# WTC: Flame me, but that was really horrific awsome... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 18, 2001, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315 "2001-09-18T02:27:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/21 "2001-09-18T04:36:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Gazoo \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Weirddave \* > > \*\* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > \*Originally posted by The Great Gazoo \* > > > \*\* > > > And, please, no amateur psychology. \*\* > > > > None would do any good. Professionals would have a hard time with this. \*\* > > Sorry. I have a hard time taking psychological advice from a guy named Weirddave :rolleyes: \*\* Could be a good point. Or it could be that only someone comfortable enough about who and what he is can happily call himself “Weird” and not worry about it. Could also be that someone who feels the need to trumphet themselves as “Great” is despertly trying to hide an inferiority complex the size of Texas, one that makes him sit in a darkened room, eyes gleeming furiously in the reflected light of the TV showing scenes of mass murder and destruction over and over while masturbating until blood seeps between your claw-like fingers from your tortured cock muttering over and over “I’m still alive, someday someone will take notice of my wretched existance”. Go away, kid, you’re not worth the effort it takes to despise you. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/22 "2001-09-18T04:42:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jack Batty \* > \*\*I think we really have to be careful here. Yes, in a “holy shit, I’ve never seen anything like that before” kind of way, it was a truly original sight to behold. > > But we can’t forget what happened. I’m really not as bleeding heart as you probably think I am. In fact, I’m not even going to flame the OP, because I think I know the sentiment from which he speaks. > > But the thing is this – I made the point to someone today … it’s been a week. I don’t think I’ve seen a video of the actual plane crashing into the building since last Wednesday. Every time they show the towers collapsing on TV I sit up and pay attention. I still can’t fully grasp the loss of life and pure destruction that went down. I could probably see those images every hour on the hour for a year and I still wouldn’t fully get it. And since I haven’t seen all of it in almost a week, I feel I’m losing the importance. I mean I almost want to see those shocking images so I don’t forget. > > So while I understand the cold, detached, “wow look at that”, attitude – I can’t be flippant about it yet. I can’t talk about it without thinking about the hundreds of dead people. I think it’s important to not do that. Although, as I said, I understand it. > > I know I’m being really wishy-washy here, but I guess I’m just trying to understand both sides of the issue – it was an “awesome” sight to behold (as in I watched it in awe), but the horrificness of it was too overwhelming to view simply as that. > > Am I making sense? Should I stop drinking for the night? \*\* Obviously, it is too early. I grasped the loss of life in the first hour or so. I went through the horrors of the people trapped in the building many, many times in the first day - I didn’t sleep much the first night. Well, flame on. I won’t continue this thread any more. No use hurting any more feelings. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/23 "2001-09-18T04:43:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Gazoo \* > \*\*Now you’re threatening me?? That’s your response?? > > You should think about that. \*\* Are you threatening him in return? The threat is percieved by you. I see it as he simply does not want to know you, shake your hand, etc. > [@](#): > > \*\*You also think about why you read a thread that was titled thus. If I was close to this disaster, I would not have even looked at this, unless I wanted to get some anger out at someone. \*\* And look who’s offering amateur psychology now! Here’s just a thought - what other reason might a mod have for checking out a possibly inflammatory OP? Hmmm… I won’t spoon-feed you the answer, just ponder that for a moment. > [@](#): > > \*\*But I am truly sorry for your losses. I think I didn’t make that clear enough at the start. \*\* Let’s look at the first lines of you OP again, with my italicized comments: > [@](#): > > It’s been a week now, which is maybe not long enough. _So even though you admit the possiblity people may be hurt by these comments, you’re going to spew them anyway instead of showing some tact._ > > It’s a tragedy, I feel really bad for anyone who has relatives, friends, etc. > > But, … _But you’re not going to let their pain stop you from telling the world how entertaining you find this and watch it when you can just to see things go boom and not think about the real lives affected by this, even if those real lives may be reading this right now._ You’re being an insensitive ass. First by posting this, then by defending it in the faces of those who’ve been personally affected by these events. If you were truly sorry about their losses, maybe you would have thought about their feelings before posting about how spectacular the explosion was and how you want to see it again and again. ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/24 "2001-09-18T04:57:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Gazoo \* > \*\*Obviously, it is too early. I grasped the loss of life in the first hour or so. I went through the horrors of the people trapped in the building many, many times in the first day - I didn’t sleep much the first night. Well, flame on. I won’t continue this thread any more. No use hurting any more feelings. Sorry. \*\* Simulpost. Disreagrd my previous post. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/25 "2001-09-18T04:59:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Gazoo \* > \*\* I won’t continue this thread any more. No use hurting any more feelings. Sorry. \*\* Thank you. I appreciate it. I may never sleep a whole night again. And If I ever do, I think I’ll be saddened by that, too. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Vega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9adbd/32.png) [@Lord\_Vega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Vega)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/26 "2001-09-18T05:10:13Z")
The only thing I find amazing about the collapses is that they came down pretty much on top of themselves. I don’t even want to think of the destruction if one or both of the towers had fallen over. Vega ---
**Author:** ![coosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@coosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coosa)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/27 "2001-09-18T05:24:36Z")
Tell me, **Gazoo** , do you jack off while watching this over and over on videotape? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/28 "2001-09-18T05:55:28Z")
**Gazoo** , hope you are ready for the smackdown this thread’s gonna get from the assembled multitude. Folks, I was as horrified as anyone as I watched the attack play out. What’s more, after being bombarded by these images for days straight, I’ve just spent the weekend sitting by my father’s deathbed (he had emphysema and cancer) and was there Sunday morning when he drew his last breath. So I think I can safely say that I’ve witnessed enough death for one week, thank you very much. But really, I was wondering when someone was going to bring up the weird, creepy beauty of the TV images of the WTC attack, and was thinking of posting about it myself. The geometric precision of the towers; the clear early-autumn sky; the way the planes seemed to disappear whole into the buildings, as if absorbed; the cascading tinsel of the aluminum sheathing and glass, the towers’ amazingly symmetrical collapse; the businessmen covered in dust to the point where they looked like New Guinea mudmen; all this, plus the incredibly massive scale, lent a certain theatrical unreality to the proceedings, certainly as seen on TV. The cameramen who filmed the event, many of whom were pros from the local TV stations, enhanced this air of theatre simply by doing their jobs, which involved selecting positions and angles that would provide the clearest, cleanest images possible. The result was an almost uniquely picturesque disaster, and in fact that was the very quality that creeped me out the most about the WTC attack. If not for the fact that there were real people in the planes, on the streets, in the buildings, it could have been some crazed performance art piece, like the time the Ant Farm collective crashed a Cadillac into a stack of burning TV sets. Hollywood has spent decades perfecting the art of portraying disaster in the most colorful and elaborate ways possible; for some viwers, their impressions are unavoidably desensitised by frequent exposure to the ever-more spectacular filmed explosions of the _Con Airs_, the _Speeds_, the _Armageddons_. This is undoubtedly a contributing factor to **Gazoo’s** detachment from the harsh reality of the event; it surely fostered a certain detachment in me, in the moments before the human cost hit home. I guess what this all means, as if we haven’t got enough to worry about, is the possibility of some twisted individual, perhaps with some sort of Luddite axe to grind against technology, thinking “Gee, that sure looked pretty; I’ve gotta try it myself”. Nothing mitigates the enormity of this disaster; but in terms of the media communicating the sadness and solemnity of the event, less might surely would been more: fewer angles, fewer replays, less crisp lighting and color, somehow a bit less of the tower’s collapse exposed to the prying public eye. I am absolutely certain that magazines such as _Frieze_ and _Contemporary Visual Arts_ will be discussing the impact of the WTC attack in just these terms in the coming months. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/29 "2001-09-18T07:35:20Z")
Oh, I hope he doesn’t get slammed to hard. Honestly. I’ve so far donated more than 100 bucks to the Red Cross. I wear the ribbon every day. I’m a Navy veteran. I may have to cancel my vactaion - not because my flight is canceled, but because the person I’m about to visit flies in military planes for a living, and might not be there when I arrive. And might die after I depart. But still… There’s this song…it starts out “Oh Lord my God…when I in **awesome** wonder…” Awesome is the word The Great Gazoo is looking for. Not ‘cool’ or ‘beautiful’. “Remarkable”, “outstanding” - > [@](#): > > A mixed emotion of reverence, respect, **dread** , and wonder inspired by authority, genius, great beauty, sublimity, or **might** , according to [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com). Don’t slam him for looking at that Slo-Mo view of that flight cutting into WTC 2 like a knife through butter and thinking “Duuuuuuuuuuuuude”. It’s so incredible, so out-of-our-world… He’s not at all discounting the horrible, or unthinkable. Or all the people who are just…gone. Just acknowledging the sheer power and, yes, _awesomeness_ of what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/30 "2001-09-18T11:00:38Z")
