# Why the hard-on for NY? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 7, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138 "2003-09-07T18:44:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/21 "2003-09-08T14:14:48Z")
The point of the attacks was not to break down critical services. There was no attempt to hit the infrastructure, for instance, and if you wanted to attack the financial system of the U.S., there are more important places even just within Manhattan than the World Trade Center. The point was to create terror. Hitting a famous location creates more terror than hitting a critical nerve center of the financial or political world or of the infrastructure. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/22 "2003-09-08T14:34:47Z")
Let’s not forget the trillions of TV cameras in NYC or that, especially for barely-trained pilots, the WTC made a much easier target than the New York Stock Exchange which is, what, ten stories high. [aside] I have to admit that I didn’t have too much trouble with Mayor Daley shutting down Meigs Field on Chicago’s lakefront after a generation of Flight Simulator players have stuffed a Cessna 182 into the Hancock Building. [/aside] ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/23 "2003-09-08T16:36:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lucwarm \* > > 1. Let’s face reality: New York is the capital of the world. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dalovindj \* > Now THAT is fighting ignorance. I’ve been trying to explain this to people for years. \*\* There’s a “World” on the other side of the Hudson?😕 Wendell Wagner/dropzone - I doubt if blowing up the stock exchanges would cause more than a temporary inconvenience. The AMEX building was closed after 9/11 but trading still went on (my friend had to commute to Philly for a few months). Most data is backed up somewhere halfway across the country. They have contingencies for everything from floods and earthquakes to bomb threats and alien invasions. And it doesn’t change the actual ownership of assets. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/24 "2003-09-08T18:35:33Z")
msmith: Granted, but knocking down both WTC towers didn’t cause much more than an economic “temporary inconvenience” for all the same reasons. Tragic for the people and their survivors, yes, an interesting way to get all the wrong kinds of attention, sure, but it hardly brought the economy of the West to its knees. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/25 "2003-09-08T18:44:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jonathan Chance \* > \*\*Actually, I once postulated that a GREAT way to shut down the US Government would be to destroy the bridges across the Potomac. > > There’s what…5 of them? And one train bridge and tunnel. > > Destroy those and more than half the federal workers can’t get to work. Either Northern Virginians trying to get into DC or DC and Marylanders getting to the Pentagon and Arlington. > > Bring it right to a halt, I tell you. \*\* That would be different from a normal Washington rush hour just how, exactly? My understanding of the choice of the WTC, according to the Qaeda view of the world, was that it was several factors: 1. Symbol of American/Western economic imperialism 2. They had to be full of Jews, since they control Western economics 3. Shock value - taking the “war” back to the source, shaking the infidels out of their smugness and superiority complexes The DC targets appeared to have been the White House and Capitol, but that doesn’t seem hard to explain. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/26 "2003-09-08T18:47:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lord Ashtar \* > \*\*Yeah, let’s give them more ideas. Brilliant. \*\* Yes, because Al-Qaeda gets their ideas from the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/27 "2003-09-08T18:55:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tars Tarkas \* > \*\*Yes, because Al-Qaeda gets their ideas from the SDMB. \*\* Just in case they do, I have a great plane on how to fly a plane into a cave. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/28 "2003-09-08T19:07:32Z")
great _idea_ even. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/29 "2003-09-08T19:18:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*Just in case they do, I have a great plane on how to fly a plane into a cave. \*\* well, i know[This](http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/features/conspiracies_story.cfm?instanceid=54281) was my idea… ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/30 "2003-09-08T19:46:41Z")
Who’da thunk it, I thought they were bakesale types. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/31 "2003-09-08T21:53:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dropzone \* > Granted, but knocking down both WTC towers didn’t cause much more than an economic “temporary inconvenience” for all the same reasons. Tragic for the people and their survivors, yes, an interesting way to get all the wrong kinds of attention, sure, but it hardly brought the economy of the West to its knees. \*\* Of course not. Unlike in the movies, civilization does not collapse when one of it’s tallest buildings is destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Raven\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Raven\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven_1)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/32 "2003-09-09T04:08:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lucwarm \* > \*\* There is a certain amount of anti-semitism among many Islamic extremists. > \*\* Dare I say… understatement of the new millenium? …to date anyway… -Rav ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/33 "2003-09-09T07:32:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lord Ashtar \* > \*\*Yeah, let’s give them more ideas. Brilliant. \*\* You know, I’d be very glad if terrorists actually did read these boards. There is no better place to wage a war on ignorance than in the very heart of ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/34 "2003-09-09T07:33:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Windwalker \* > \*\*You know, I’d be very glad if terrorists actually did read these boards. There is no better place to wage a war on ignorance than in the very heart of ignorance. \*\* well, i consider \*\*SeeThruArt \*\*a terrorist…to sanity!!! ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/35 "2003-09-09T08:17:19Z")
I though this was going to be a Pitting of ESPN’s Baseball Tonight hosts. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/36 "2003-09-09T17:39:52Z")
You must also realize that terrorism is theatre. The audience is in two parts. The vicitms of terror are supposed to feel terrorized. But the second part of the audience is made of Arabs from around the world. Those dissafected youth living in poverty and have no upward mobility and those in a position to finacially contribute to terror. Each terror act is also recruitment for new terrorists. On 9/11, 19 well trained terrorists died. Terror organizations don’t spend their human capitol as freely as most think. If the operatives are going to die they need to die spectacularly to recruit more terrorists and to encourage terroists in training. And you’ve got to understand that the dissaffected youth in the middle east know NYC. They knew the twin towers so when al-shitheads knocked them down al-shitheads looked big in their eyes. People who donate money and support are impressed by the destruction of the twin towers. But neither group, the could become terrorists or the money lenders are ever going to be impressed by the destruction of the Quail Creek Crossing shopping center in Enid Oklahoma. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138/37 "2003-09-09T18:20:38Z")
Zebra writes: \> But neither group, the could become terrorists or the money \> lenders are ever going to be impressed by the destruction of \> the Quail Creek Crossing shopping center in Enid Oklahoma. Well, now we can figure out whether Al-Qaeda reads the SDMB. If the Quail Creek Crossing Shopping Center goes up in flames, we know who to blame. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hard-on-for-ny/200138.md?page=1)