But knowing that 51% of Americans would re-elect someone who we’ve consistently seen fucking up, someone who within one year turned around the world’s sympathy for us into full-on hate, someone who is on record as a liar–that’s depressing.
9/11 made me fear the enemies outside my borders. The election made me think about who I have to fear in my own backyard.
The reactions I had from 9/11 were shock, horror, and a general un-nerved feeling, but not depression.
Meanwhile, I expect any candidate that I support for any office to lose. As a result, it is a Very Good Thing when one of my candidates wins, and I’m able to shrug off my candidates losing.
Definitely the September 11th Attacks. I was directly involved, suffered classic PTSD and am still depressed on some days, or if I have to deal with those memories.
By comparison, the predictable theft of the election for the second time running holds zero depression value for me. I knew after the 9/11 Attacks that he’d make sure he got to stay in the Seat of Power. Similarly, ( and I’ve mentioned this in G.D. threads ), I believe absolutely that Jeb Bush will succeed G. Dubyahh. Once again, Florida will be wildly suspect and yet he will carry the day.
By then, at least one Supreme Court Justice will have died and been replaced as befits the sitting President’s whim and pleasure. The SCOTUS will chose Jeb.
No doubt. No depression, just the sad reality of it all.
September 11th? Yeah. That depresses me to this day.
I was more depressed over the election. This was my country, choosing someone that I personally feel* will spell disaster for our nation in the years to come-we might not even feel the full impact until much much later.
September 11, however, had me scared shitless. I was having panic attacks and fears of possible nuclear war and more attacks to come. I think that was one of the scariest experiences of my life.
I don’t think you can compare the two.
*Note-I’m not saying that people who voted for Bush are idiots. Just that’s how I feel about the man.