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10th anniversary of the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Point of Order, Aug 30, 2011.

Page 3 of 8
  1. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I always see images of the towers. I often turn on movies on TV that have them and it jolts me.

    I am totally against it being a "holiday." Holidays turn into days off from work/celebrations/days of rest.

    I don't memorialize 9/11 every year, and my instinct is not to this year. It was one of the most traumatic days of my life, and the months afterward really affected me deeply.

    I wrote this on another thread a few months ago. A block away from where they are building the new tower, they opened a 9/11 museum in a storefront. Down by where Century 21 is. I had walked by it, but had never gone in. One day we decided to go in. ... and what I saw made me sick to my stomach. To my right they had some exhibits. Pictures, displays, a model of what the new buildings and memorial will look like. And it was somewhat appropriate, although a bit cheesy and not all that remarkable.

    But the first thing I saw was to my left. It was a gift shop area. And it was crawling with tourists, who were buying trinkets and key chains and trying to get their piece of 9/11.

    I am sure that money is going to survivors, or at least I hope so. But it still made me sick. Looking at the people in there -- who were largely tourists from elsewhere -- it felt like to them 9/11 was somehow less than real. As if watching it on TV, it had turned into a kind of CGI effect in a movie instead of the horror that it was.

    I am probably overly sensitive about this. But I just have no desire to see that day made into a holiday or commercialized in any way or turned into anything but a bad memory that I will never escape.
     
    The Big Ragu, Aug 31, 2011
    #25
  2. HC

    HC Well-Known Member

    I'm going to NYC next weekend for an "Opera Boot Camp", flying in Friday afternoon and coming home Saturday night on the overnight Greyhound. I'm taking the bus for monetary reason but I admit, the thought of flying home Sunday gave me pause.
     
    HC, Aug 31, 2011
    #26
  3. albert77

    albert77 Well-Known Member

    I'm glad this anniversary falls on a Sunday, so I can watch NFL football and not be beaten over the head with 9/11 all day. I get the need for many to reminisce and reflect, but that's one day I just really don't want to relive.
     
    albert77, Aug 31, 2011
    #27
  4. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Nice little fantasy world you live in there, but do you really, really, really believe that the NFL - the NFL, for god's sake - isn't going to beat you over the head with 9/11 all day long?
     
    Dick Whitman, Aug 31, 2011
    #28
  5. Small Town Guy

    Small Town Guy Well-Known Member

    People have been predicting something would happen on every anniversary since 2002. Actually, not even predicting. In some cases, guaranteeing. Some year they might be right. But I've never had a fear of it and it won't be any different this year.

    Ragu, I know the area you're talking about and completely understand the sentiment. That said, it was basically inevitable, and I don't know that it's necessarily a terrible thing. You have similar things for so many events. Gettysburg, Pearl Harbor, D-Day Memorial, etc. Ten years after those events, the people involved in them probably would have been similarly appalled to see people buying trinkets about the event. There's no doubt if the people buying the things were from elsewhere, they couldn't have experienced the day like New Yorkers did. But at the same time, it was an event that traumatized the whole country, not just those affected by it most or those who lost so many friends and loved ones. Buying a 9-11 key chain seems somewhat absurd but I think for the most part, people do realize just how terrifying that day was, how horrible. And maybe that tiny museum - and the gift shop, which also includes some of the best books done on the day - helps make it more real for the people who perhaps only did see it on TV.

    But I agree on the holiday aspect of it.
     
    Small Town Guy, Aug 31, 2011
    #29
  6. albert77

    albert77 Well-Known Member

    Hmmmmm. Yeah, good point. Maybe I should just turn the volume down.
     
    albert77, Aug 31, 2011
    #30
  7. CarltonBanks

    CarltonBanks New Member

    Ragu,
    I would probably have the same mixed feelings. Yes, it is good they are raising money for the families of the victims...but klitchy 9/11 souvenirs is a little tacky. It could never be a holiday or national day of service, but I think making people think about that horrible day more frequently would do this nation some good. Especially the aftermath which, for the last time I can remember, the entire nation was together and the petty little left/right squabbles were put on the back burner. On the heels of the 2000 election it was an amazing thing. I don't know if we will ever be that together as a country again.
     
    CarltonBanks, Aug 31, 2011
    #31
  8. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    At the 9:11 mark of each quarter of each NFL game on the 11th, play will stop and stadiums will play God Bless America (1st quarter); America (2nd), New York, New York (3rd), and New York State of Mind (4th).
     
    DanOregon, Aug 31, 2011
    #32
  9. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    You joke, but I'm sure it has been considered.

    If I had realized opening day was on 9/11, I would have been cheering like hell for the lockout to continue.
     
    LongTimeListener, Aug 31, 2011
    #33
  10. Brian

    Brian Well-Known Member

    I've seen the image every day for about four months on the AP Exchange login screen.

    Is it too much to ask the AP to change that image more than twice a year?
     
    Brian, Aug 31, 2011
    #34
  11. Point of Order

    Point of Order Active Member

    This is Onionworthy.
     
    Point of Order, Aug 31, 2011
    #35
  12. Liut

    Liut Well-Known Member

    Believe I read he is a professor at Arizona State's Cronkite School of Journalism. May be chair, not sure.
     
    Liut, Aug 31, 2011
    #36
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