I think the word he’s looking for is terrific, from it’s true meaning. > [@](#): > > _From Websters_ > Main Entry: ter·rif·ic > Pronunciation: t&-'ri-fik > Function: adjective > Etymology: Latin terrificus, from terrEre to frighten > Date: 1667 > 1 a : very bad : FRIGHTFUL b : exciting or fit to excite fear or awe > 2 : EXTRAORDINARY \ > 3 : unusually fine : MAGNIFICENT \ Very bad, exciting fear and awe, extraordinary and magnificent. Sounds like the reaction the OP is trying to describe. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/31 "2001-09-18T11:50:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Gazoo \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by manhattan \* > > \*\*Free advice for you: If you ever find yourself at a dopefest where I am in attendance, make certain not to introduce yourself. \*\* > > Now you’re threatening me?? That’s your response?? > \*\* It’s not a threat, you twit, it’s a snub. And a damned good one. A threat would sounded like:_“If you ever find yourself at a dopefest, I better not see you or you’ll be leaving in a bodybag.”_ See the difference? **Manhattan** was saying that you’re not someone he wants to meet or know. And I agree. Sociopaths (“O wow! Lookit the buildings fall! Look at the fireball of the explosion! People are dying! It’s beeeeauutiiiiful!”) aren’t pleasant dinner-guests. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/32 "2001-09-18T12:06:23Z")
This OP reminds me of when my husband got in his motorcycle accident. He was hit by a truck and thrown in the air about 20 feet. The kids that witnessed it right behind him in traffic got out of the car, ran over to him, and in the midst of saying “Dude, are you OK? Holy Shit!” the one kid just blurted out “Dude, that was fucking awesome! You musta gone at least 10 feet straight up in the air!” My husband was so shocked by his reaction that he had to laugh a little. Later he laughed a lot. The kid had just frankly never seen anything so “cool” in his life and couldn’t help letting him know about it, I guess. I don’t know about the OP- I think the analogy to the car wreck is appropriate. You wouldn’t show up at a wake and say “Yeah, he’s dead- but the fireball! Did you SEE that?” An apology is in order, I think. Many people lost loved ones in that disaster. Even if it’s the most “awesome” (as in “I can’t believe my eyes!”) think you’ve ever seen, now is not really the time to express that. I also think there is a problem with using the term “awesome”. It sounds to me like it’s being used as in “Dude- lots of people are dead, but that was AWESOME!” as opposed to “I was in awe of the power behind the collapse of that building.” Something about using the term “AWESOME!” makes me think of Keanu Reeves. Even he is probably smart enough not to use it at a time like this. Zette ---
**Author:** ![headshok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@headshok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/headshok)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/33 "2001-09-18T12:10:36Z")
I spent a summer in NYC as a bike messenger about seven years ago. Made lots of deliveries to the WTC. Did the tourist thing and went to the top, took pictures, etc. I’m still having trouble accepting the fact that the towers are gone, or that I probably met and talked with people who lost their lives last Tuesday. So, “awesome” in the sense of “It’s hard to wrap my brain around the magnitude of the disaster”? Yeah, maybe. But “awesome” in the sense of “Wow! It’s better than Hollywood could do!” No. And it’s tasteless and insensitive to even mention it at this time, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/34 "2001-09-18T12:31:22Z")
For me, watching it, I was struck that it seemed, “Beautiful in its death throes, like some giant star exploding and steaking out across space.” That doesn’t mean I wasn’t horrified, just struck by the immense asthetic aspect of it. I was sickened by this feeling, let me tell you. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/35 "2001-09-18T13:42:05Z")
I do think the OP was insensitive as hell… But he has a point. There’s a current in human souls that seeks out the unique, the startling, the horrifying and watches, fascinated, as events unfold. Look how popular Edgar Allen Poe was, Stephen King is, scary movies and books are, the Haunted Mansion at Disney is, car wrecks are, news coverage of disasters is. For God’s sake, in the 1970’s John Forsythe narrated a show called “When Disaster Struck” which was nothing more than footage and accounts of disasters with horrendous body counts. It’s all part of the apparent human desire to see events unfold, the more dramatic the better. And nothing is more dramatic than death. Even the _risk_ of death is a draw. Skydiving, rock climbing, any of those silly Xtreme games. Or look at the popularity of first-person shooter games? Who hasn’t played Doom? Or Quake? As a society we **adore** violence and violent acts. When a camera captures it the public can’t get enough. God knows I’ve learned that enough covering news. That’s why I retreat to marketing and the trade press. The newsmakers and those who read the news too often give me the willies. So I understand the OP. I might not want to…but I do. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/36 "2001-09-18T15:55:30Z")
