September Eleventh.
How dare they do this to us.
America.
22 responses total.
september 11 hey, who ate the rest of the back-bacon?! canada
September 11. I'm glad the TV coverage isn't as cheap and corny this year. With any luck in another few years we'll be able to pay our respects with dignity.
Don't betcher wad on it.
We're wondering when Congress makes 9/11 a National holiday, and how long after that before it becomes a 'Monday' holiday.
replete with commemorative parades and ironic bbqs?
haven't you heard them call today Patriot's Day? Trying to switch it from Aprill 18th to sept. 11th to change its meaning.
I had a very slow day at work today; we didn't get many calls at all. We all wondered if the reason was that a lot of people aren't working on September 11.
The twin beams of light are showing outside my window. They are beamed from ground zero naturally, on the exact spots of the WTC towers. Actually quite a beautiful sight, the beams coming up from the ground and beaming through the clouds. They will shine here in nyc on every September 11th evening from now on. ,.
resp:6 egads, no. that would just annoy the hell out of me.
Re 8. Even when the new structures go up at the WTC site?
Re #6: That kind of bothers me. I'd rather see us celebrate our successes and our steps forward as a society as holidays. Dedicating a holiday to a moment of defeat just seems wrong.
I agree; I wouldn't create a holiday for a disaster like September 11. It would be inappropriate to celebrate that, just as it would be inappropriate to celebrate December 7, the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.
It is ironic that we celebrate defeats such as Pearl Harbor and 9/11, and our enemies celebrate them also. Of course, we are really celebrating the heroism and sacrifices of those that died - but are enemies are celebrating the same thing, except of different individuals. It is a little surprising that we don't celebrate natural disasters, such as the San Francisco Earthquake or Hurricane XYZ: they also involve much heroism and sacrifice. They don't, however, involve any human enemies. So is the celebration of human-caused disasters simple based on celebrating our antipathies toward others?
There is a randomness to earthquakes and hurricanes which allows us to accept them a little more easily than targeted attacks. When we survive targeted attacks, we believe it says something more about our strength of character or will than it does when we survive natural disasters. Also, targeted attacks are targeted because of who and what we are, and surviving them is a reaffirmation of who and what we are. That element is totally missing from natural disasters because they happen without regard to where and whom they affect.
There was just as much randomness to 9/11 - it was no more predicted than the SD earthquake. In fact there *are* predictions (with probabilities attached) for the next major earthquake on the San Andreas fault, but I have heard no predictions (with probabilities attached) for the next terrorism event. I therefore argue that terrorist attacks are more "random" than natural disasters, so your first assertion is faulty. In fact, we do celebrate natural disasters to some extent. Consider the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald or the Titanic, but there is a different flavor to the celebration of human-caused disasters: more patriotic fervor, I would say. In trying to pinpoint the distinction...I think one is that we wave the flag more in disasters instigated by foreigners than we do for natural disasters or even home-brewed disasters (such as Oklahoma City). It's a "them vs us" event.
With natural disasters, there's no one to get revenge on. There's not much political advantage to be gained by whipping people into a frenzy of patriotism.
You would think people would blame their gods.
Does everything have to turn into a discussion about religion?
re17: lol!
No, no, Rane. You see, since all religious people are hopelessly stupid morons, their evil corrupt leaders have them all brainwashed not to question their fate. Duh.
The randomness you attribute to 9/11 for example is of a different sort than that attributable to natural disasters. Of course, the randonmess attributable to natural disasters is probably only because we do not yet fully understand all the various factors which contribute to the occurrences of these events. The difference is primarily that terrorist attacks are planned and carried out against specific targets for specific effect, because of specific ideologies. The logic of natural disasters is pretty reliably independent of idology, and thus we cannot point to any unifying ideological characteristics behind which we can rally.
rcurl is not intellectually capable of comprehending other's 21. but we all recognize that faithlessness adn deal with it.
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