Yea, 9/11 was a bad event...but...

Urgg, every year its the same where people start saying how horrible 9/11 was and how tragic and how amazingly terrible an event it was...

Ok, yes, 3,000 people dieing is bad (not saying we shouldnt think of the people who were needlessly killed)... but what about the rest? Why dont i hear about the strong feelings of sadness when the day the iraq war started comes about? Is it because the people dieing there arent "one of us" ?

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

Just saying, if you are talking about how horrible 9/11 was and how much it moves you and how sad you feel...you better be saying the same things towards a much more horrible event in our recent history when that day comes along.... (and not just for "our" people, you should be feeling the same thing towards ALL the innocent humans needlessly killed....)

Really bugs me when i see all the activity and "sadness"...and then the rest of the year is silent and back to normal... just smacks of phoney masks people put on....

I think people are just saddened more by 9/11 because it hit so close to home, and it wasn't like New York was a war zone or anything and that people saw it coming.

Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with you that everyone should look at what's going on around them, but it's hard when you never hear about it on the news (stupid CNN...) and never read about it in the paper. Information like that website you posted is not readily available to the general public, whether events like 9/11 are plastered everywhere on the news, TV and magazines.

9/11 was a horrific tragedy. it was devastating, shocking, and senseless. it deserves to be remembered.

 but you do have a point lorik. i mean, look at whats going on in africa. rapes, genocide, starvation, torture, mutilation, AIDs. they are people just like us. wonder how many people died in africa today :/

and iraq...

and all the places we never even hear about....

I agree with babyd...this was an attack on home soil, one that was not associated with war, and to most people seemed to come from "nowhere".  And....it was 3000 people in 1 day.

This is something that touched America directly, which rarely happens.  We tend to get secure and confident in our location and our safety...this event shaked that confidence. 

I agree that people should feel for all the other "innocent humans needlessly killed", but this was close to home......example: what are you going to feel more?  when your neighbor's child dies of cancer or when you see a statistic that 1 in every 1000 children die of cancer?  Technically both children died.

I'm not so much upset that people remember 9/11 as I am that they seem to forget our troops.  You're right...life just goes on.  This war has NOT inconvenienced our country one bit.  Remember the day when everyone chipped in and supported our military in any way they were able?  Boy oh boy are those days gone!!! 

And those that want to pull out...well I had a son that served in both Iraq and Afghanistan...if he had died there (supporting his country)...I can't imagine how I would feel if THIS country just bailed out of the fight.  Then his sacrifice would have been totally in VAIN.  Now that we're there, we better not return until we can return with HONOR.

Yeah, I sooo see your point.  I do feel sad everyday too for the people in Iraq, all the people who have been killed there, and the families that have been screwed up too.

The 9/11 thing is very in our face on this day though, lots of news, lots of family members speaking out, the whole memorial thing.  So I think that's what brings out all the strong feelings of sadness.  Plus so many people watched the towers fall on TV, whereas we don't see the suffering elsewhere replayed over and over hundreds of times.

Also feel bad for those devastated by natural disasters:  tsunami, earthquakes, hurricanes. 

I don't think it's that its wrong to feel so much for 911 - I think it's wrong not to feel AS much for Iraq, Darfur etc.  Media plays a huge part in what we care about depending on how or even IF they depict these events.  We forget we are a global community. 

FT

Speaking as someone who was there watching it happen on a bright sunny and beautiful Tuesday morning 6 years ago, when my innocence was stolen as I watched men and women jump from the Towers and then those two beautiful Twin Towers collapse into nothing but dust, 9.11 resonates heavily in our hearts b/c we were violated and unready. Unsuspecting men and women went to work that morning, like any other morning and never came home that night. NYC was plastered in fliers. There were fighter planes zooming overhead for days. The smell of burned rubber lingered for months.

There is nothing wrong with recognizing an anniversary of a very painful day. Or even talking about it routinely during the year. The pain of that day was so enormous that many people I know have post-traumatic stress disorder. Talking helps us move deal with the pain we all experienced that horrible day.

Your point about recognizing the other atrocities in our world though is well taken. That you might want to take up with the media and our government and if you have opportunities, teach the young people of today what it means to be a world citizen. Encourage your children or loved ones to read other newspapers besides US papers, watch international news. Educate your own families.