Reading this thread reminds me a bit of something written by our own **Cervaise** , in his [review](http://moviegeek.homestead.com/files/armageddon.htm) of the movie _Armageddon_: > [@](#): > > And that, I feel, says it all about this movie, in which everything is played for superficial excitement and laughs. Deep Impact had the right idea in trying to consider the seriousness of the situation, but couldn’t quite pull it off; Armageddon doesn’t even bother. When things are destroyed and people get killed, it has no emotional resonance; it’s done simply because it’s visually interesting. The best example of this is during the New York meteor storm, when the top of the Chrysler building is chopped off and plunges into the street like a lawn dart: The camera looks up from below as the spire plummets toward us, and several people can be seen screaming past. It’s a terrifying image, and it’s all the more horrific because the filmmakers don’t seem to realize how awful it is; to them, it’s just kind of cool. ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/37 "2001-09-18T16:18:19Z")
Well, at the risk of becoming a pariah as well, on a _purely aesthetic level_, I agree with **Gazoo**. If I had seen those images _out of context_, I certainly would have thought, “Man, that was _stunning_.” Particularly when the second tower fell, the way it collapsed down the middle and evenly blossommed out as it went down - it was, in an architectural and “coolness factor” way, stunningly beautiful. But, of course, it is near impossible to view the images out of context, so it becomes, as said, horrificly beautiful, a magnificent train wreck and, ultimately, profoundly unsettling that makes you shudder. Like the graceful tornado, like the photographic lightning bolt, like the hand of God coming in the form of Nature, it is only beautiful from a distance. Esprix ---
**Author:** ![Syzygy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Syzygy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syzygy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/38 "2001-09-18T16:31:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > **Sociopaths (“O wow! Lookit the buildings fall! Look at the fireball of the explosion! People are dying! It’s beeeeauutiiiiful!”) aren’t pleasant dinner-guests.** Fenris, I’m surprised. That was not the sentiment expressed by **Gazoo** at all. I myself had trouble getting my mind around the event. It was too surreal, the sheer amount of death and destruction. I frequently travel into the city on business, and I still cannot imagine what NYC actually looks like, now that the WTC is gone. I felt the same awe as **Gazoo**. I was struck by the magnitude of the destruction, and for a while, I marvelled at the collision of the 2nd plane, and the collapse of the two towers. Perhaps it was because I was at work, and the streaming Internet video made it seem more like a movie than reality. But then I snapped out of it. The enormity of suffering hit me head on, and only recently have I been able to sleep for more than an hour at a time. Was **Gazoo** insensitive in posting so soon? Perhaps. Did he fail to say in his OP just how he felt about the horror of the attack, and instead focus on the “coolness” of the collapse? Yes. But that does not mean he’s a sociopath. He may not have apologized, but he did finally express his horror in a later response. I notice **Gazoo** has been flamed repeatedly, but those who have somewhat sympathised have not. Is it because **Gazoo** hasn’t been here long? Will I receive flames because I’ve only been here a couple of months? I hope not. I’m trying to be honest, and while I don’t agree with **Gazoo** ’s choice of topic, I certainly can’t condemn him for it. I’ve seen better on this board, but I’ve also seen far worse. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/39 "2001-09-18T16:35:22Z")
It was-if you take it out of context as said-the colors, the plunge, the movement…if you keep it purely physical. But it was a horrific beauty. Like seeing a volcano erupt-it’s beautiful, but dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315/40 "2001-09-18T16:36:28Z")
Y’know it’s funny. I’ll be the first to concede that there is sometimes aesthetic beauty in the worst horror. We closed down my office and I came home at about 10:00 AM that day. My wife and I sat glued to the TV. Now, my daughter loves to comment on things on the TV. If she sees a plane, she says “plane.” When something exciting happens, she says “wow!” or “Pretty!” Somehow though, even though she was only 23 months old she was able to pick up the emotions of my wife and myself, and the tone from the TV. She knew something was wrong, and though she was fascinated by the film of the disaster. But, she didn’t say anything, though clearly she was interested, and wanted to. You see, even a two year old is inherently capable of enough sensitivity to know even without understanding why, that it **was not appropriate.** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-flame-me-but-that-was-really-horrific-awsome/82315.md?page=3)