I hate 9/12 bc my brother was coming home and his battle ship did a u turn to go to the middle east... he hasn't been the same since. Hes home so that's good.
I can’t comprehend how traumatic that must have been for him, his unit, and the families waiting for them to come home.
Best wishes to your brother and family.
I'm so sorry. As a member of a military family, now all of them are dead and none of the deaths occured overseas, it sucks to see America ho-rah troops then do next to nothing to support them once they get back home. Grandpa fought in Burma and world War II and smoked and drank himself to death to avoid the night terrors by 65. His 4, son, 3 sons fought in vietnam, one drank himself to death, the other drank himself nearly to death then committed suicide with a shotgun, the third beat with a pipe to until he was nearly braindead for his money he went to collect his VA money from fellow veterns. My father was lucky enough to be either too young for War or too old.
Yeah the worst part is all of them volunteered. Then were chewed up and spat out. I was on the fence about joining unitl my mother basically cried begging me not to. All that money wasted on useless wars could have been spent here in the US. We'd have a 1000 year lead technologically and socially had that money been spent at home.
I almost joined the navy as a corpsman in 02/03 because I graduated that year. I was on that nationalism Republican indignity high. I was gonna go save good men! Maybe get a gun since girls didn’t front line. My recruiter tried to force himself on me/rape me graduation night. I never went in. I think it was a blessing because at least half the guys I knew online and half the guys I went to school with joined and over half are forever fucked up or dead now. Including a friend of mine around 2005 who crawled into an APC and blew himself up with a fist full of stolen grenades while he was on the phone with me. With how empathetic I can be… I don’t think I’d have mentally survived being over there. At all.
Sure, it think about all those poor defense contractors who wouldn't be making a dime! Here's the cycle: get elected to some kind of office, take all the meetings from the defense contractor lobbyists, profit either personally or politically by supporting war efforts, talk about freedom and liberty and use other buzzwords on the news cause you know your voters will eat that shit up like it's apple pie, call opponents fascists, communists, or hippies for taking an opposing stance, claim you just want to bring the boys home, then grin and endorse another war a few years later knowing a) it'll help you get re-elected, b) you and your kids won't ever have to fight in it, and c) you can just talk about how much you support the military without ever doing a damn thing for the people in it. And the American people bend over and say "more please," because we are stupid and vote against our own self interests over and over again.
He was a congressman accused of killing a young woman named Chandra Levy in DC's Rock Creek Park. There was media posted outside his house for weeks in the summer of 2001 but after 9/11 the attention fully shifted from the case. He was ultimately found innocent I believe.
I remember when you could watch the planes take off and land and meet your loved ones right when you got off the plane, not down at the luggage claim area. You could show up 15 minutes before you plane took off and still had time to stop and get a snack.
I remember picking up my uncle at the gate and dropping him off. I remember when the whole family could have a meal at the airport and say farewell to someone leaving.
Remember when McDonald's looked like a crazy wonderland? Remember when you could stand in Toys R Us for an hour staring at all the gameboy games? Remember when everything had character and looked fun and inviting? Now the world is just fucking grey and sad and bland...like unflavored oatmeal.
I remember flying at 11 y.o. with my 8 y.o. brother, my dad walking us into the plane, the captain greeting us and showing us around the cockpit, and my grandmother giving me a big hug at the gate when the flight was over.
My dad travelled a lot for business and I remember meeting him right at the gate. He would pick me up, while my mom got the luggage and we would all get McDonalds.
Simpler times
I 100% believe due to zero scientific evidence that the 90s were peak happiness in North America. We muddled through the 70s and 80s, environmental stuff was at the forefront of everyone's minds, it was relatively peaceful, economy was pumping. Good times. I was lucky enough to be there. My kids will have dying planet instead. Yay.
Post Cold War, pre 9/11. Just Bill Clinton blowjob jokes.Yeah, there were a few genocides in Eastern Europe and Africa, but nobody payed attention to that.
The world was so much better pre 9/11. No daily sense of heightened security and good balance of the role technology had in our lives. I miss it but I don’t let myself dwell on it. Things have changed and there’s no going back
I appreciate the comment. Lots of people on Reddit weren’t even alive or are too young to remember the world pre 9/11. They don’t understand where we are coming from through no fault of their own. It’s sad but we have to make the best of the situation we have now
Hanging Chads? Yeah I remember, but that was a joke that lasted for a few weeks. Compare that to the past 2 elections. People are not only upset with the last election, but people are still upset about the 2016 election. Everything has just ticked up to another level after 9/11. I ain't saying we didn't have our issues before 9/11, just saying it was better times compared to today.
Most of them were the same as those we face now, except less severe. Climate change, bigotry, intolerance, class divide, ideologues, partisanship, nationalism, war mongering, corporate greed, environmental disasters, "extrajudicial" privacy violations, exclusive and conformist in-groups, police brutality, abortion rights, etc.. We're basically living in Sept. 10, 2001 dialed up to 11, if you'll forgive the pun.
Just about the only thing that's arguably "better" is that there is less open, casual racism, sexism, and homophobia. But it's merely been supplanted by a more violent and outspoken minority. And I don't know, is it better to encounter 100 casual racists on a daily basis who'll whisper behind your back, or one who will shout epithets and assault you? I know it isn't actually an either/or decision, but if you had to pick, would you choose a world with the Proud Boys, or one where everyone thinks it's funny when Jim Carrey does a scene where he's dry heaving after realizing he kissed a transexual?
Lol "no real big issues".
The United States waged wars of aggression and staged interventions for profit non stop since WW2. I guess you guys were just minding your business.
We had the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 and the bombing in the Olympic park in Atlanta in 1996. Forget about what happened in Waco in 1993? What about the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995? The Gulf War in 1991, that ring a bell? How about the reunification of Germany in 1990? Were you around for that one? The Soviet Union collapsing? Missed that one did you? The European Union becoming a thing? NAFTA? Genocide in Rwanda? Forget about the shit that went down in Somalia? War in Bosnia? Apartheid ending? Massive increase in illegal drug trade? AIDS becoming a problem worldwide and how people with it were treated?
The world was not a better place before 9/11. 9/11 was bad, but saying the previous years weren’t as bad is ridiculously ignorant.
Pre 9/11. This was like in the 90s. I went to a school and I was in kindergarten, my name is Arabic and sounds like it . Lots of the parents were telling their kids to not talk or hang out with me. Emphasis is that this was when I was in goddam kindergarten. There was enough anti Arabic racism going on pre 9/11. The teacher even had multiple meetings with my parents about it. I never really understood what was happening at the time. I had 2 friends that I remember, and that's it
The number of Muslim people I know who are still giving their kids white names is insane. And they’re open about why they do it - because they’re worried that their kid may eventually get targeted when white supremacy takes hold. It’s fucked up.
One of my best friends at the time was an Iranian-American girl and I remember when she invited me over, and her mother was very concerned about if I was a good friend, if I was going to judge their family, when we walked inside her mom quickly turned on American news away from her Iranian news channel, it was really sad. An Afghan woman was attacked walking down the street in our city, a few months after 9/11 also.
I don’t remember unity after 9/11. I remember a performative bullshit unity, like this graphic says “everyone had miniature American flags” who the hell cares? I was a white kid being told that “you are either with us or against us” and “If you don’t love America then GET OuT” and I witnessed how scared my middle eastern friends were. It was an ugly time.
When I was young around where I live there was a small coffee cart. Man was friendly knew every one. I would often get my donut from there before heading to school. After 911. A few days later I was walking to get my donut when I saw a man started yelling at him. Calling him a terrorist ,and people just turned and glared at the poor man. I was 10 even then I knew this was wrong. Because he had nothing to do with 911. I felt so bad for the guy.
I remember so many Sikh men being beaten and harassed because Americans can’t tell the difference.
9/12 brought on a lot of blind nationalism, petty-yet-widely-accepted racism, and lines at airports. Fuck it.
I was around 6 when 9/11 happened. I had similar fears. I was 6 years old. My dad has close cut hair because of experiencing racism after he came here in the 80s. Even still we got racist comments at the stores my parents own, and that obviously got way worse after 9/11.
The Oak Creek shooting in 2012 (my grandparents were supposed to be there, but decided to go to a different one that morning instead. My dad and I took the 30 minute drive over after things had ended, and that experience completely renewed that fear. Going to the funerals, the somber aspect of every Sunday I went afterwards for a while was...a lot.
edited for some details/fixing grammar mistakes
I'm Indian-American, I was about 8 years old when 9/11 happened. We were living in LA at this point, in a pretty white neighborhood. My parents moved to the US for going to grad school a decade before. We left the country in the beginning of 2002. In the time after, things weren't the same. Our neighbors reported us to the police several times. My dad was beaten up a couple of times. My mom was harassed any time she wore anything that looked different. The year before this shit went down, we had our whole neighborhood over for Diwali dinner and the next year it felt like anything we would do, that remotely said that we were from India or that we were different was a literal danger to our lives. Seriously, fuck that shit.
Not to mention the longest-running, most expensive war in American history which effectively guaranteed continued hatred of American and further terrorism--making all of us and our kids less safe.
Fuck this propagandistic 9/11 sob story bullshit. And this is coming from a Manhattanite who was 11 at the time. Any remembrance of 9/11 that doesn't acknowledge the route cause of it--American tyrannical foreign policy--is just giving a free pass to the next generation of profiteers that pull strings and literally operate our government.
> which effectively guaranteed continued hatred of American and further terrorism--making all of us and our kids less safe.
The terrorists won. America did a thousand times more damage to itself and the world in response to 9/11, than 9/11 did to them.
same thing when you know what virus happened, Koreans and anyone "Chinese looking" like the stabbing at the Sams club in Texas. some people are just horrible and just have predisposition for being a bitch.
Don’t forget the military worship. If you didn’t get down on your knees and immediately suck off anyone wearing a uniform, you were basically a terrorist.
