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September 11, 2001 (Merge with 9/11 thread if there is one)

Heard about it walking into AP Bio, senior year of highschool. Wasn't until I got to my next class where the TV was on and I started to understand what was really happening - cemented my desire to serve and thankfully WFU ROTC helped me do that. Will never forget that day.
 
My friend from high school died in WTC tower 1 on 9/11. He worked at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was one of the few guys that transcended high school clicks and was friends with everybody. I have vivid memories of playing with he-man and gi joe action figures in his back yard in 2nd/3rd grade. He was a really good dude.
 
It's hard to believe it's been almost 20 years. For millennials like myself, I think it's fair to say it's a defining cultural moment like the Moon landing or JFK/MLK assassinations for earlier generations. We can mark time in the pre-9/11 era and post, in many ways.

I was thinking about what popular media/art has handled 9/11 well either as a major or minor plot device. It's interesting to think about which TV shows and movies have reckoned with it and which haven't, for example. I think Billions handles it in a very interesting way. Then there are the specific works dedicated to it, for which I think Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is the best treatment; many others venture into jingoism and nationalism the way our country very much did in the years that followed shortly after.
 
the terrorists certainly won. 9/11 made possible the rise of fascist policy and reenergized the Right wing. There's a direct line between those airliners and Donald Trump
 
I was chewing out one of my direct reports when his wife called with the news of the first crash. I had 100+ employees on duty in Rosslyn, just across from Key Bridge and our managing partner was in the Capitol Building, so there was a lot going on in my office. As the news spread, we moved to the company break room to watch it on TV.

I was working summers in NYC when the first tower was going up and saw how impressive the steel columns were as I walked from Hudson Terminal to Wall Street. I was explaining the structure to the employees assembled when the South Tower fell.

Edit - One of my nephews lost his roommate, another his best friend from HS and a third lost a member of his wedding party. A guy I attended HS with also died that day, but I barely knew him.
 
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Stephen King wrote a short story that basically dealt with 9-11 survivor's guilt called 'The Things They Left Behind'. I think it's in the Just After Sunset collection, bit I thought it was really good and it kinda hits you pretty hard.
 
I was working in a small law office at the time, and when we saw what had happened in the news, the other attorney and I went to my house to watch it on the news for like 2-3 hours before going back - being mesmerized in a disturbing manner. The other attorney was Palestinian (her parents were from there). And after it was reported that the PLO was taking credit for it, she lamented that Bush would let Israel do whatever it wants. Then a minute or so later, she said wait a minute, Palestine doesn't have anyone who could pull this off (which I considered rather funny). I agreed and said it was probably bin Laden because he had pulled off the embassy bombings a couple of years earlier.

I remember how mesmerizing and crazy the whole thing was. I mean, they got every non-military plane out of the air within hours and got W airborn. And they got every bin Laden relative out of the country that week. Without a doubt, the most memorable national/world event of my lifetime.
 
I keep meaning to buy the book written about the 9/11 Commission. Can't remember the author's name but the one he did on the Warren Commission (which I have somewhere around the house) was outstanding.
 
Most High School seniors were not born yet when 9/11 happened. That's pretty crazy.
 
ImTheCaptain said:
the terrorists certainly won. 9/11 made possible the rise of fascist policy and reenergized the Right wing. There's a direct line between those airliners and Donald Trump
Click to expand...

Interesting you say that. I had a thought earlier about what the terrorists would think if they saw the world today. Not a whole lot has changed for the better (in their eyes) in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, or the Middle East as a whole. No caliphate, no elimination of infidels.
 
WFcatamount22 said:
Most High School seniors were not born yet when 9/11 happened. That's pretty crazy.
Click to expand...

Right now there’s someone enlisting to fight in our military who wasn’t born when the planes struck.
 
DeaconSig said:
Interesting you say that. I had a thought earlier about what the terrorists would think if they saw the world today. Not a whole lot has changed for the better (in their eyes) in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, or the Middle East as a whole. No caliphate, no elimination of infidels.
Click to expand...

Really. I think they love it. Americans are terrified to out in public for fear of their safety and they don’t have to lift a finger. Saudis have increased their influence in the region and have maintained a cozy relationship with the US government including a friendly military presence.
 
DeaconSig said:
Interesting you say that. I had a thought earlier about what the terrorists would think if they saw the world today. Not a whole lot has changed for the better (in their eyes) in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, or the Middle East as a whole. No caliphate, no elimination of infidels.
Click to expand...

US has wasted blood, treasure and influence and a generation has come to grow up with cynicism from the left about our institutions or flocked to the nationalists
 
PhDeac said:
Really. I think they love it. Americans are terrified to out in public for fear of their safety and they don’t have to lift a finger. Saudis have increased their influence in the region and have maintained a cozy relationship with the US government including a friendly military presence.
Click to expand...

ImTheCaptain said:
US has wasted blood, treasure and influence and a generation has come to grow up with cynicism from the left about our institutions or flocked to the nationalists
Click to expand...

Do you think that there goal was for Americans to be terrified to go out in public, grow up with cynicism, or for Saudi Arabia to have a cozy US relationship?
 
Yes. Yes. No, that’s a weird bonus.

What do you think the goal was?
 
PhDeac said:
Really. I think they love it. Americans are terrified to out in public for fear of their safety and they don’t have to lift a finger. Saudis have increased their influence in the region and have maintained a cozy relationship with the US government including a friendly military presence.
Click to expand...

Americans are terrified to be out in public?
 
DeaconSig said:
Do you think that there goal was for Americans to be terrified to go out in public, grow up with cynicism, or for Saudi Arabia to have a cozy US relationship?
Click to expand...

i think the goal was to destroy property and lives, change american politics and foreign policy and the damage psyche of its citizens
 
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