Originally Posted by roachboy

how tiresome this compulsion to fetishize is.
how i give into it myself.

and i remember thinking that the chickens had come home to roost and wondered who said that later i remembered it was malcolm x.



it was a period that demonstrated the power of television even as it demonstrated its limits---the repetition of the amateur video loop seemed to me compulsive, like the folk who were working in the networks were traumatized as well and everywhere compulsive repetition reigned, draining away the content, reducing the image to image, and as that progressed and the vile opportunistic narrative of the "war on terror" took shape, reaction formation began.

soon the loop of amateur video was a kind of brand, like that little alligator on izod-lacoste sweaters that for some inexplicable reason people wear in some sectors. soon the loop was the little logo on a new style of war.
soon that brand was being imposed on all markets, and people were buying, and a kind of fascism-lite descended upon the land.

i remember.

everything about that day and the 2 that followed was disturbing: as a function of the repetition of that loop of video footage, a collective sense of being-victimized arose: the television-specific official "Explanation" happened---and it was all so transparent, so stupid, so ugly and alarming. i remember white boys driving around west philadelphia hanging out of jeeps waving american flags.

i remember thinking that everyone, all around, had gone insane.



by now, by 9/11/2008, this has been pulverized: used and abused, drained of meaning and filled again, spit back at us over and over and over.
remembrance becomes a game.
let us stop as we are required by all public machinery to remember why everything that's happened since 9/11/2001 has happened.
let us remember how the dead have been used, again and again.
let us remember how grief became cheap became a commodity became a justification.
let us remember what made this grief seem cheap, a commodity, a justification.

and from underneath all that, remember the genuine grief of those who lost people in the trade center and try to separate that from how that's been used.

it isn't easy.

Originally Posted by abaya

Yes, this was a sentiment that came up among the American students I met with that night, in a Reykjavik bar... we all agreed that while it was horribly shocking, none of us took on the "victim" stance that seemed to envelop those still in the US. Living abroad, with exchange students from many other nations in the conversation with us, there was little else to say... we didn't want to say it, but we felt that this was somehow inevitable (keep in mind that usually, students who go abroad to study are already liberal in attitude--so don't expect us to conform to the usual patriotic ideals). This doesn't diminish the sorrow of the event, but we were university students, and wanted to discuss the causes and what might happen next, internationally.We Americans in Iceland had much the same feeling, seeing coverage on CNN and reading newspapers online... we missed all of that flag-waving madness, and somehow I am not sad about that. I remember coming back in May 2002 and taking a while to recognize my country again. Thanks for the reminder, rb. Agreed.

Originally Posted by Willravel

September of '01? I was in school. Some people freaked out in overly dramatic fashion, most just used it as an excuse to skip class. It was a big deal then, it's not anymore.

Originally Posted by abaya

Btw, Jorge--reading your post more carefully--I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of your aunt that day. My aunt was also flying out from New York around that time, and it was several days before I found out that she had left on Sep 10 and was fine. I can't imagine how my life would have changed if she had been one of the people who died there.

I am also sorry to hear that the decision you had to make with your girlfriend was so difficult--from your hints, I can guess what it was. And if I'm right, then I'm also glad that you (and she) had that choice as an option... that was the silver lining on the cloud, I hope. Otherwise your life today would have been even more different, no?

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

Same here. It's too bad the post-9/11 world hasn't been kind to them. At least the ones I've met have avoided most of it.

Originally Posted by ktspktsp

I had finished my summer intership in Paris and flown back to Beirut on September 9th. On the eleventh, I was driving with my mom to my grandma's place, an hour north of Beirut. A friend called me during our drive, and said that "2 planes have hit the WTC, one hit the pentagon, and one hit the White House!". He could be a bullshitter at times so I told him I did not believe that, and he said "Ok..".

Soon afterwards we got to our destination, and an aquaintance on the street asked us if we had heard the news... We went to my grandma's house and turned on the TV. We then saw the footage of the towers falling, playing in a loop. It was surreal. I remember thinking that the world has just entered a new, dangerous phase. I remember being horrified by the size of the killing. I remember thinking "Please, let it not be that Bin Laden dude, that will mess things up between America and the Arab/Muslim world for a long long time". Sadly that was to happen.