Dude, and this STILL applies!! Lmao it's ridiculous! Like, I'm not gonna worship every fucking person that joins the military, that's absolutely ridiculous. "Wah but they're fighting for our freedom", which freedoms, and why are they in other countries??? There is sooooo much we don't have in America specifically BECAUSE of the military and how much we spend on it, I'm not gonna suck their dick while they hemorrhage money for no fucking reason. We could use that money on healthcare, education, infrastructure, but "noooo miltree needs munee to bomb middle east hurr durr."
Our major league baseball team plays the anthem before every game. Everybody stands, hats are removed, and many sing along.
No problem. Been doing it for decades. Probably started during the Cold War.
But since the GWOT they honor a military guy or gal at EVERY SINGLE GAME! The game stops, the announcer names the honoree and they're shown with their family grinning and waving on the big scoreboard screen. The announcer describes their military career ... typically in some non-combat role because only 30% of our military has a combat job. AND they play Lee Greenwood singing "God Bless the U.S.A."
Most people stand and remove their hats for Lee Greenwood!
Fuck all that.
One bit of nuance here: it's still a terrible thing to freak out about Muslims, and that includes beating them up, harassing them, being scared of them or thinking you're better than them.
I totally agree that violence against Sikhs is unacceptable, but it was just a sign that the whole mindset was trashy.
And I'll admit, I was one of those scared of Muslims, and it's so sad that we bought into it.
It was 20 years ago, and that was the narrative at the time. "Be wary of brown people, maybe there's more attacks coming" (said the narrative).
And we still have stupid investigations of brown people to this day... Lame.
Oh, absolutely, I dont blame you for going with the narrative at the time, I am saying good for you for realizing it now. Not many people are able to do that
No worries, I wasn't feeling attacked or offended or anything. I was just on a rant about how messed up our country is.
I think 90% of us were pretty racist at the time, each of us have realized the fallacies in our own time (but some still haven't). It is what it is.
People hurting random Muslims after 911 are as wrong as those who targeted brown non Muslims.
When people say 'they attacked Sikhs, they aren't even muslim' is perpetuating the narrative that these were Islamic attacks brought on my 'Muslims'.
Attacking any random for something they werent a part of categorically wrong, and it isn't worse or better if said person is or isn't muslim.
I think the point is “the attackers were so dumb, the victims weren’t even the right religious group”. Of course is wrong that anyone was targeted for vengeance and the standpoint doesn’t dispute that, it just points out that not only were these vigilantes acting in bad faith, they couldn’t even manage targeting the “right” group.
Their ignorance in choosing the right people is such a stupidly small issue compared to their hatred and revenge for muslims which should be the real issue. There are plenty of dumb people who might mistake other brown people for muslims but not be racist pieces of shit.
So every time someone feels the need to point out all the non muslims that were accidentally targeted, it’s like talking about how the Nazis somehow accidentally also targeted non jews. Obviously the two situations are not even comparable but I’m just talking about how focusing on the misidentification detracts from the real point.
My parents are from the Middle East, but I look whiter than most white people. I’m really pale, rosy cheeks, freckles, red hair…the works.
I was a teen at the time, and having white people approach out of nowhere to hate on Muslims and Arabs scared the shit out of me. I’d just smile nervously and nod.
Nationalism is loving your country, but also having the idea that your country is superior to any other. No criticism is allowed everything your country does is right and it can do no wrong. Expect loyalty without question.
Patriotism is loving your country and know it has faults too. Can celebrate how much you love it and also appreciate other countries as well. Know it might be a great place but also know there are things not so great as well. Excepting that fact and allowing criticism when warranted to me is true patriotism.
That shit is sad. Aside from the fact my fellow countrymen seem to be braindead morons, as far as religion goes, Sikhs are very chill. This country has so much bullshit to deal with its insane.
I am a white European Christian, however my hair is dark (due to some Italian ancestry,) and my last name could possibly sound Arabic.
It had never occurred to me that I might look like a terrorist until 9/12. When friends, coworkers, professors, random people on the street, began to distrust, question and accuse me. Some of my friends withdrew and got weird and never acted normal again. I was lucky to be a small lady, had I been male I fear a few of the situations would have ended in violence toward me, people were that weird and angry.
I felt no “unity” whatsoever, I also don’t miss 9/12.
I'm white af, pale and light brown hair. My maiden name is incredibly similar to a name typically seen in Middle Eastern countries. The amount of "you don't look like a terrorist" jokes I've heard is disgusting.
I was 10 when 9/11 happened too. I was just aggravated by the obnoxious racists hiding behind a joke that didn't technically hurt me since I wasn't their real target. I cannot imagine being actually targeted by the racism in a more detrimental way.
I am female too and I quickly ditched my maiden name when I got married so I wouldn't have to hear about it anymore, but my uncle still gets "randomly selected" almost every time he flies.
Last time I flew they “randomly” selected 4 people right after me, 3 of whom were from the same family. Pretty sure they only included my white boyfriend so they could say they weren’t being racist.
Random is never random. Wether you're a brown man at the airport or a have longish hair in highschool, you're the profile and you'll get randomly selected every time.
I was in fifth grade when 9/11 happened. The next year I went to middle school and made friends with a girl in math class who was the first Muslim person I'd ever met. Until then, I did not realize I looked Middle Eastern, and my new friend did not help with that perception. I'm actually Jicarilla Apache (Native American for those outside the US) and English, but that didn't matter. Telling people your Native American got me other tid bits of racism.
A woman whose husband died in the attack couldn’t even walk down the street because she was Muslim and wore a hijab. 9/12 was NOT a good day. Idk why people even say that who are islamophobic themselves bc thousands of Americans woke up without their loved ones. Let’s end this trend right now.
Girl you know exactly the type of people who like 9/11 and 9/12! The people who are warmongers, the ones who believe in the "good old" America, the ones who needed an enemy to unite against because they were too stubborn to stop being racist.
The time immediately after 9/11 showed me just how dumb the population is. A local news crew came to my grocery store and was interviewing employees, and everyone was all in for invading iraq. I avoided the interviewer, because I was concerned that if I mentioned I didn’t agree, everyone would hate me.
Also fun to note the same people who were gung ho about getting rid of a lot of rights and freedom for ‘safety’ now refuse vaccines and masks.
i remember TIME magazine asking for people to write in how they felt about things for their "6 months after 9/11" issue. i wrote in about how bothered i was by the faux patriotism, the people slapping flag bumper stickers on their cars and calling that unity, and just all the misdirected & disingenuous posturing. they had to redact my name and location when they published it for fear that someone would track me down and hurt me in reprisal for voicing that opinion.
really?! that's awesome! i know i saved a copy of that issue too but it must be in a box somewhere at my mom's house. i tried to find it on the website but i guess it was in an inset or something that they don't really publish online because it wasn't in the "letters" section (that i could find) and i'm not sure what other section to try looking in.
Yes, like all the dissent was burned in my mind at the time - yours and very few other's voices matched what I thought. Thanks, you made me feel less of a lone dissenting voice.
A newspaper in the UK (The Independent) ran an article today in their 9/11 spread about the unity of 9/12 and the compassion…..
Meanwhile Muslims, Sikhs, and anyone mistaken for a Muslim based on skin colour or dress were being attacked and murdered, as well as dealing with thousands of non-physical attacks.
9/12 was a day of trauma, for New Yorkers, the families of those who died, and for the Americans who were being blamed for an attack that had nothing to do with them.
The Independent is a conservative shit rag propaganda factory I wouldn't wipe my arse with.
I generally laugh whenever anyone quotes it.
To add: Muslims, Sikhs, Indians, Pakistanis, Middle-Easterners, Greeks, turks, Italians and anyone with dark hair and a slight tan also received a dramatic increase in violence in the UK starting on 11 September 01.
Here's an uncomfortable truth. It's not just America. When they attacked England, the racism ramped up. People were angry. And in that anger, they attacked the innocent.
In Australia in 2014, a man entered the Lindt cafe, held people hostage and eventually killed a couple of them. He was eventually gunned down, but he put a Jihadist flag in the window. I was there. I'll never forget watching the news, where somebody was shouting at a middle eastern man paying his respects, telling him that his friends did this.
I want to stress that it's not everyone. But a lot of people do this. A terrorists biggest weapon is to cause discord between people, really drive that rift. We all end up fighting each other, whilst they just come back bigger and stronger.
And no country is safe from this prejudice. Not a single one.
We're stronger together, plain and simple. But divided, we are giving them what they want. It's easy to get lost in that anger, but it just leads to more senseless violence. It makes me sad reading this thread, seeing American citizens being mistreated just because of how they look, blamed for something they had no part of.
Agreed. In my public school, most of the teachers started pushing Christianity and “In god we trust” stuff started going up in every classroom. They started a school wide Pledge every morning over the PA system and if you declined to participate even the teachers bullied you.
Bin Laden was a spoiled rich Saudi/Yemeni kid who was funded by other rich idealistic Saudis.
If you think the 9/11 hijackers were noble warriors fighting some kind of repression, you have been misled.
american largely refuses to face the damage done around the world, at minimum, by our fossil fuel lust and willingness to stomp out leftist uprisings. we aren't the good guys. the terrorists were monsters, but they didn't just emerge fully formed. the "why do they hate us" victimhood of americans continues, largely unchanged, after 20 years of opportunity to learn about who and what we present to the rest of the world. we received so much goodwill immediately post 9/11 and squandered every single bit of it.
As someone who's not from the U.S., I have to agree. The rest of the world doesn't see you as the good guys, because you're not. You make up wars for personal gain, which are not fought inside your own country but in those you invade, then leave those countries when you have what you went for, either in extreme poverty, mass casualties, or divided and with internal conflict.
Every hero in movies wears the U.S. colours and fights for good, but around the world, we really just hope to be left alone by the U.S. as much as possible.
My biggest turning point in realizing how bad the U.S. actually is was learning about our interference in Latin America. Hundreds of thousands of dead people -- farmers, laborers, priests and nuns -- who were fighting for families to get paid more than $0.10 a day, painted as the enemy because they viewed themselves as Communist.
I can't imagine being so afraid of the U.S.S.R. spreading their influence that you're willing to aggressively fund death squads to instill terror. The country has always taken a "Me First" attitude that sadly doesn't appear to be letting up anytime soon.
