9/11/2001 - Where were you when Bush knocked down the towers?

kegkilla · Sep 8, 2016

I think the events of events of 9/11 have left much of our generation with a phantom pain so to speak. It's hard not to want to return to the mindset we were in pre-9/11 where "terrorism" wasn't on anybody's radar, everybody felt completely secure and the American mindset was nothing but unbridled optimism towards the future. But even if we were to effectively stomp out terrorism around the world, I don't think we're capable of returning to the pre-9/11 way of life and way of thinking. It will take multiple generations to erase the damage that was done to the American psyche that day. And because of that, the terrorists have already won.

AladainAF · Sep 8, 2016

I don't understand why 9/11 changed so many things security wise, especially at airports. In reality, at it's core, it was just another hijacking (x4) that instead of blowing up the airplane they decided to ram it into buildings instead.

Hijackings were rampant in the 1970s, and 1980s and really tapered off in the 1990s. 2000+ has just as many hijackings at the 1990s. The security is all theater, but I still wonder why people actually feel "safer" with all of it. It really hasn't made any differences.

One other thing, is this obsession with "safety". Drives me nuts. It's a dangerous world out there, deal with it.

List of aircraft hijackings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

chaos · Sep 8, 2016

security theater

kegkilla · Sep 8, 2016

AladainAF said:
I don't understand why 9/11 changed so many things security wise, especially at airports. In reality, at it's core, it was just another hijacking (x4) that instead of blowing up the airplane they decided to ram it into buildings instead.

Hijackings were rampant in the 1970s, and 1980s and really tapered off in the 1990s. 2000+ has just as many hijackings at the 1990s. The security is all theater, but I still wonder why people actually feel "safer" with all of it. It really hasn't made any differences.

One other thing, is this obsession with "safety". Drives me nuts. It's a dangerous world out there, deal with it.

List of aircraft hijackings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I see your point but acting like we shouldn't step up airport security after 4 planes are simultaneously hijacked and used to kill thousands of people is pretty dumb.

Chukzombi · Sep 8, 2016

considering the lengths these fuckers are going through to smuggle bombs on board, the extra security isnt bad, just the retarded TSA and their anal cavity searches on little old white ladies instead of young ME men shouting aloha snackbar because they dont want to appear like they were racial profiling.

chaos · Sep 8, 2016

Actually stepping up security would be nice. Making everyone take off their shoes is stupid.

Ameraves · Sep 8, 2016

I was 24 and living in Northern California and was actually on my way to the airport to fly to Southern California to get my divorce finalized. I was listening to the radio and by that time both towers had already been hit, but it still wasn't abundantly clear what was really going on. By the time I got to the airport they had just announced that all flights were grounded nation wide. I decided to head into the airport anyway just to see what was happening. The silence in the airport was absolutely eerie. Everyone in the airport was just crowded around the TV's watching the towers burn. I recall watching the first one fall and was just astonished as to what was really happening.

I worked in downtown San Francisco at the time running a restaurant, and my assistant manager called me and was pretty upset. He was from New York and really wanted to head home for the day, so I went in and covered for him. I remember the city being so quiet for the next few days, it was really crazy.

Paranoia · Sep 8, 2016

sleeping staying up all night playing Broodwars , woke up from a phone call asking if i had turned on the TV yet. and I started watching a few minutes after the first plane hit.

iirc I thought to myself is this real when the 2nd plane hit.

TJT · Sep 8, 2016

I was 14 and in 9th grade. I had spent the early AM, like 4 to 730 baiting hooks, loading ice and prepping on my Dad's boat (commercial fisherman). Got to school at like 0745. Go to sit in whatever class I had that day and teacher was all. Go to the library now and check this out. Which was weird because I overheard talk about "fire at the Twin Towers" when I was sitting in the library reading before I went to the classroom.

I distinctly remember watching it and not giving a shit and was happy I would get to go home and sleep as I was tired from being up all morning doing shit. Even though that was normal for me. But thought the general panic of people was funny. Thinking our town was a target. Small coastal town in Southern Oregon. Calm the fuck down everyone.

Couple of years later I joined the Army. Still didn't give a shit.

