# When will they stop doing the 9/11 bell ringing ceremony? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 11, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599 "2013-09-11T20:24:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/1 "2013-09-11T20:24:54Z")
I mean, it will seem silly to do it 500 years from now. One last time in 2101? Or stop sooner (or later)? What’s the over/under? Are they still doing something in Pearl Harbor every Dec. 7? I think of a NYT article I once read about the statues around the city dedicated to 19th century war heroes that even historians have trouble remembering now. (And then of course there is Ozymandias.) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/2 "2013-09-11T20:46:30Z")
Have they stopped remembering the Alamo yet? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/3 "2013-09-11T21:02:57Z")
On the day the terrorists win. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/4 "2013-09-11T21:21:29Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > On the day the terrorists win. LOL, I can just see the 22nd century FOX Holographic News saying this. ---
**Author:** ![Recusant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@Recusant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recusant)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/5 "2013-09-11T21:22:43Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Have they stopped remembering the Alamo yet? Emphatically. “Remember the Alamo!” is only a proper rallying cry when you could substitute it with “Here’s for slavery and/or treason!”. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/6 "2013-09-11T21:36:11Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Are they still doing something in Pearl Harbor every Dec. 7? Yes, on the USS Arizona. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/7 "2013-09-11T21:42:44Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > What’s the over/under? Are they still doing something in Pearl Harbor every Dec. 7? Yes. The Arizona Memorial, which is run by the Natinal Park Service, is usually the site of a wreath laying (at least) every year. It is also designated a U.S. Military Cemetary. > **[USS Arizona Memorial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Memorial)** > > The USS Arizona Memorial, at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors and Marines killed on USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and commemorates the events of that day. The attack on Pearl Harbor led to the United States' involvement in World War II. > The memorial, built in 1962, is visited by more than two million people annually. Accessible only by boat, it straddles the sunken hull of the battleship without touchin... ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/8 "2013-09-11T22:30:04Z")
What they do at the Arizona is respectful and subdued, IMHO, and they should do that for as long as they want. The bell-ringing and name-reading for 9/11 is bordering on wallowing. I think a nice memorial is at each 9/11 site, and a quiet, reflective ceremony is in order for a few years to remember the fallen. And that should be all. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/9 "2013-09-12T00:06:35Z")
Eventually they’ll stop doing a simulcast on the news networks of ceremonies at each impact time mark and expecting the President to stop what he’s doing to be in them (\*). I’m sure it will continue to involve a solemn, moving memorial act at WTC, Shanksville and the Pentagon lawn, like it continues to be at the USS Arizona. Maybe also at firehouses and other first-responder stations. The reading-of-names, especially at WTC site, and at firehouses and police precincts in NYC that lost members on the day, will likely be done for as long as there is a large number of survivors around who feel like having it. (\*The current CinC isn’t going to be the one that stops that. IIRC he got flak for one year not showing up at Arlington on Memorial Day when most Presidents have done the same once or more in their term with little notice) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/10 "2013-09-12T00:22:15Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > What they do at the Arizona is respectful and subdued, IMHO, and they should do that for as long as they want. > > The bell-ringing and name-reading for 9/11 is bordering on wallowing. I think a nice memorial is at each 9/11 site, and a quiet, reflective ceremony is in order for a few years to remember the fallen. And that should be all. History of WWI memorials, and WWII, would tend to prove you shortsighted. By about 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/11 "2013-09-12T00:29:17Z")
> [@Recusant](#): > > Emphatically. “Remember the Alamo!” is only a proper rallying cry when you could substitute it with “Here’s for slavery and/or treason!”. You clearly have no knowledge of the War for Texas Independence. As to the OP, they haven’t even finished the new WTC building - 12 YEARS after the attack. Maybe if mind-numbing bureaucracy and infighting would have been put aside and it was done, say, 5 or 6 years ago (name any other skyscraper that took 12+ years to build - you can’t) then that would help the healing process. Fuck, we’ve barely got a proper memorial center in NYC, and nothing in Pennsylvania yet. People will stop “wallowing” in it when something bigger comes along, or when most of the people alive on that date are dead/senile. Don’t worry, it will fade with time, but it will never be forgotten. In the meantime, pardon the fucking inconvenience. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/12 "2013-09-12T02:56:08Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > What they do at the Arizona is respectful and subdued, IMHO, and they should do that for as long as they want. > > The bell-ringing and name-reading for 9/11 is bordering on wallowing. I think a nice memorial is at each 9/11 site, and a quiet, reflective ceremony is in order for a few years to remember the fallen. And that should be all. Agreed on both counts. Are they planning to stop laying the wreath at the Arizona when there are no longer any survivors? Or will they continue for children of those survivors, or what? > [@Werekoala](#): > > People will stop “wallowing” in it when something bigger comes along, or when most of the people alive on that date are dead/senile. Don’t worry, it will fade with time, but it will never be forgotten. In the meantime, pardon the fucking inconvenience. Never say never. Who today “remembers the Maine”? Anyone besides history buffs? Anyone still commemorate that in a visceral way? ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/13 "2013-09-12T03:22:18Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Never say never. Who today “remembers the Maine”? Anyone besides history buffs? Anyone still commemorate that in a visceral way? Ok, so in 115 years it will be mostly forgotten except by history buffs. Point is, if even history buffs remember it, it’s not forgotten. For that matter, I always remember March 15 and make comment on it, even if only to myself - and that’s been awhile since it was an historical date of some world-changing import. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/14 "2013-09-12T03:28:44Z")
> [@Werekoala](#): > > Ok, so in 115 years it will be mostly forgotten except by history buffs. In 104 years, you mean. 😉 I nitpick, but still…I mean, actually: based on what I remember from my childhood, I would say we could subtract another three decades at least and say that in 75 years at most, when my youngest child is (one hopes) still a spry 76 year old, it will be pretty well faded away for the general non-buff population. I think 50 years from now it will be pretty close to there as well. What I wonder is where things will lie 20 years from now. At that point, no one much under 40 will really remember it firsthand, and that strikes me as when an event can start seeming like just some boring old irrelevant thing that old people natter on about. ETA: > [@Werekoala](#): > > For that matter, I always remember March 15 and make comment on it, even if only to myself - and that’s been awhile since it was an historical date of some world-changing import. Ides of March? Beginning of Syrian civil war? Maine statehood? A visit to the March 15 Wikipedia page provided me those options and several more, but I’m not really sure which one applies. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/15 "2013-09-12T14:13:29Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Agreed on both counts. Are they planning to stop laying the wreath at the Arizona when there are no longer any survivors? Or will they continue for children of those survivors, or what? My guess is that “Yes, they will continue the ceremony.”. There continues to be a lot of visitors to the USS Arizona/Missouri museums, and I think the tourists may feel that the Park Service aught to be doing _something_ on December 7. The complex is more than just a statue or a plaque covered in bird shit. It’s a fairly busy, active place. (There is also a WW2/submarine museum, the USS Bowfin, as well.) ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/16 "2013-09-12T14:41:19Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > In 104 years, you mean. 😉 > > Ides of March? Beginning of Syrian civil war? Maine statehood? A visit to the March 15 Wikipedia page provided me those options and several more, but I’m not really sure which one applies. 2013 - 1898 = 115. 🙂 And yes, the Ides of March - Caeser with a dagger up the strap, as they say. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-they-stop-doing-the-9-11-bell-ringing-ceremony/668599/17 "2013-09-12T15:04:53Z")
> [@Werekoala](#): > > 2013 - 1898 = 115. 🙂 Okay, so I should have said 103 years rather than 104. (It has been 12 years since 9/11, so 115-12 is 103.)