I was also planning on applying to US universities that year for my Master's degree, and I wondered if those attacks were gonna close those doors to me. Thankfully the doors remained open and I moved to the US in August 2002. And despite being treated differently at US airports, thankfully no American I've met was openly hostile towards me because of those events.


Interestingly enough, I had a similar experience in 2005, after I had started working in the US. The former Lebanese prime minister was assassinated in a car bomb attack, and I found out in the morning as I turned on my laptop before going to work. I knew right then that things had taken a serious and long-term turn for the worse, in Lebanon.. And in fact the country entered an era of instability from which it has not recovered yet. All the windows in my dad's office (near the bombing) were shattered, but thankfully he had been at home for lunch. I still remember seeing that link in the Yahoo page and thinking "WTF"...

Originally Posted by LoganSnake

What do you know, I actually just found myself agreeing with Willravel.

I was in school. Gym class. Somebody told me that the NYC was under attack. We went to the library to swarm around the TV sets. Two days spent discussing. Can we move on?

Originally Posted by dlish

sadly i cant say that even though australia is in the very corner of one side of the world, that ive been immune to what you speak of.

she-lish has been abused in the street and on public transport for being an arab, for being muslim. she was forced off the train because of some guys threats. she fled the train in tears. a man threatening a helpless female university student who had no connection to the events that day, except that she shared the same religion as a few nutters.

That day, people forgot that innocents weren't legal fodder. That day, all sides forgot what was right and what was just. From that day onwards people lost their innocence and treated everyone with suspicion and caution. i remember walking through sydney and it was a ghost town. people would look at me like an alien. i wasnt anglosaxon, therefore i was a possible enemy.

i would never forget that day. i remember going into work and listening to talk back radio. the pure hate and vengeance that would come from peoples mouths was pure fanaticism. i remember listening and disbelieving that some of these things were not only being said, but being allowed on the airwaves. That day incitement became order of the day, and anything foreign became fairgame.

i am sad for those innocent lives lost. i am sad for those sad mothers and fathers, those brothers and sisters, uncles, neices, nephews, friends and for strangers who perished as a result of 9/11. I am sad for the innocent lives lost in the 9/11 attacks. all 1400 of them.

But, i am saddened at the innocents lost in afghanistan and iraq. The infamous wedding celebration that was bombed, the infrastructure that was destroyed, the daisycutters used that would kill and maime all in its path, the brute force used was unparallel against one of the poorest nations in the world. My heart yearns not only for the justice for the 1400 on that day, but also for the tens of thousands, if not more, of innocent lives that have gone by the wayside unnoticed. for every death, a whole family would vow to avenge that death. Nobody has a right to take innocent lives. NOBODY!

its saddens me more that people to this day still have not tried to understood 'the other'. we are not the enemy! we are as much human as you are. we all yearn for peace, happiness, off spring and security. we all have feelings, we all live, breath and eat, we are not robots programmed to detonate on demand. it really does sadden me that some still think that we are fair game and that the lives of arabs or muslims are somewhat less important or less significant that those of american lives. it saddens me that the voice of vengeance is still alive and well today, no matter what side you are on. it saddens me that people like jorgelito lost family, and that innocent children lay limbless in hospitals as a result of a few nutjobs.

That day set a chain of events that will never be forgiven. ever.

During my time on TFP (and especially the past year and a half) ive tried to introduce to the wider audience my life in the middle east. There are plenty of good things that come from the middle east. i try and highlight these things. im an optimist and i hope that you have taken some of this away from reading my post and spread it amongst others. the worst voice is the voice of ignorance, and if i have highlighted something that wasnt apparent to the TFP audience then my job has been done.

in saying that, i am also a realist. i do realise that theres a lot of work to be done in the middle east, and i do hope that in time that things will change. it may take a generation. maybe more, maybe less, but the change is imminent.

This day in history changed the course of history and the lives of billions forever.

Originally Posted by abaya

Don't forget the impact on the rest of the world--which was perhaps even more significant. Hear, hear. Right in this very thread... so much hatred, anger, desire for retribution...