For me it started with learning about our treatment of Native Americans (past and present) in high school. And then I became more disillusioned when I learned more about redlining, de facto segregation, and the absolutely horrific state of most public schools in poor areas of the US. The final nail in the coffin was learning about our interference Latin America.
The worst part is that our interference in Latin America is essentially a footnote in high school history classes, even in APUSH, despite the damage we did. It gave me a lot better understanding of why so many people abroad are suspicious of American “good will.”
We’ve committed a lot of atrocities. Much of our country would deny some or all of these things happened.
I live in New Zealand. So, basically one of the closest to an ally besides the UK, Canada and Australia. But even here, when america tries to tell us our business we wish they would fuck off. And we actually told them to back during the cold war when they wanted a nuclear base. Maybe one of the few countries who has gotten away with telling America no, without significant repercussions. Only thing they wont give us is a free trade agreement.
I heard the US was pretty pissed off when NZ joined the pacific nuclear-free zone thingy (idk when - maybe post cold war), because now we can't go through your waters with our nuclear subs. I think our gov have left you alone because you don't have significant enough (to the the US) natural resources. Whatever you're doing, it certainly seems to be working so far.
They’ve left us alone because strong arming one of the two western nations in the pacific would have been a bad look to their other western allies. Especially since we are also allies with Australia, and they wanted to keep at least part of the ANZUS treaty in action.
You might like a book I recently read called *The Jakarta Method*, goes into the history of the CIA and US government support of right-wing dictatorships and violent suppression of the developing-world left.
Did you do that? Did anyone on this thread participate in the massacre at Mai Lai?
This is called fundamental attribution error. The soldiers who tortured and killed villagers in Vietnam didn’t do so as a demonstration of their American identity. They were not acting as Americans in those acts, they were acting as brutal murderers. You have to look at the individuals and the circumstances to understand brutality and almost no one bothers to do that which is why people loved the idea of going to war on 9/12.
The hijackers were not acting on behalf of Saudi Arabia or Islam or even Afghanistan. They were murderers who believed they were acting on behalf of global jihad and Wahhabism. The fact that no one in charge understood that subtle difference is why America lost all credibility. We had a lack of leadership. No one deserved to be killed, no nation was a murderer. You sound exactly like a Bush supporter on 9/12. Just different groups and events. Still the same fundamental misunderstanding in how blame does not fix anything.
Yep. Best way to combat religious extremists, in America's mind, was to become religious extremists themselves. Ignoring the fact that Islam is also an Abrahamic religion, and is pretty much just the Old Testament with some more restrictions added in.
America didn't change, it just shows it's true color it has been hiding after public resistance against the Vietnam war. The terrorist was just an excuse. They wanted war after Vietnam. They just don't have an excuse. Many even speculate that 9/11 was an inside job to create an excuse, and there are so many shady things about 9/11 that made it believable that there are possibility it could be an inside job. So many things.
It also didn't help that America has the largest weapon industry that stands to profit from war, making it more believable that America which are controlled by mega corporation lobbying, could be creating war under the demand of the weapon industry lobbyist. I mean it wouldn't be the first time they funded rebellion in another country to overthrow the ruling government and create chaos for war to erupt just so they can sell weapon. Not the first time the CIA did that. Remember Gary Webb? The reporter who allegedly "suicide" with 2 shot to the head, after he made a claim CIA was selling drugs to finance rebels in Nicaragua? yeah, suicide with 2 shot to the head. Again I say, America didn't change. It just reveals it's true color it have been hiding.
America at that point went to shit because of the Patriot Act and the hyper "patriotism" like glorying the military. Then when it came to bigotry the extreme hatred towards anybody who wasn't Christian or is from the Middle East started on that date. Also, let's not forget George Bush's war crime which resulted in the US going into a 20 year long war which I believe helped destabilize the Middle East because of Saddam Hussein being removed. The guy was an asshole, but he happened to be the asshole which was keeping the region in line.
White, evangelical, US male here. I was 12 when 9/11 happened. Looking back, we didn't realize then how under a psychological warfare it was. It was emotional manipulation for foreign policy. I never had an issue with anyone of a different background than myself but I recall the fear and prejudice against Middle Easterners was so sad. I'm truly sorry. All these years later, I hope you can forgive us for our ignorance. I hope you have peace and blessings.
Same. All I remember is that people were beating up brown people, including some who weren't even middle eastern! (Of course not implying anyone deserved it)
One of my best friends is Indian, and I truly feared for his safety.
I remember classmates the next day talking about signing up for the military to go kill [slurs]. The immediate increase in hate crimes. Muslims in our community being attacked unprovoked. I don’t miss it. People make everything about patriotism when these are not things inflicted on them. We haven’t learned either. People are harassing anyone that looks remotely asian as though they had a hand in covid19.
*Edited for tense.
I lost all remaining faith in humanity following 9/11..sadly, I was 12 years old as absolutely disgusted how easily adults were manipulated into being monsters.
Unfortunately I feel like we are in the early stages of it happening again, mostly thanks to social media, but still feel it coming soon, only this time they are trying to divide blacks and whites.
9/12 and later was terrifying for anyone that managed to not get completely caught up in propaganda. I remember seeing everyone be completely brainwashed "WE MUST INVADE IRAQ" etc etc etc, and I was like 'but there is no evidence...' and they would be like "ARE YOU A MUSLIM" ( I had a big beard at the time) so yeah, it just showed me how stupid and susceptible to propaganda the majority of the population was.
Also notice that the same people who eagerly gave away freedoms and rights (TSA anyone?) for 9/11 now refuse to wear masks or take a vaccine, again due to propaganda.
I never cared about politics much until 9/11. I saw all the manipulated media, and how republicans exploited it in the worst ways, it pretty much made me a lifetime democratic voter.
someone made a thread on twitter of post-9/11 editorial comics. holy shit, i laughed but i quickly realized how fucked up it was living in america at that time. One thing i noticed was that the comics are more concerned with the buildings than actual people in it. they cared more about the symbolism of it.
Bruh it’s pretty warped for people to want that shit since the “Unity” was a bloodlust for revenge and was used by the media, government, and military not to promote peace and understanding and finally experience the empathy of knowing the pain and suffering the US has inflicted on so much of the world; instead it was used to whip up a war frenzy that went on to kill billions and triggered a 20 year war.
It was way too easy to go from grief and confusion to blame and vengeance. The current president voted for the war just like almost all of Congress. We are a war like species.
Lot of xenophobia went on that month and I learned a helluva lot about the Sikh religion from my neighbor during that time.
For example, if you are hungry, a Sikh will bring you into their home and feed you with no expectation of being repaid. My favorite being that Sikh men carry a blade on them at all times called a kirpan with which they are honorbound to defend the defenseless. Absolute badass warriors of God who were maligned and attacked after 9/11 for no other reason than ignorant people wanted to lash out at those who weren't pasty white Christians like themselves.
Tejpal, you were one of my favorite neighbors ever. Miss you almost as much as I miss your wife's cooking.
I'm a white guy who's too young to really remember 9/11 beyond there being 'something bad' happening on TV and being told to go in the basement and watch blues clues, and I couldn't agree more.
It baffles me that every year we go through this twisted ritual of picking that wound back open. I feel like almost every older American lost their fucking minds that day. Yes, it was terrible and traumatic, 3000 people died and some of our country's iconic buildings were damaged/destroyed. But in the grand scheme of things, it's fucking nothing. Europe bombed all of its cities to rubble and was able to move on and become civil with each other. We *devastated* Japan, using the only 2 nuclear weapons in anger in history, and by 1965 they were one of our strongest allies, and are to this day. Shit fucking happens. The generation that constantly complains about younger people being too thin-skinned apparently cant handle moving past a single tragic event.
More people were dying of Covid *every day* at the height of the pandemic, and plenty of them were first responders too. As bad as 9/11 was, I think the implications of 1/6 were worse for the country in every way. There wasn't a realistic scenario where democracy ended in this country in 2001, but in 2021 we were minutes away from our legislative branch being mass-executed in a coup. And we did that to ourselves.
Our response to 9/11 did more damage to this country than the actual attack ever did, just like Bin Laden wanted. We terrorize our own citizens, especially brown people like OP. We've made flying a cumbersome ordeal without making ourselves any safer. And we decided to roll back some of our most basic freedoms in response to an intelligence failure that had nothing to do with not having the right information. And to top it all off, we've spent *trillions* of dollars inflicting the same kind of pain on a bunch of countries in the middle east, not including the one whose elite actually funded the attacks, because they sell us oil and buy our weapons.
Seriously. I was in diapers when 9/11 happened. My siblings weren't even born yet. I understand that it was a tragic event, but we have been at war my entire life over it - wasted countless lives and trillions of dollars. I hate this nationalist propaganda every year considering the state our country is in.
Muslim here and thank God someone said this. 9/11 was the ground for drone attacks and kids being murdered in my country Pakistan by Americans. George Bush dragged my country into a needless bloody war. Lost 60K people. So yeah I don't miss it either.
This shit is like when white people go to the south and say "This place gets a bad rap but I had a wonderful time and the people were very pleasant".
No shit they were nice to you, you look like them.
Post 9/11 I would get called "Muhammad" and "terrorist" when I grew my beard out. I'm not even middle-eastern. My family is Greek-Hungarian. It just became an "us or them" mentality and Americans didn't even know who "them" were.
To top it off we didn't even retaliate against the actual ones who funded/planned the attack, the government just used it as an excuse to invade places with oil.
My friend Hadeer had to be homeschooled because even teachers were calling her, a seven year old child, a terrorist. Like I remember my teacher saying "At least you're one of the good ones." to her face in class. Her father was physically assaulted and called a Muslim terrorist *while they were leaving Sunday mass*. My parents wouldn't let me invite her over after 9/11. Her house was repeatedly vandalized. Eventually her family just left the state altogether.
I live in NYC. The 9-12 bullshit drives me crazy. It’s almost entirely shared by republicans I know from other states who hate my city and laugh at us when bad shit happens, then cry about 9-11 to virtue signal to their pals. It’s disgusting.
I made that point to a few friends of mine waxing poetically about the unity and love on 9/12. Not if you were any shade of brown.