However, that does not mean we cannot mourn 9.11 and what it did and has done to our country.

And while educating your families, make sure you educate your families on US Foreign Policy.

What happened on 9/11 was a tragedy, but it was inevitable. We brought those events into fruition through our abysmal foreign policy in the Middle East.

Seriously. I mean... we claim to not play favorites, but we clearly back Israel whom the rest of the Middle East DEEPLY resents. We put a military base in a Muslim Holy City but were not sensitive to the natives. Not to mention the 10-year Embargo in Iraq.

For all those who suffered, whose families and friends suffered, I am sorry. I really am. You were innocents, in as much as you, personally, were never responsible for these policies but we, as a nation, given our foreign policy over the last.. 40 years or so... we brought it on to ourselves. Let's keep this in mind NOW, and start trying to be a little more aware and sensitive before something else happens.

Remember the day when everyone chipped in and supported our military in any way they were able?

You mean by buying tiny flags for their cars? o.O

The thing is, this sudden "caring" about death in the world by america just points out the blatant lack of true caring we have. Most the year, they go about all happy and cheerful...completely ignoring all the really horrible things going on... then suddenly come together to mourn 3,000 deaths (and, though it was a bad thing, there are a lot worse things happening ...each year...)

Its as if they are just giving mouth service to make themselves seem patriotic to other people (without anything really behind it). The newpapers suddenly start putting out heartfelt articles, people start giving deep recounts and how it changed them forever.... and then, a couple days later, they go back to their lives having paid the due they owe to caring about the world.

Its just annoying to see people suddenly become all patriotic, putting on a front with flags outside their stores or whatever else they do... and then the rest of the year they are indifferent to the mass amount of suffering going on.

Im sure a lot of political leaders are going to get up and tell the people how much this event has hurt them and show how sensitive and understanding they are.... yet the things they say arent real, its just an act... never will you hear them saying things that the population doesnt want to hear (talking about darfor? body counts in iraq? no, thats going too far, thats just a little too sad to talk about...we want to feel sad, but just a little bit, and just for a day so we feel we have done our part).

Dont get me wrong, i think really mourning 9/11 is fine. I think there is nothing wrong with remembering such an event... but if you do just that as your yearly payment to make yourself feel like a caring and aware person....you need to rethink why you are mourning them.

All this false mourning and "caring" only spits on the graves of those 3,000 who died. I think thats why it bugs me so much...it becomes not really about those 3,000 people, they become just dead tools being used to help people further their own interests (newspapers trying to look nice , make yourself feel patriotic, and all that other crap).

I agree with you.

I feel better seeing this post and seeing that a lot of people here are concerned about the people in Iraq and Africa and the natural disasters, which hurt people in poor countries worst.  Yeah jules817 and anewdawn, the ongoing tragedies in Darfur and most of Africa are really horrific.   I worry about whether I should be spending so much effort on my health when there are whole countries full of people who die at an average age of less than 40.  Maybe I should spend more time/money on volunteer work instead of my gym membership, the new bike I want, etc.  I know it's not my fault that world politics are the way they are, but as a middle class American I benefit from the unfair trade rules that make the US so much richer than the rest of the world.  Sometimes I think what I'm doing is okay because I have to take care of myself too. I don't have any major health problems or anything though.  It's pretty hard to find a good balance for myself.  I don't think I'll resolve that dilemma anytime soon.  The posts here will motivate me to keep trying to do more of the little things I can do about the some of awful atrocities in the world. 

I respect people for caring about what happened on 9/11. And I really agree with lorik and everyone who said it's important to pay attention to other problems in the world too (even though the other stuff isn't on the news as often as it should be).  

nods

"Ok, yes, 3,000 people dieing is bad (not saying we shouldnt think of the people who were needlessly killed)... but what about the rest? Why dont i hear about the strong feelings of sadness when the day the iraq war started comes about? Is it because the people dieing there arent "one of us" ?"


Ok, well instead of complaining, why don't you start posting on these other anniversaries as well?

..... why? Because there is no anniversary.

Innocent people die each and every day. 1? 2? 10? 1000? Does the quantity decide which deaths we should acknowledge?

The deaths of innocent people is a constant reality. Randomly picking out a couple of the dead because they make the news isnt the way it works.... its a constant understanding and awareness of this that people should have (with an awareness of the current deaths and events that are causing them).