Mrs. Gravy · Sep 8, 2016

I was in middle America, working as a speech/language therapist at a large state funded home for people with developmental disabilities. I had walked into one of the wings where about 16 men lived to work with a few of them...group sign lang. class. They and their direct care staff people were all in the living room area, gathered around the television. I stood, dumbfounded, trying to make sense of what I was seeing...no more therapy sessions that day.
I can still picture it perfectly...who was there, the furniture in the room, the panic of so many trying to reach our friends and relatives who worked in Manhattan.
I was 1000 miles from it, insulated and distressed...cannot fathom what it felt/feels like to have been closer like several of you.

Gavinmad · Sep 8, 2016

kegkilla said:
I see your point but acting like we shouldn't step up airport security after 4 planes are simultaneously hijacked and used to kill thousands of people is pretty dumb.

DrSpooge · Sep 8, 2016

TJT said:
I was 14 and in 9th grade. I had spent the early AM, like 4 to 730 baiting hooks, loading ice and prepping on my Dad's boat (commercial fisherman). Got to school at like 0745. Go to sit in whatever class I had that day and teacher was all. Go to the library now and check this out. Which was weird because I overheard talk about "fire at the Twin Towers" when I was sitting in the library reading before I went to the classroom.

I distinctly remember watching it and not giving a shit and was happy I would get to go home and sleep as I was tired from being up all morning doing shit. Even though that was normal for me. But thought the general panic of people was funny. Thinking our town was a target. Small coastal town in Southern Oregon. Calm the fuck down everyone.

Couple of years later I joined the Army. Still didn't give a shit.

I'm a year older than you and can definitely relate to parts of this. I certainly give a shit now, but for a while it was definitely an event more defined by adults' reaction to it.

Breakdown · Sep 8, 2016

Mist said:
Diablo 2 trade chat. Some dude was like "lol some idiot just crashed his plane into the world trade center."

Never played D2 again. The next 18 months were insane for me.

Not trying to be a dick, but this post on its own out of context is hilarious.

I was 17 in high School. Me and friends skipped school and just fucked around all day playing hooky. Got home and had no idea WTF was going on. My mom was home from work early going apeshit because my brother lived in NY. he lived and worked in Harlem but my mom doesnt understand how New York City works, and was convinced my brother was dead because she couldnt get him on the phone.

Turns out he was on a Gay Cruise throating some hogs. He eventually found our and called home.

This was the first event I really dove into. Became sort of obsessed with following the story and learning more. Was deep in the net for a few weeks.

TJT · Sep 8, 2016

When I was going through AIT in the Army Interrogation school we got to look at the research artifact used to construct all of the connections to the 9/11 hijacking. This was just like 4 after it happened and it was SO much more detailed than whatever the public was getting at the time.

I remember that being extremely interesting and I went over it very carefully. I forget the name of the application it was in but it created this huge interactive web and had tons of government reports/footnotes to every single piece of it. It was a massive thing.

kegkilla · Sep 8, 2016

Gunnar said:
Not trying to be a dick, but this post on its own out of context is hilarious.

Don't bite, Mist is fishing for someone to ask what happened so she can complain about how her shitty life really isn't her fault it's because her mom watched a lot of TV after 9/11.

Soygen · Sep 8, 2016

Gunnar said:
Turns out he was on a Gay Cruise throating some hogs. He eventually found our and called home.

9/11 really did affect us all in our own way...

Adebisi · Sep 8, 2016

I wish I knew what it was like to go through airport security pre-911.

Gavinmad · Sep 8, 2016

Adebisi said:
I wish I knew what it was like to go through airport security pre-911.

Have you ever walked down a hallway without being groped by some dude who couldn't even get a job as a cop?

Congratulations, you know what airport security was like before 911.

ZyyzYzzy · Sep 8, 2016

Twilight Sparkle said:
Have you ever walked down a hallway without being groped by some dude who couldn't even get a job as a cop?

Congratulations, you know what airport security was like before 911.

Still wish I knew.

Adebisi said:
I wish I knew what it was like to go through airport security pre-911.

Zaara · Sep 8, 2016

14, home period. We had TVs in every room and the teacher put it on maybe five minutes before the first tower collapse. I get the feeling most of us didn't really understand the gravity of what we were watching, but as someone said: the reaction of the adults is what got us all worked up. When we were let out for the next period the halls were full of the most fanciful bullshit gossip you could imagine. That there were planes everywhere, all over the US, flying to designated targets. That it was an act of war and the start of WWIII. They sent us home early.

9/11/2001 - Where were you when Bush knocked down the towers?

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