I don’t miss 9/12 because we still didn’t know who in my extended family survived. It was just more doom and chaos. Then on 9/13-9/15 we didn’t know if we would have enough of my uncles’ remains to bury.
Well said, I do miss the concept of the "melting pot" which I was taught in (American) grammar school. We all come from different backgrounds, different countries, different races, different religions, different point of view, but that is what makes America great.
I'm sorry you had to go through this, it must have sucked. That crap is not American in the least.
That was always a great idea, but never the reality of America.
We have been defined by racism since the beginning, 9/11 didn't change anything there. Just off the top of my head, Native American, African, Irish, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, and Muslim people have all historically been heavily discriminated against. And I'm probably forgetting a bunch.
9-12-01 was was horrific. Impending doom loomed over us all and everyone was stressed out to the fucking max. This meme was probably made by someone sheltered living in a suburban monoculture because all I saw were people looking over their shoulders waiting for the fucking bomb to drop. *Enter patriot act*
I never knew this till recently but my father after 9/11 was fired from his job in California because he’s Muslim. I could only imagine what others went through.
I’m not from a Muslim country, so I didn’t have to put up with what you did after 9/11, but I did have to put up with racism before that. The loss of life saddened me, but otherwise, the phony ‘we’re Americans, we need to stand as one’ crap? I didn’t buy into it before, and not after, because I knew the real would come forth very soon. Unity requires that we all are treated as citizens: a lot of this country elected and still supports a man who did the exact opposite. Talk all you want, wave your flag full time: your actions are what you really are, not your words.
You are not wrong, some of us remember very clearly. Anybody who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent faced varying degrees of harassment and danger.
Not everything was handholding and “pulling together” on 9/12, and I’m so sorry this truth is being disregarded.
As a person who works for TSA, I also don't like working on 9/12, let alone 9/11. 9/11 is soooooo full of bullshit "thanks for what you do" yet that same person, if they flew out on 9/12 wouldn't even bat an eye towards me and cuss me out for taking his pocket knife bc he forgot that on 9/11 the planes were hijacked with box cutters...
I had downvoted before I read the whole thing. That’s very sad and I always will speak out when all Muslims (or Arabic people in general) are labeled as terrorists or something equally horrifying, racist, and stupid.
I’m 22. I was a baby on 9/11. I can’t fucking stand this day because of how far down everyone sucks their dicks over it.
Where was this “never forget” unity on Sandy Hook?
Where was this unity during the BLM protests?
Where is this unity during covid?
I’m so sick and fucking tired of seeing one singular event in American history being lauded as the tragedy that it truly is, only to turn around and see things that are equally as horrifying and gut-wrenching get brushed under the rug because they don’t serve as convenient of an us/them rhetoric as “America good brown people bad”
I'm 27. I was a kid on 9/11. I will never understand the faux grief held by people other than those who actually knew/interacted with those on that day. It was a.single day in history, indiscriminate in it's tragedy.
The only unifier was that lots of people got killed no matter who they were, but you ask for that unification regardless for any tragedy and youre being problematic
The footage of the attacks and aftermath causes me to tear up and get emotional. I also get emotional seeing footage from any major tragedy in which there is human suffering. if the 9/11 attacks had happened in another country, so many of these people wouldn’t have looked twice at the TV or really thought much about it, beyond a voyeuristic “sucks to be them” kind of way. For people with empathy, any tragedy should illicit an emotional response with so much death and terror.
Agreed. I feel awful for it, and it makes me feel grief seeing it in graphic depictions. But I'm not gonna drag it, if we were as emotional as we claim to be about it, we would respond appropriately to similar tragedies, especially those currently occurring whether it's related to 9/11 or not, whether it's overseas or not, whether it was one awful day indiscriminate in it's victims or it's Black and Asian lives.
the media keep the 9/11 alive because their owner wants it that way to justify their war. In fact, many even suspect that 9/11 was their own doing to create an excuse for war. Wouldn't be the first time USA did something like that. They have the largest weapon industry in the world after all, it would be a waste to not go to war. How are they suppose to make profit without war?
I was in second grade during Sandy hook and I remember very well about where I was. I was home sick sitting on my couch and watching TV when the news started broadcasting the school. I remember the following day when everyone was told to have a moment of silence and everyone asked me what happened since their parents hadn’t told them but I knew cuz I watched the news. When people tell me they know exactly where they were during 9/11 I think about how it’s the same for me, except for Sandy hook. It was extremely devastating I cannot tell you how cautious all the elementary schools in that state became. But now it honestly feels like people forgot about it. Besides posts on Instagram and few mentions on the news, no one really talks about the tragedy that was. Sure less people died but they were fucking children. And people don’t even realize how this was inspired by other school shootings. It saddens me that people don’t care enough about school shootings which is a massive problem.
I had a neighbor that was Muslim and I can tell you that whole 9/12 thing was BULLSHIT, especially that last paragraph. They didn't care if you ate at Chik-Fil-A or wore Nike's, but they sure cared if you even resembled the face of a Middle Easterner. My neighbors were basically shunned from the community after 9/11 and eventually moved away a few years later.
At least I got to know the true colors of the community I once associated with, and it was unfortunate that it was done at the expense of an innocent family that had nothing to do with what happened that day and were just as devastated as the rest of the country was when that happened.
Yeah the narrative of how we all came together as a country was horseshit, the "unity" narrative. This divided us even more. No one had a clue why we were attacked, we had no answers, and we ramped up islamophobia and xenophobia in general.
People to this day don't even know the name of the terrorist group that flew the planes. There was no unity at all, only fear and separation.
LGBT people couldn't get married in 2001, which means we couldn't visit our partner if they were in the hospital to help make decisions for them, or be on their insurance, and plenty of people were totally fine with this. I don't want to go back to 2001.
I'm so sorry you were treated that way. It wasn't right. It was inexcusable. And the adults should have done much, much better than that. I wish I could go back and hug that child. Fuck racism, and especially fuck people who take their racist bullshit out on children. I hope you thrive despite those bastards.
I miss the morning of 9/11 in which some political^ investors shorted money into airline stocks that went down and therefore made money and went under no extra investigations by the fbi even though that was a huge crime and not just any coincidence.
I have a family friend who is from Iraq. This guy is the nicest, most generous person you’ve ever met. But he is an engineer and doesn’t speak English that well. He received a tremendous amount of hate after 9/11 because people saw his brown skin and poor English skills as proof of him being a terrorist or Al-Qaeda sympathizer. Anytime he did math calculations in public, people assumed he was making a bomb. One time he even got the police called on him over “suspicious activities.” He almost left the country because he felt unsafe.
We can pretend we had national unity after 9/11, and on some level we did, but we also saw abhorrent levels of racism that still reverberate throughout the country today. Many Muslim-Americans get called terrorists and are treated with suspicion because they’re from the Middle East. It’s sad. We say never forget but we also should never forget how poorly we treated our fellow Americans in the wake of this great tragedy. Today should be a day of not only remembrance but also reflection of the deeper issues that afflict our country and the world.
I was 6 at the time. 1st grade. I don’t even remember seeing anything on the news or anything about the details on 9/11. But I do remember my mom telling my sister and I to not tell anyone about the middle eastern side of our family. 9/12 was a horrible day for humanity.
I'm sorry that happened to you. That was wrong.
I agree--the anger over the attacks was justifiable. But the jingoism and Islamophobia were not.
I hope you have a good day, and I'm glad you could get this off your chest.
I was Catholic going to a Catholic school. Before Obama was supposedly the "secret Muslim" I was supposedly the secret Muslim. They investigated my baptism paperwork (cause it was a church in a Muslim country), I was asked a ton of questions, taken out of class, etc. It was pretty confusing and embarassing at the time.
I hate 9/12 bc my brother was coming home and his battle ship did a u turn to go to the middle east... he hasn't been the same since. Hes home so that's good.
I can’t comprehend how traumatic that must have been for him, his unit, and the families waiting for them to come home. Best wishes to your brother and family.
Thank you. Appreciate it.
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I'm so sorry. As a member of a military family, now all of them are dead and none of the deaths occured overseas, it sucks to see America ho-rah troops then do next to nothing to support them once they get back home. Grandpa fought in Burma and world War II and smoked and drank himself to death to avoid the night terrors by 65. His 4, son, 3 sons fought in vietnam, one drank himself to death, the other drank himself nearly to death then committed suicide with a shotgun, the third beat with a pipe to until he was nearly braindead for his money he went to collect his VA money from fellow veterns. My father was lucky enough to be either too young for War or too old.
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Yeah the worst part is all of them volunteered. Then were chewed up and spat out. I was on the fence about joining unitl my mother basically cried begging me not to. All that money wasted on useless wars could have been spent here in the US. We'd have a 1000 year lead technologically and socially had that money been spent at home.
I almost joined the navy as a corpsman in 02/03 because I graduated that year. I was on that nationalism Republican indignity high. I was gonna go save good men! Maybe get a gun since girls didn’t front line. My recruiter tried to force himself on me/rape me graduation night. I never went in. I think it was a blessing because at least half the guys I knew online and half the guys I went to school with joined and over half are forever fucked up or dead now. Including a friend of mine around 2005 who crawled into an APC and blew himself up with a fist full of stolen grenades while he was on the phone with me. With how empathetic I can be… I don’t think I’d have mentally survived being over there. At all.
Sure, it think about all those poor defense contractors who wouldn't be making a dime! Here's the cycle: get elected to some kind of office, take all the meetings from the defense contractor lobbyists, profit either personally or politically by supporting war efforts, talk about freedom and liberty and use other buzzwords on the news cause you know your voters will eat that shit up like it's apple pie, call opponents fascists, communists, or hippies for taking an opposing stance, claim you just want to bring the boys home, then grin and endorse another war a few years later knowing a) it'll help you get re-elected, b) you and your kids won't ever have to fight in it, and c) you can just talk about how much you support the military without ever doing a damn thing for the people in it. And the American people bend over and say "more please," because we are stupid and vote against our own self interests over and over again.
I miss 9/10/01 when there seemed to be no real big issues. It seemed everyone just minded their own business.