Personally? I think about it often, its hard not to. Its not a sadness though (always felt sadness over deaths is selfish). Its just what is... and many of the deaths are ones we should be striving to lesson (but we dont, because apparently people only care about things when they get a reminder in the newspaper or on TV...)

This is the case with another forum i go to. Everyone was so wanting to help a poor child that needed plastic surgery (he was burnt over his body and disfigured). And this struck me as really sad...not the event....but that these people were in such a hurry to help this ONE CHILD because he made it into the news, when every day there is MUCH worse happening to MANY more....where is their desire to help them?? What made that child special? Other then he got more publicity??

Its the same with 9/11....i dont take this day to mourn them. To do so would be taking a day to single them out from the other countless who have died (you know lots of innocent people have died on 9/11 each year for the last 6 years? but they dont quite rate i guess....)

The entire thing is hyped up and overshadows the other equally deserving people who have died....and that is a real shame....

Lorik,

There have been several studies done demonstrating how people will feel more empathy and compassion for an individual over a vast group of people.  In the case of 9/11, Americans tend to internalize it more because it is closer, and because it a smaller number compared to the numbers that perish everyday in third world countries.  Nicholas Kristof addressed this psycological tendency in his article titled "Save the Darfur Puppy" (stating the maybe the best way to focus attention on Darfur is to give it a cute mascot  - people respond to cute mascots).

It's quite an interesting article:  http://coalitionfordarfur.blogspot.com/2007/0 5/save-darfur-puppy.html

yes,
us people are just poems
we're 90% metaphor
with a leanness of meaning
approaching hyper-distillation
and once upon a time
we were moonshine
rushing down the throat of a giraffe
yes, rushing down the long hallway
despite what the p.a. announcement says
yes, rushing down the long hall
down the long stairs
in a building so tall
that it will always be there
it's part of a pair
there on the bow of noah's ark
the most prestigious couple
just kickin back parked
against a perfectly blue sky
on a morning beatific
in its indian summer breeze
on the day that america
fell to its knees
after strutting around for a century
without saying thank you
or please

and the shock was subsonic
and the smoke was deafening
between the setup and the punch line
cuz we were all on time for work that day
we all boarded that plane for to fly
and then while the fires were raging
we all climbed up on the windowsill
and then we all held hands
and jumped into the sky

and every borough looked up when it heard the first blast
and then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed
and the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar
looked more like war than anything i've seen so far
so far
so far
so fierce and ingenious
a poetic spectre so far gone
that every jackass newscaster was struck dumb and stumbling
over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and on
and i'll tell you what, while we're at it
you can keep the pentagon
you can keep the propaganda
you can keep each and every tv
that's been trying to convince me
to participate
in some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate retribution
perpetuate retribution
even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution
is still hanging in the air
and there's ash on our shoes
and there's ash in our hair
and there's a fine silt on every mantle
from hell's kitchen to brooklyn
and the streets are full of stories
sudden twists and near misses
and soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters
with tales of narrowly averted disasters
and the whiskey is flowin
like never before
as all over the country
folks just shake their heads
and pour

so here's a toast to all the folks who live in palestine
afghanistan
iraq
el salvador

here's a toast to the folks living on the pine ridge reservation
under the stone cold gaze of mt. rushmore

here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors
who daily provide women with a choice
who stand down a threat the size of oklahoma city
just to listen to a young woman's voice

here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now
awaiting the executioner's guillotine
who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads
to find peace in the form of a dream

cuz take away our playstations
and we are a third world nation
under the thumb of some blue blood royal son
who stole the oval office and that phony election
i mean
it don't take a weatherman
to look around and see the weather
jeb said he'd deliver florida, folks
and boy did he ever

and we hold these truths to be self evident:
#1 george w. bush is not president
#2 america is not a true democracy
#3 the media is not fooling me
cuz i am a poem heeding hyper-distillation
i've got no room for a lie so verbose
i'm looking out over my whole human family
and i'm raising my glass in a toast

here's to our last drink of fossil fuels
may we vow to get off of this sauce


shoo away the swarms of commuter planes
and find that train ticket we lost
cuz once upon a time the line followed the river
and peeked into all the backyards
and the laundry was waving
the graffiti was teasing us
from brick walls and bridges
we were rolling over ridges
through valleys
under stars
i dream of touring like duke ellington
in my own railroad car
i dream of waiting on the tall blonde wooden benches
in a grand station aglow with grace
and then standing out on the platform
and feeling the air on my face

