Soon, I hope. very, very soon. But as long as there are people alive who were there, or who can benefit from America being fearful, the date will used and abused.
It will be after Pearl Harbor fades from memory. Pearl Harbor happened in a territory that had yet to become a state 18 years later. The 9/11 attacks were on US soil!
I won’t forget and I suspect nobody alive today will forget.
The flip side of the poll question is: How long before 9/11 becomes the same sort of Day Of Remembering that Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day are now? I would have that as a 10 year max thing,
For some people never, for some people it is now.
If we ever catch OBL that will shorten the period. Winning WWII put a lot of closure on Peal Harbor. So when we win the war on terror, and it stops being a political talking point, then we can move on with our lives.
I suppose the answer really hinges on what you think it would make it just another date. The memorials and such get smaller every year, which is to be expected, and you don’t see as many people sending tribute emails or making Facebook posts and such, but they’re still done.
“Never” is a long time, so I picked “not in the next generation.” It was a major terrorist attack on a major landmark in a huge city and it was documented extensively on television, the web, and every medium. And to make the date that much more memorable, it’s remembered primary as “9/11” - like if people said “remember December 12” instead of “remember Pearl Harbor” - so I don’t think too many people will forget the date any time soon.
Not until US troops are out of the Middle East. While we continue to wage wars that had their genesis in 9/11/2001, that day will remain a festering wound.
It will be mentioned forever.
If we had rebuilt the towers immediately, it would have been lessened. The Pentagon was rebuilt and it does not get the play the towers get.
Well, it will be an anniversary we mention/notice for around 75 years or more after it. That would take us to 2076 or so.
I can see it still being mentioned in 2101 as the centennial, but since everyone who can remember it will be dead, it will be historical rather than personal. I’m sure they’ll interview some 110 year old guy and ask him his memories, but it will be more of a curiosity and historical point.
I’m sure many years between the 75th and 100th anniversary, people won’t even mention it.
We don’t instantly forget one disaster or crisis when another one happens. I notice you didn’t mention the earthquake in Haiti. The Indian Ocean tsunami dwarfed September 11th in terms of deaths, but seeing as how it was in another country and had essentially no impact on day to day life in the U.S. I am not sure how it overtakes September 11th. Katrina was a combination of a natural disaster and many varieties of incompetence, and arguably that makes for a very different thing than a deliberate terrorist attack. In fact the damage and recovery from Katrina were probably worse.
True, but nobody made them happen…well, as long as you ignore the opinion of a certain crazy leader from south america. 9/11 and Pearl Harbor are probably as least as memorable because they were attacks as because of the lost of lives. The fact that someone caused a lot of people to die scary in a different way than an uncontrolable weather event is.
There are a lot of things I didn’t mention from the past decade. I just didn’t want to get into a litany of them.
And yes, 9/11 is different because we were attacked. So if we’re going to forget about it because of a larger disaster, it’s going to have to be a larger attack. I shudder to think about what that might look like.
Agreed. If a nuke - dirty or otherwise - is set off in NYC, then 9/11 will get pushed way back in importance. Unless of course they do it on 9/11 - knowing our love of sequels.
The poll didn’t include an option for “September 12, 2002”, so I didn’t vote. I suppose there was some significance to the anniversary, but after that? Around here, the biggest event tomorrow is going to be a pet adoption festival at the local animal shelter. It’s just not significant any more.
Well if a bigger attack happens it’ll be forgot, but it’s fading even now. Last year I was watching the evening news and they mentioned it, and I said “Oh yeah it’s 9-11 today.”