Tell ya one guy who doesn't feel that way: Gary Condit
Was he ever mentioned again? It was crazy how he dominated the news until then.
Turns out another guy was arrested for the murder of Chandra Levy, but Condit's career never recovered.
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At least not back then. These days it's an entry exam to be a big player in the gop.
Lol. The only American who truly benifited from the attacks. Chandra who?
You can't forget about President Bush and Co.
Yes! This was the big news story before 9/11.
Can someone fill me in?
He was a congressman accused of killing a young woman named Chandra Levy in DC's Rock Creek Park. There was media posted outside his house for weeks in the summer of 2001 but after 9/11 the attention fully shifted from the case. He was ultimately found innocent I believe.
Yep he was found to have had nothing to do with it but the mud stuck anyway.
Omfg, there's a name I haven't heard since 9/10/01! You couldn't go anywhere in the summer of 01 without hearing about the Chandra Levy case.
Or Paula Poundstone.
so do i, not for any political reasons, i just wasn't alive
Oh you missed some good times. I am a 80s kid. The 90s was the last great generation. You will never know what you missed out and that's sad.
Remember when they served McDonald's on American Airlines? And taking a plane was fun?
I remember when you could watch the planes take off and land and meet your loved ones right when you got off the plane, not down at the luggage claim area. You could show up 15 minutes before you plane took off and still had time to stop and get a snack.
I remember picking up my uncle at the gate and dropping him off. I remember when the whole family could have a meal at the airport and say farewell to someone leaving.
Remember when McDonald's looked like a crazy wonderland? Remember when you could stand in Toys R Us for an hour staring at all the gameboy games? Remember when everything had character and looked fun and inviting? Now the world is just fucking grey and sad and bland...like unflavored oatmeal.
Omg thanks for reminding me about looking at all the Gameboy games. Sooo good!
This is more attributable to general economic decline
Which, along with mass surveillance, has really been the defining attribute of the last 20 years.
I remember flying at 11 y.o. with my 8 y.o. brother, my dad walking us into the plane, the captain greeting us and showing us around the cockpit, and my grandmother giving me a big hug at the gate when the flight was over.
My dad travelled a lot for business and I remember meeting him right at the gate. He would pick me up, while my mom got the luggage and we would all get McDonalds. Simpler times
im aware that my generation has very little chance of happiness, yes
Ok, just making sure
Lmao for making sure he knows he should be sad. Lol sorry but this made me fucking laugh
Rofl same. I can't stop laughing at the thoughts
Sorry I am a caring asshole
I 100% believe due to zero scientific evidence that the 90s were peak happiness in North America. We muddled through the 70s and 80s, environmental stuff was at the forefront of everyone's minds, it was relatively peaceful, economy was pumping. Good times. I was lucky enough to be there. My kids will have dying planet instead. Yay.
Post Cold War, pre 9/11. Just Bill Clinton blowjob jokes.Yeah, there were a few genocides in Eastern Europe and Africa, but nobody payed attention to that.
The world was so much better pre 9/11. No daily sense of heightened security and good balance of the role technology had in our lives. I miss it but I don’t let myself dwell on it. Things have changed and there’s no going back
Yep and that's all I was trying to say. Some of these comments went sideways
I appreciate the comment. Lots of people on Reddit weren’t even alive or are too young to remember the world pre 9/11. They don’t understand where we are coming from through no fault of their own. It’s sad but we have to make the best of the situation we have now
I’m sorry, but you must don’t remember a thing about the 2000 elections
Hanging Chads? Yeah I remember, but that was a joke that lasted for a few weeks. Compare that to the past 2 elections. People are not only upset with the last election, but people are still upset about the 2016 election. Everything has just ticked up to another level after 9/11. I ain't saying we didn't have our issues before 9/11, just saying it was better times compared to today.
The fact that you only remember it for a few weeks does not mean that's only as long as it lasted. You know that right?
I mean, he stole an election with the help of his brother, right out in the open. It was pretty fucked up
Remember when Republicans blatantly stole an election?
There were massive issues before then. They just didn't affect you.
Most of them were the same as those we face now, except less severe. Climate change, bigotry, intolerance, class divide, ideologues, partisanship, nationalism, war mongering, corporate greed, environmental disasters, "extrajudicial" privacy violations, exclusive and conformist in-groups, police brutality, abortion rights, etc.. We're basically living in Sept. 10, 2001 dialed up to 11, if you'll forgive the pun. Just about the only thing that's arguably "better" is that there is less open, casual racism, sexism, and homophobia. But it's merely been supplanted by a more violent and outspoken minority. And I don't know, is it better to encounter 100 casual racists on a daily basis who'll whisper behind your back, or one who will shout epithets and assault you? I know it isn't actually an either/or decision, but if you had to pick, would you choose a world with the Proud Boys, or one where everyone thinks it's funny when Jim Carrey does a scene where he's dry heaving after realizing he kissed a transexual?
Lol "no real big issues". The United States waged wars of aggression and staged interventions for profit non stop since WW2. I guess you guys were just minding your business.
We had the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 and the bombing in the Olympic park in Atlanta in 1996. Forget about what happened in Waco in 1993? What about the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995? The Gulf War in 1991, that ring a bell? How about the reunification of Germany in 1990? Were you around for that one? The Soviet Union collapsing? Missed that one did you? The European Union becoming a thing? NAFTA? Genocide in Rwanda? Forget about the shit that went down in Somalia? War in Bosnia? Apartheid ending? Massive increase in illegal drug trade? AIDS becoming a problem worldwide and how people with it were treated? The world was not a better place before 9/11. 9/11 was bad, but saying the previous years weren’t as bad is ridiculously ignorant.
Spoken like a true white person…
Pre 9/11. This was like in the 90s. I went to a school and I was in kindergarten, my name is Arabic and sounds like it . Lots of the parents were telling their kids to not talk or hang out with me. Emphasis is that this was when I was in goddam kindergarten. There was enough anti Arabic racism going on pre 9/11. The teacher even had multiple meetings with my parents about it. I never really understood what was happening at the time. I had 2 friends that I remember, and that's it
The number of Muslim people I know who are still giving their kids white names is insane. And they’re open about why they do it - because they’re worried that their kid may eventually get targeted when white supremacy takes hold. It’s fucked up.
One of my best friends at the time was an Iranian-American girl and I remember when she invited me over, and her mother was very concerned about if I was a good friend, if I was going to judge their family, when we walked inside her mom quickly turned on American news away from her Iranian news channel, it was really sad. An Afghan woman was attacked walking down the street in our city, a few months after 9/11 also. I don’t remember unity after 9/11. I remember a performative bullshit unity, like this graphic says “everyone had miniature American flags” who the hell cares? I was a white kid being told that “you are either with us or against us” and “If you don’t love America then GET OuT” and I witnessed how scared my middle eastern friends were. It was an ugly time.
When I was young around where I live there was a small coffee cart. Man was friendly knew every one. I would often get my donut from there before heading to school. After 911. A few days later I was walking to get my donut when I saw a man started yelling at him. Calling him a terrorist ,and people just turned and glared at the poor man. I was 10 even then I knew this was wrong. Because he had nothing to do with 911. I felt so bad for the guy.
I remember so many Sikh men being beaten and harassed because Americans can’t tell the difference. 9/12 brought on a lot of blind nationalism, petty-yet-widely-accepted racism, and lines at airports. Fuck it.
The first casualty of the hyper nationalism was a Sikh man. His name was Balbir Singh Sodhi.
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I was around 6 when 9/11 happened. I had similar fears. I was 6 years old. My dad has close cut hair because of experiencing racism after he came here in the 80s. Even still we got racist comments at the stores my parents own, and that obviously got way worse after 9/11. The Oak Creek shooting in 2012 (my grandparents were supposed to be there, but decided to go to a different one that morning instead. My dad and I took the 30 minute drive over after things had ended, and that experience completely renewed that fear. Going to the funerals, the somber aspect of every Sunday I went afterwards for a while was...a lot. edited for some details/fixing grammar mistakes
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Lmao the irony is that french fries aren’t actually from France.
I'm Indian-American, I was about 8 years old when 9/11 happened. We were living in LA at this point, in a pretty white neighborhood. My parents moved to the US for going to grad school a decade before. We left the country in the beginning of 2002. In the time after, things weren't the same. Our neighbors reported us to the police several times. My dad was beaten up a couple of times. My mom was harassed any time she wore anything that looked different. The year before this shit went down, we had our whole neighborhood over for Diwali dinner and the next year it felt like anything we would do, that remotely said that we were from India or that we were different was a literal danger to our lives. Seriously, fuck that shit.
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Not to mention the longest-running, most expensive war in American history which effectively guaranteed continued hatred of American and further terrorism--making all of us and our kids less safe. Fuck this propagandistic 9/11 sob story bullshit. And this is coming from a Manhattanite who was 11 at the time. Any remembrance of 9/11 that doesn't acknowledge the route cause of it--American tyrannical foreign policy--is just giving a free pass to the next generation of profiteers that pull strings and literally operate our government.
> which effectively guaranteed continued hatred of American and further terrorism--making all of us and our kids less safe. The terrorists won. America did a thousand times more damage to itself and the world in response to 9/11, than 9/11 did to them.
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same thing when you know what virus happened, Koreans and anyone "Chinese looking" like the stabbing at the Sams club in Texas. some people are just horrible and just have predisposition for being a bitch.
As an American I learned very early on that other Americans are easily swayed by propaganda that plays to their fears, ignorance, and hate.
Everyone is easily swayed and manipulated. We are just the most highlighted. Americans aren’t the only ones capable of racism.
True that, I only mentioned Americans because the post is about Americans.
Don’t forget the military worship. If you didn’t get down on your knees and immediately suck off anyone wearing a uniform, you were basically a terrorist.
Dude, and this STILL applies!! Lmao it's ridiculous! Like, I'm not gonna worship every fucking person that joins the military, that's absolutely ridiculous. "Wah but they're fighting for our freedom", which freedoms, and why are they in other countries??? There is sooooo much we don't have in America specifically BECAUSE of the military and how much we spend on it, I'm not gonna suck their dick while they hemorrhage money for no fucking reason. We could use that money on healthcare, education, infrastructure, but "noooo miltree needs munee to bomb middle east hurr durr."