give back the night its distant whistle
give the darkness back its soul
give the big oil companies the finger finally
and relearn how to rock-n-roll
yes, the lessons are all around us and a change is waiting there
so it's time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets
and clear the air
get our government to pull its big dick out of the sand
of someone else's desert
put it back in its pants
and quit the hypocritical chants of
freedom forever

cuz when one lone phone rang
in two thousand and one
at ten after nine
on nine one one
which is the number we all called
when that lone phone rang right off the wall
right off our desk and down the long hall
down the long stairs
in a building so tall
that the whole world turned
just to watch it fall


and while we're at it
remember the first time around?
the bomb?
the ryder truck?
the parking garage?
the princess that didn't even feel the pea?
remember joking around in our apartment on avenue D?

can you imagine how many paper coffee cups would have to change their design
following a fantastical reversal of the new york skyline?!

it was a joke, of course
it was a joke


at the time


and that was just a few years ago
so let the record show
that the FBI was all over that case
that the plot was obvious and in everybody's face
and scoping that scene
religiously
the CIA
or is it KGB?
committing countless crimes against humanity
with this kind of eventuality
as its excuse
for abuse after expensive abuse
and it didn't have a clue
look, another window to see through
way up here
on the 104th floor
look
another key
another door
10% literal
90% metaphor
3000 some poems disguised as people
on an almost too perfect day 
must be more than pawns
in some asshole's passion play
so now it's your job
and it's my job
to make it that way
to make sure they didn't die in vain
sshhhhhh....
baby listen
hear the train?

-- ani difranco

Santonacci....excellent article.  Thanks for posting. :)

Remember the day when everyone chipped in and supported our military in any way they were able?

I would surmise that this is a reference to World War II, when people grew victory gardens to be more self-supportive, when people brought any kind of scrap metal they could find to collection stations to help the war effort, when factories that produced consumer goods changed their production lines to producing needed war equipment and DIDN'T gouge the taxpayer for it, when women went without stockings to save the petroleum that the nylon was made from, and when luxuries (like sugar) were rationed, hell in the UK, all food was rationed.

If this war was as important as President Bush would like us to believe, his advice to us wouldn't be, GO SHOPPING!  But that's how we know that this war is really about profits.

I would also remind people not to confuse 9/11 and the war in Iraq.  One has nothing to do with the other. 

I am saddened every time I hear someone say We have to fight them over there so we don't fight them over here.  Is that what kind of cowards we have sunk to become in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?  Why don't we fight them where they really are - in Afghanistan and Pakistan?

I would definitely fight for my home, for my town, for my state, for my nation.  Our way of life is WORTH fighting for.  Our Constitution and Bill of Rights is worth fighting for.  Invading other peoples' countries and occupying them.... NOT WORTH IT.

How can we, the brave Americans, be more afraid of a few hundred extremists than we were when there were thousands of nuclear missiles pointed at us by the 'evil empire'?

Remember the day when everyone chipped in and supported our military in any way they were able?  Boy oh boy are those days gone!!! -tammymc3793

 You mean by buying tiny flags for their cars? o.O-loriklorik

 Way back when, war consumed the entire nation. Vietnam, WWII, WWI. Back when every man from 16 to 60 put on a helmet and grabbed a gun and fought for this country. The women left at home to wait for the letters. Back when ALL these women got up and went to work making bullets and shells, sacrificing pots pan and anything metal to "The Cause" When this country wasn't  just where we live, but our life. When the stars and stripes brought pride to your heart and tears to your eyes. And not just on holidays when the media shoves it in your face. 

9-11 joins these wars because for the first time in decades the ENTIRE nation came together as one to shout WE ARE AMERICANS! Where is it now? Saved up for holidays once a year? Run out and buy your little flags once a year to prove to your neighbors you still care. The only status you will get is that of a fowl weather American.

This country needs to remember what it is. Soliders are getting killed and we sit on our asses whining about taxes and the cost of living! It's time for America to Kick ass and take names! Shyt or get off the pot my grandpa always says. Either DO something over there or get the heck out!