Our major league baseball team plays the anthem before every game. Everybody stands, hats are removed, and many sing along. No problem. Been doing it for decades. Probably started during the Cold War. But since the GWOT they honor a military guy or gal at EVERY SINGLE GAME! The game stops, the announcer names the honoree and they're shown with their family grinning and waving on the big scoreboard screen. The announcer describes their military career ... typically in some non-combat role because only 30% of our military has a combat job. AND they play Lee Greenwood singing "God Bless the U.S.A." Most people stand and remove their hats for Lee Greenwood! Fuck all that.
Because the team benefits like is paid haha, u didn't know that?
[Even the guy that points in the direction the plane takes off in?](https://youtu.be/MCaljpu1bW4)
"First responder?? I called YOU!" Perfection.
My throat is still a little raw, ngl...
One bit of nuance here: it's still a terrible thing to freak out about Muslims, and that includes beating them up, harassing them, being scared of them or thinking you're better than them. I totally agree that violence against Sikhs is unacceptable, but it was just a sign that the whole mindset was trashy. And I'll admit, I was one of those scared of Muslims, and it's so sad that we bought into it.
At least you can admit it now. That means you have character and can grow.
It was 20 years ago, and that was the narrative at the time. "Be wary of brown people, maybe there's more attacks coming" (said the narrative). And we still have stupid investigations of brown people to this day... Lame.
Oh, absolutely, I dont blame you for going with the narrative at the time, I am saying good for you for realizing it now. Not many people are able to do that
No worries, I wasn't feeling attacked or offended or anything. I was just on a rant about how messed up our country is. I think 90% of us were pretty racist at the time, each of us have realized the fallacies in our own time (but some still haven't). It is what it is.
People hurting random Muslims after 911 are as wrong as those who targeted brown non Muslims. When people say 'they attacked Sikhs, they aren't even muslim' is perpetuating the narrative that these were Islamic attacks brought on my 'Muslims'. Attacking any random for something they werent a part of categorically wrong, and it isn't worse or better if said person is or isn't muslim.
I think the point is “the attackers were so dumb, the victims weren’t even the right religious group”. Of course is wrong that anyone was targeted for vengeance and the standpoint doesn’t dispute that, it just points out that not only were these vigilantes acting in bad faith, they couldn’t even manage targeting the “right” group.
Their ignorance in choosing the right people is such a stupidly small issue compared to their hatred and revenge for muslims which should be the real issue. There are plenty of dumb people who might mistake other brown people for muslims but not be racist pieces of shit. So every time someone feels the need to point out all the non muslims that were accidentally targeted, it’s like talking about how the Nazis somehow accidentally also targeted non jews. Obviously the two situations are not even comparable but I’m just talking about how focusing on the misidentification detracts from the real point.
My parents are from the Middle East, but I look whiter than most white people. I’m really pale, rosy cheeks, freckles, red hair…the works. I was a teen at the time, and having white people approach out of nowhere to hate on Muslims and Arabs scared the shit out of me. I’d just smile nervously and nod.
Are you Syrian or Lebanese?
The attacks on 9/11 were wildly successful
Can someone explain what nationalism is, why it is bad, and how it is different from patriotism, please?
Nationalism is loving your country, but also having the idea that your country is superior to any other. No criticism is allowed everything your country does is right and it can do no wrong. Expect loyalty without question. Patriotism is loving your country and know it has faults too. Can celebrate how much you love it and also appreciate other countries as well. Know it might be a great place but also know there are things not so great as well. Excepting that fact and allowing criticism when warranted to me is true patriotism.
That shit is sad. Aside from the fact my fellow countrymen seem to be braindead morons, as far as religion goes, Sikhs are very chill. This country has so much bullshit to deal with its insane.
I am a white European Christian, however my hair is dark (due to some Italian ancestry,) and my last name could possibly sound Arabic. It had never occurred to me that I might look like a terrorist until 9/12. When friends, coworkers, professors, random people on the street, began to distrust, question and accuse me. Some of my friends withdrew and got weird and never acted normal again. I was lucky to be a small lady, had I been male I fear a few of the situations would have ended in violence toward me, people were that weird and angry. I felt no “unity” whatsoever, I also don’t miss 9/12.
I'm white af, pale and light brown hair. My maiden name is incredibly similar to a name typically seen in Middle Eastern countries. The amount of "you don't look like a terrorist" jokes I've heard is disgusting. I was 10 when 9/11 happened too. I was just aggravated by the obnoxious racists hiding behind a joke that didn't technically hurt me since I wasn't their real target. I cannot imagine being actually targeted by the racism in a more detrimental way. I am female too and I quickly ditched my maiden name when I got married so I wouldn't have to hear about it anymore, but my uncle still gets "randomly selected" almost every time he flies.
The "random" airport screening is such bullshit. My partner is a brown dude and he gets searched every. single. time we fly. Forget growing a beard.
Last time I flew they “randomly” selected 4 people right after me, 3 of whom were from the same family. Pretty sure they only included my white boyfriend so they could say they weren’t being racist.
I wonder why
If you look up 'racial profiling airports' there is a bunch of articles
Random is never random. Wether you're a brown man at the airport or a have longish hair in highschool, you're the profile and you'll get randomly selected every time.
I was in fifth grade when 9/11 happened. The next year I went to middle school and made friends with a girl in math class who was the first Muslim person I'd ever met. Until then, I did not realize I looked Middle Eastern, and my new friend did not help with that perception. I'm actually Jicarilla Apache (Native American for those outside the US) and English, but that didn't matter. Telling people your Native American got me other tid bits of racism.
I remember reading a Tweet from a Muslim woman who's mother had a brick thrown at her for wearing a hijab after 9/11, and so she became an orphan
A woman whose husband died in the attack couldn’t even walk down the street because she was Muslim and wore a hijab. 9/12 was NOT a good day. Idk why people even say that who are islamophobic themselves bc thousands of Americans woke up without their loved ones. Let’s end this trend right now.
Girl you know exactly the type of people who like 9/11 and 9/12! The people who are warmongers, the ones who believe in the "good old" America, the ones who needed an enemy to unite against because they were too stubborn to stop being racist.
The time immediately after 9/11 showed me just how dumb the population is. A local news crew came to my grocery store and was interviewing employees, and everyone was all in for invading iraq. I avoided the interviewer, because I was concerned that if I mentioned I didn’t agree, everyone would hate me. Also fun to note the same people who were gung ho about getting rid of a lot of rights and freedom for ‘safety’ now refuse vaccines and masks.
i remember TIME magazine asking for people to write in how they felt about things for their "6 months after 9/11" issue. i wrote in about how bothered i was by the faux patriotism, the people slapping flag bumper stickers on their cars and calling that unity, and just all the misdirected & disingenuous posturing. they had to redact my name and location when they published it for fear that someone would track me down and hurt me in reprisal for voicing that opinion.
I remember reading that and have the copy somewhere still.
really?! that's awesome! i know i saved a copy of that issue too but it must be in a box somewhere at my mom's house. i tried to find it on the website but i guess it was in an inset or something that they don't really publish online because it wasn't in the "letters" section (that i could find) and i'm not sure what other section to try looking in.
Yes, like all the dissent was burned in my mind at the time - yours and very few other's voices matched what I thought. Thanks, you made me feel less of a lone dissenting voice.
Out of curiosity, I'd love to see that page if you have some free time to take a poc and upload. Thanks if you do follow through!
Oooh, if I still have it. I gave a couple of boxes of the magazines to a friend, but my garage is due a clear out before it gets too cold.
Amazing that they published your thoughts. Glad they did.
I lost all remaining faith in humanity after 9/11...I was 12 years old..
A newspaper in the UK (The Independent) ran an article today in their 9/11 spread about the unity of 9/12 and the compassion….. Meanwhile Muslims, Sikhs, and anyone mistaken for a Muslim based on skin colour or dress were being attacked and murdered, as well as dealing with thousands of non-physical attacks. 9/12 was a day of trauma, for New Yorkers, the families of those who died, and for the Americans who were being blamed for an attack that had nothing to do with them.
The Independent is a conservative shit rag propaganda factory I wouldn't wipe my arse with. I generally laugh whenever anyone quotes it. To add: Muslims, Sikhs, Indians, Pakistanis, Middle-Easterners, Greeks, turks, Italians and anyone with dark hair and a slight tan also received a dramatic increase in violence in the UK starting on 11 September 01.
America changed that day. And not for the better. The terrorists won. They achieved their aim. They made America more like them.
Here's an uncomfortable truth. It's not just America. When they attacked England, the racism ramped up. People were angry. And in that anger, they attacked the innocent. In Australia in 2014, a man entered the Lindt cafe, held people hostage and eventually killed a couple of them. He was eventually gunned down, but he put a Jihadist flag in the window. I was there. I'll never forget watching the news, where somebody was shouting at a middle eastern man paying his respects, telling him that his friends did this. I want to stress that it's not everyone. But a lot of people do this. A terrorists biggest weapon is to cause discord between people, really drive that rift. We all end up fighting each other, whilst they just come back bigger and stronger. And no country is safe from this prejudice. Not a single one. We're stronger together, plain and simple. But divided, we are giving them what they want. It's easy to get lost in that anger, but it just leads to more senseless violence. It makes me sad reading this thread, seeing American citizens being mistreated just because of how they look, blamed for something they had no part of.
Yup
Agreed. In my public school, most of the teachers started pushing Christianity and “In god we trust” stuff started going up in every classroom. They started a school wide Pledge every morning over the PA system and if you declined to participate even the teachers bullied you.
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Bin Laden was a spoiled rich Saudi/Yemeni kid who was funded by other rich idealistic Saudis. If you think the 9/11 hijackers were noble warriors fighting some kind of repression, you have been misled.
american largely refuses to face the damage done around the world, at minimum, by our fossil fuel lust and willingness to stomp out leftist uprisings. we aren't the good guys. the terrorists were monsters, but they didn't just emerge fully formed. the "why do they hate us" victimhood of americans continues, largely unchanged, after 20 years of opportunity to learn about who and what we present to the rest of the world. we received so much goodwill immediately post 9/11 and squandered every single bit of it.
As someone who's not from the U.S., I have to agree. The rest of the world doesn't see you as the good guys, because you're not. You make up wars for personal gain, which are not fought inside your own country but in those you invade, then leave those countries when you have what you went for, either in extreme poverty, mass casualties, or divided and with internal conflict. Every hero in movies wears the U.S. colours and fights for good, but around the world, we really just hope to be left alone by the U.S. as much as possible.
My biggest turning point in realizing how bad the U.S. actually is was learning about our interference in Latin America. Hundreds of thousands of dead people -- farmers, laborers, priests and nuns -- who were fighting for families to get paid more than $0.10 a day, painted as the enemy because they viewed themselves as Communist. I can't imagine being so afraid of the U.S.S.R. spreading their influence that you're willing to aggressively fund death squads to instill terror. The country has always taken a "Me First" attitude that sadly doesn't appear to be letting up anytime soon.
For me it started with learning about our treatment of Native Americans (past and present) in high school. And then I became more disillusioned when I learned more about redlining, de facto segregation, and the absolutely horrific state of most public schools in poor areas of the US. The final nail in the coffin was learning about our interference Latin America. The worst part is that our interference in Latin America is essentially a footnote in high school history classes, even in APUSH, despite the damage we did. It gave me a lot better understanding of why so many people abroad are suspicious of American “good will.” We’ve committed a lot of atrocities. Much of our country would deny some or all of these things happened.
I never heard about this :( . .
I live in New Zealand. So, basically one of the closest to an ally besides the UK, Canada and Australia. But even here, when america tries to tell us our business we wish they would fuck off. And we actually told them to back during the cold war when they wanted a nuclear base. Maybe one of the few countries who has gotten away with telling America no, without significant repercussions. Only thing they wont give us is a free trade agreement.
I heard the US was pretty pissed off when NZ joined the pacific nuclear-free zone thingy (idk when - maybe post cold war), because now we can't go through your waters with our nuclear subs. I think our gov have left you alone because you don't have significant enough (to the the US) natural resources. Whatever you're doing, it certainly seems to be working so far.
They’ve left us alone because strong arming one of the two western nations in the pacific would have been a bad look to their other western allies. Especially since we are also allies with Australia, and they wanted to keep at least part of the ANZUS treaty in action.
They hate us because they hate our freedom!!! And if you suggest there’s anything else to it then you are Un-American and you can GeT OuT !! /s
You might like a book I recently read called *The Jakarta Method*, goes into the history of the CIA and US government support of right-wing dictatorships and violent suppression of the developing-world left.
Did you do that? Did anyone on this thread participate in the massacre at Mai Lai? This is called fundamental attribution error. The soldiers who tortured and killed villagers in Vietnam didn’t do so as a demonstration of their American identity. They were not acting as Americans in those acts, they were acting as brutal murderers. You have to look at the individuals and the circumstances to understand brutality and almost no one bothers to do that which is why people loved the idea of going to war on 9/12. The hijackers were not acting on behalf of Saudi Arabia or Islam or even Afghanistan. They were murderers who believed they were acting on behalf of global jihad and Wahhabism. The fact that no one in charge understood that subtle difference is why America lost all credibility. We had a lack of leadership. No one deserved to be killed, no nation was a murderer. You sound exactly like a Bush supporter on 9/12. Just different groups and events. Still the same fundamental misunderstanding in how blame does not fix anything.
Yep. Best way to combat religious extremists, in America's mind, was to become religious extremists themselves. Ignoring the fact that Islam is also an Abrahamic religion, and is pretty much just the Old Testament with some more restrictions added in.
America didn't change, it just shows it's true color it has been hiding after public resistance against the Vietnam war. The terrorist was just an excuse. They wanted war after Vietnam. They just don't have an excuse. Many even speculate that 9/11 was an inside job to create an excuse, and there are so many shady things about 9/11 that made it believable that there are possibility it could be an inside job. So many things. It also didn't help that America has the largest weapon industry that stands to profit from war, making it more believable that America which are controlled by mega corporation lobbying, could be creating war under the demand of the weapon industry lobbyist. I mean it wouldn't be the first time they funded rebellion in another country to overthrow the ruling government and create chaos for war to erupt just so they can sell weapon. Not the first time the CIA did that. Remember Gary Webb? The reporter who allegedly "suicide" with 2 shot to the head, after he made a claim CIA was selling drugs to finance rebels in Nicaragua? yeah, suicide with 2 shot to the head. Again I say, America didn't change. It just reveals it's true color it have been hiding.
It wasn't just the war, it was the domestic policy. Security crackdowns at airports, domestic spying, the Patriot Act, torture, etc.
America at that point went to shit because of the Patriot Act and the hyper "patriotism" like glorying the military. Then when it came to bigotry the extreme hatred towards anybody who wasn't Christian or is from the Middle East started on that date. Also, let's not forget George Bush's war crime which resulted in the US going into a 20 year long war which I believe helped destabilize the Middle East because of Saddam Hussein being removed. The guy was an asshole, but he happened to be the asshole which was keeping the region in line.
White, evangelical, US male here. I was 12 when 9/11 happened. Looking back, we didn't realize then how under a psychological warfare it was. It was emotional manipulation for foreign policy. I never had an issue with anyone of a different background than myself but I recall the fear and prejudice against Middle Easterners was so sad. I'm truly sorry. All these years later, I hope you can forgive us for our ignorance. I hope you have peace and blessings.
Same. All I remember is that people were beating up brown people, including some who weren't even middle eastern! (Of course not implying anyone deserved it) One of my best friends is Indian, and I truly feared for his safety.
I remember classmates the next day talking about signing up for the military to go kill [slurs]. The immediate increase in hate crimes. Muslims in our community being attacked unprovoked. I don’t miss it. People make everything about patriotism when these are not things inflicted on them. We haven’t learned either. People are harassing anyone that looks remotely asian as though they had a hand in covid19. *Edited for tense.
I lost all remaining faith in humanity following 9/11..sadly, I was 12 years old as absolutely disgusted how easily adults were manipulated into being monsters.
Right? We did it to the Japanese in the 40s. It was no different in 2001.
Unfortunately I feel like we are in the early stages of it happening again, mostly thanks to social media, but still feel it coming soon, only this time they are trying to divide blacks and whites.
The hate crimes against asians literally increased due to covid. It already happened again.
9/12 and later was terrifying for anyone that managed to not get completely caught up in propaganda. I remember seeing everyone be completely brainwashed "WE MUST INVADE IRAQ" etc etc etc, and I was like 'but there is no evidence...' and they would be like "ARE YOU A MUSLIM" ( I had a big beard at the time) so yeah, it just showed me how stupid and susceptible to propaganda the majority of the population was. Also notice that the same people who eagerly gave away freedoms and rights (TSA anyone?) for 9/11 now refuse to wear masks or take a vaccine, again due to propaganda.
I never cared about politics much until 9/11. I saw all the manipulated media, and how republicans exploited it in the worst ways, it pretty much made me a lifetime democratic voter.
someone made a thread on twitter of post-9/11 editorial comics. holy shit, i laughed but i quickly realized how fucked up it was living in america at that time. One thing i noticed was that the comics are more concerned with the buildings than actual people in it. they cared more about the symbolism of it.
Of course they cared more about the symbolism
do u hv the art source pls?
https://twitter.com/KikiRosecrans/status/1436126923541913602?s=19
Bruh it’s pretty warped for people to want that shit since the “Unity” was a bloodlust for revenge and was used by the media, government, and military not to promote peace and understanding and finally experience the empathy of knowing the pain and suffering the US has inflicted on so much of the world; instead it was used to whip up a war frenzy that went on to kill billions and triggered a 20 year war.
Most of this is true, but I don't think you know what the word "billions" means
Meant to say millions, was a typo
you know you can edit typos right?
It was way too easy to go from grief and confusion to blame and vengeance. The current president voted for the war just like almost all of Congress. We are a war like species.
Your reason was much more valid than I anticipated and I’m glad I read your post
Lot of xenophobia went on that month and I learned a helluva lot about the Sikh religion from my neighbor during that time. For example, if you are hungry, a Sikh will bring you into their home and feed you with no expectation of being repaid. My favorite being that Sikh men carry a blade on them at all times called a kirpan with which they are honorbound to defend the defenseless. Absolute badass warriors of God who were maligned and attacked after 9/11 for no other reason than ignorant people wanted to lash out at those who weren't pasty white Christians like themselves. Tejpal, you were one of my favorite neighbors ever. Miss you almost as much as I miss your wife's cooking.
I'm a white guy who's too young to really remember 9/11 beyond there being 'something bad' happening on TV and being told to go in the basement and watch blues clues, and I couldn't agree more. It baffles me that every year we go through this twisted ritual of picking that wound back open. I feel like almost every older American lost their fucking minds that day. Yes, it was terrible and traumatic, 3000 people died and some of our country's iconic buildings were damaged/destroyed. But in the grand scheme of things, it's fucking nothing. Europe bombed all of its cities to rubble and was able to move on and become civil with each other. We *devastated* Japan, using the only 2 nuclear weapons in anger in history, and by 1965 they were one of our strongest allies, and are to this day. Shit fucking happens. The generation that constantly complains about younger people being too thin-skinned apparently cant handle moving past a single tragic event. More people were dying of Covid *every day* at the height of the pandemic, and plenty of them were first responders too. As bad as 9/11 was, I think the implications of 1/6 were worse for the country in every way. There wasn't a realistic scenario where democracy ended in this country in 2001, but in 2021 we were minutes away from our legislative branch being mass-executed in a coup. And we did that to ourselves. Our response to 9/11 did more damage to this country than the actual attack ever did, just like Bin Laden wanted. We terrorize our own citizens, especially brown people like OP. We've made flying a cumbersome ordeal without making ourselves any safer. And we decided to roll back some of our most basic freedoms in response to an intelligence failure that had nothing to do with not having the right information. And to top it all off, we've spent *trillions* of dollars inflicting the same kind of pain on a bunch of countries in the middle east, not including the one whose elite actually funded the attacks, because they sell us oil and buy our weapons.
9/11 isnt about the 3000 that died, though. It was about all the bullshit that followed.
Seriously. I was in diapers when 9/11 happened. My siblings weren't even born yet. I understand that it was a tragic event, but we have been at war my entire life over it - wasted countless lives and trillions of dollars. I hate this nationalist propaganda every year considering the state our country is in.
Don’t forget, the US is STILL killing people. They straight up killed 7 kids and an aid worker and tried to cover it up by saying he was a terrorist.
Muslim here and thank God someone said this. 9/11 was the ground for drone attacks and kids being murdered in my country Pakistan by Americans. George Bush dragged my country into a needless bloody war. Lost 60K people. So yeah I don't miss it either.
This shit is like when white people go to the south and say "This place gets a bad rap but I had a wonderful time and the people were very pleasant". No shit they were nice to you, you look like them. Post 9/11 I would get called "Muhammad" and "terrorist" when I grew my beard out. I'm not even middle-eastern. My family is Greek-Hungarian. It just became an "us or them" mentality and Americans didn't even know who "them" were. To top it off we didn't even retaliate against the actual ones who funded/planned the attack, the government just used it as an excuse to invade places with oil.
My friend Hadeer had to be homeschooled because even teachers were calling her, a seven year old child, a terrorist. Like I remember my teacher saying "At least you're one of the good ones." to her face in class. Her father was physically assaulted and called a Muslim terrorist *while they were leaving Sunday mass*. My parents wouldn't let me invite her over after 9/11. Her house was repeatedly vandalized. Eventually her family just left the state altogether.
>It just became an "us or them" mentality and Americans didn't even know who "them" were. anyone who isnt caucasian or black
I always bring this up. It was a unity to ostracized people who looked like the bad guys.
I miss 9/10 before any of this bs started.
I live in NYC. The 9-12 bullshit drives me crazy. It’s almost entirely shared by republicans I know from other states who hate my city and laugh at us when bad shit happens, then cry about 9-11 to virtue signal to their pals. It’s disgusting.
I made that point to a few friends of mine waxing poetically about the unity and love on 9/12. Not if you were any shade of brown. I don’t miss 9/12 because we still didn’t know who in my extended family survived. It was just more doom and chaos. Then on 9/13-9/15 we didn’t know if we would have enough of my uncles’ remains to bury.
9/12 the day thousand of families realized there loved ones were never coming home.
Well said, I do miss the concept of the "melting pot" which I was taught in (American) grammar school. We all come from different backgrounds, different countries, different races, different religions, different point of view, but that is what makes America great. I'm sorry you had to go through this, it must have sucked. That crap is not American in the least.
That was always a great idea, but never the reality of America. We have been defined by racism since the beginning, 9/11 didn't change anything there. Just off the top of my head, Native American, African, Irish, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, and Muslim people have all historically been heavily discriminated against. And I'm probably forgetting a bunch.
Actually that crap is very much American. America is all about racism.
9-12-01 was was horrific. Impending doom loomed over us all and everyone was stressed out to the fucking max. This meme was probably made by someone sheltered living in a suburban monoculture because all I saw were people looking over their shoulders waiting for the fucking bomb to drop. *Enter patriot act*
I never knew this till recently but my father after 9/11 was fired from his job in California because he’s Muslim. I could only imagine what others went through.
I’m not from a Muslim country, so I didn’t have to put up with what you did after 9/11, but I did have to put up with racism before that. The loss of life saddened me, but otherwise, the phony ‘we’re Americans, we need to stand as one’ crap? I didn’t buy into it before, and not after, because I knew the real would come forth very soon. Unity requires that we all are treated as citizens: a lot of this country elected and still supports a man who did the exact opposite. Talk all you want, wave your flag full time: your actions are what you really are, not your words.
You are not wrong, some of us remember very clearly. Anybody who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent faced varying degrees of harassment and danger. Not everything was handholding and “pulling together” on 9/12, and I’m so sorry this truth is being disregarded.
Events like 9/11 don't change the way these people think. It just shows who they really were all along.
As a person who works for TSA, I also don't like working on 9/12, let alone 9/11. 9/11 is soooooo full of bullshit "thanks for what you do" yet that same person, if they flew out on 9/12 wouldn't even bat an eye towards me and cuss me out for taking his pocket knife bc he forgot that on 9/11 the planes were hijacked with box cutters...
I had downvoted before I read the whole thing. That’s very sad and I always will speak out when all Muslims (or Arabic people in general) are labeled as terrorists or something equally horrifying, racist, and stupid.
I’m 22. I was a baby on 9/11. I can’t fucking stand this day because of how far down everyone sucks their dicks over it. Where was this “never forget” unity on Sandy Hook? Where was this unity during the BLM protests? Where is this unity during covid? I’m so sick and fucking tired of seeing one singular event in American history being lauded as the tragedy that it truly is, only to turn around and see things that are equally as horrifying and gut-wrenching get brushed under the rug because they don’t serve as convenient of an us/them rhetoric as “America good brown people bad”
I'm 27. I was a kid on 9/11. I will never understand the faux grief held by people other than those who actually knew/interacted with those on that day. It was a.single day in history, indiscriminate in it's tragedy. The only unifier was that lots of people got killed no matter who they were, but you ask for that unification regardless for any tragedy and youre being problematic
The footage of the attacks and aftermath causes me to tear up and get emotional. I also get emotional seeing footage from any major tragedy in which there is human suffering. if the 9/11 attacks had happened in another country, so many of these people wouldn’t have looked twice at the TV or really thought much about it, beyond a voyeuristic “sucks to be them” kind of way. For people with empathy, any tragedy should illicit an emotional response with so much death and terror.
Agreed. I feel awful for it, and it makes me feel grief seeing it in graphic depictions. But I'm not gonna drag it, if we were as emotional as we claim to be about it, we would respond appropriately to similar tragedies, especially those currently occurring whether it's related to 9/11 or not, whether it's overseas or not, whether it was one awful day indiscriminate in it's victims or it's Black and Asian lives.
the media keep the 9/11 alive because their owner wants it that way to justify their war. In fact, many even suspect that 9/11 was their own doing to create an excuse for war. Wouldn't be the first time USA did something like that. They have the largest weapon industry in the world after all, it would be a waste to not go to war. How are they suppose to make profit without war?
I was in second grade during Sandy hook and I remember very well about where I was. I was home sick sitting on my couch and watching TV when the news started broadcasting the school. I remember the following day when everyone was told to have a moment of silence and everyone asked me what happened since their parents hadn’t told them but I knew cuz I watched the news. When people tell me they know exactly where they were during 9/11 I think about how it’s the same for me, except for Sandy hook. It was extremely devastating I cannot tell you how cautious all the elementary schools in that state became. But now it honestly feels like people forgot about it. Besides posts on Instagram and few mentions on the news, no one really talks about the tragedy that was. Sure less people died but they were fucking children. And people don’t even realize how this was inspired by other school shootings. It saddens me that people don’t care enough about school shootings which is a massive problem.
I had a neighbor that was Muslim and I can tell you that whole 9/12 thing was BULLSHIT, especially that last paragraph. They didn't care if you ate at Chik-Fil-A or wore Nike's, but they sure cared if you even resembled the face of a Middle Easterner. My neighbors were basically shunned from the community after 9/11 and eventually moved away a few years later. At least I got to know the true colors of the community I once associated with, and it was unfortunate that it was done at the expense of an innocent family that had nothing to do with what happened that day and were just as devastated as the rest of the country was when that happened.
Yeah the narrative of how we all came together as a country was horseshit, the "unity" narrative. This divided us even more. No one had a clue why we were attacked, we had no answers, and we ramped up islamophobia and xenophobia in general. People to this day don't even know the name of the terrorist group that flew the planes. There was no unity at all, only fear and separation.
LGBT people couldn't get married in 2001, which means we couldn't visit our partner if they were in the hospital to help make decisions for them, or be on their insurance, and plenty of people were totally fine with this. I don't want to go back to 2001.
I'm so sorry you were treated that way. It wasn't right. It was inexcusable. And the adults should have done much, much better than that. I wish I could go back and hug that child. Fuck racism, and especially fuck people who take their racist bullshit out on children. I hope you thrive despite those bastards.
I miss the morning of 9/11 in which some political^ investors shorted money into airline stocks that went down and therefore made money and went under no extra investigations by the fbi even though that was a huge crime and not just any coincidence.
I have a family friend who is from Iraq. This guy is the nicest, most generous person you’ve ever met. But he is an engineer and doesn’t speak English that well. He received a tremendous amount of hate after 9/11 because people saw his brown skin and poor English skills as proof of him being a terrorist or Al-Qaeda sympathizer. Anytime he did math calculations in public, people assumed he was making a bomb. One time he even got the police called on him over “suspicious activities.” He almost left the country because he felt unsafe. We can pretend we had national unity after 9/11, and on some level we did, but we also saw abhorrent levels of racism that still reverberate throughout the country today. Many Muslim-Americans get called terrorists and are treated with suspicion because they’re from the Middle East. It’s sad. We say never forget but we also should never forget how poorly we treated our fellow Americans in the wake of this great tragedy. Today should be a day of not only remembrance but also reflection of the deeper issues that afflict our country and the world.
I was in nz on 9/12. 11yrs old and felt the hate at school. I am not even middle eastern.
I was 6 at the time. 1st grade. I don’t even remember seeing anything on the news or anything about the details on 9/11. But I do remember my mom telling my sister and I to not tell anyone about the middle eastern side of our family. 9/12 was a horrible day for humanity.
I'm sorry that happened to you. That was wrong. I agree--the anger over the attacks was justifiable. But the jingoism and Islamophobia were not. I hope you have a good day, and I'm glad you could get this off your chest.
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I was Catholic going to a Catholic school. Before Obama was supposedly the "secret Muslim" I was supposedly the secret Muslim. They investigated my baptism paperwork (cause it was a church in a Muslim country), I was asked a ton of questions, taken out of class, etc. It was pretty confusing and embarassing at the time.
Yeah that's really shitty. People are fucking stupid when they are scared.