It's been 13 years
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  It's been 13 years
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Author Topic: It's been 13 years  (Read 1824 times)
Mr. Illini
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« on: September 10, 2014, 05:28:45 PM »
« edited: September 10, 2014, 05:31:05 PM by Mr. Illini »

As of 8:46am ET tomorrow, 13 years will have passed since the beginning of the September 11 attacks.

I will be commemorating the anniversary by removing my avatar from my profile as a sign of unity of Americans and all peoples. I'd encourage you to join me.
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Atlas Has Shrugged
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« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2014, 05:45:29 PM »
« Edited: September 10, 2014, 05:50:24 PM by ChairmanSanchez »

It’s been thirteen years. I was five years old and watched towers falling, people jumping to their deaths, and the Pentagon burning. I saw humanity at its worst, and like most posters in my age group, it is burned into our memory. In fact, it is my earliest vivid political memory.

That being said, it has been thirteen years. I am over it. I will briefly pause to think about it, but as time goes on, so does life. So no, I will not be removing my avatar and I encourage everyone to do the same. Getting teary eyed over an event so long ago is exactly what Osama Bin Laden would want us to do.
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20RP12
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« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2014, 06:00:01 PM »

The impact of the day has really lost its luster for me, which isn't to say it's no longer "sad" to me...i just won't cry about it the way i used to. I think about those that were lost, and it makes me grateful for every day that I have on this Earth, but it's not as cripplingly sad as it was when I first started to grasp that people could do such a thing, and what it meant.

Still, I guess I'll change my avatar/display name for solidarity purposes.
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Mr. Illini
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« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2014, 06:04:15 PM »

It’s been thirteen years. I was five years old and watched towers falling, people jumping to their deaths, and the Pentagon burning. I saw humanity at its worst, and like most posters in my age group, it is burned into our memory. In fact, it is my earliest vivid political memory.

That being said, it has been thirteen years. I am over it. I will briefly pause to think about it, but as time goes on, so does life. So no, I will not be removing my avatar and I encourage everyone to do the same. Getting teary eyed over an event so long ago is exactly what Osama Bin Laden would want us to do.


I'll continue to commemorate American tragedies of this scale each year for the rest of my life. It shaped my generation and global politics since. It has absolutely moved from being a day of renewing wounds to a day of commemoration, and there's nothing wrong with that. We still rightly commemorate the attacks on Pearl Harbor, which was almost 3/4 century ago.

And just because you will abstain from changing your avatar doesn't mean you need to encourage others not to change their's. That's not in very good taste IMO.
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Reaganfan
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« Reply #4 on: September 10, 2014, 06:22:32 PM »

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=140501.25
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Vega
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« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2014, 08:05:06 PM »

Good idea with removing avatars...  I removed mine.
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RR1997
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« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2014, 08:13:34 PM »

Good idea with removing avatars...  I removed mine.
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New_Conservative
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« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2014, 08:36:08 PM »

Great idea, I have removed mine too.
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bedstuy
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« Reply #8 on: September 10, 2014, 08:46:45 PM »

It's still very raw for me.  My dad worked on the 90th floor of Two World Trade Center until the mid 90s.  One of our close family friends was one of the hundreds of firefighters who died in the towers.  Every day I walk by a memorial to the four firefighters from my local fire station who died.  And, every day I walk by a masjid run by an unindicted co-conspirator to the first WTC bombing.  It's one of those things that hangs in the air here. 

Now, you have to wonder whether we're primed for some like the War on Terror 2.0.  I hope we've learned something from that whole experience.  But, honestly it's all probably more sad and meaningless like so many tragedies before and still to come.  Maybe all you can take from it is the incredibly spectrum of humanity from the disgusting human monsters who attacked us to the firefighters who ran into those buildings to save people.
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Snowstalker Mk. II
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« Reply #9 on: September 11, 2014, 07:29:25 AM »

And 41.
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Oakvale
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« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2014, 08:52:53 AM »

Stop removing your avatars. Jesus.


Right on cue!
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Simfan34
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« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2014, 10:46:27 AM »


And 40 years, tomorrow. I'd change my avatar but we don't have one, and I'd change the flag but I'm not going to show one with that ridiculous thing in the middle that serves no purpose but for the present regime to mark it's territory like some piss in dog.

I did make an avatar that reflected the rightful borders, however, so I'll probably put that in my signature.

As for 9/11, I don't really feel anything. I didn't even think about it really, my main focus was on the Ethiopian New Year. But RIP I guess.
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Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook
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« Reply #12 on: September 11, 2014, 01:22:20 PM »

Are schools still doing anything? I mean since people in elementary were not born yet and many in college were under 10.
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Paul Kemp
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« Reply #13 on: September 11, 2014, 01:26:41 PM »

Are schools still doing anything? I mean since people in elementary were not born yet and many in college were under 10.

Events in history aren't recognized by schools if the students weren't born yet?
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Atlas Has Shrugged
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« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2014, 02:40:14 PM »

That's an anniversary worth celebrating!
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They put it to a vote and they just kept lying
20RP12
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« Reply #15 on: September 11, 2014, 02:49:08 PM »

Are schools still doing anything? I mean since people in elementary were not born yet and many in college were under 10.

My school held a moment of silence this morning after a lengthy speech given by our principal over the intercom.
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SWE
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« Reply #16 on: September 11, 2014, 02:49:19 PM »

Even if you're not an Allende fan, celebrating the death of a democratically elected leader who would be replaced by a brutal dictator is pretty disgusting.
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Atlas Has Shrugged
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« Reply #17 on: September 11, 2014, 02:50:30 PM »

Even if you're not an Allende fan, celebrating the death of a democratically elected leader who would be replaced by a brutal dictator is pretty disgusting.
Atlas Forum doesn't really know what a joke is.
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Paul Kemp
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« Reply #18 on: September 11, 2014, 03:16:08 PM »

Even if you're not an Allende fan, celebrating the death of a democratically elected leader who would be replaced by a brutal dictator is pretty disgusting.
Atlas Forum doesn't really know what a joke is.

Being funny in the first place generally helps people know when you're joking.
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Foucaulf
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« Reply #19 on: September 11, 2014, 09:34:47 PM »

I kinda want to share my 9/11 story, and hopefully it won't be in too poor taste:

9/11 happened the year I moved to Canada. We had tried to move to the U.S. but wasn't considered adequate. That confused me then, because I wanted to go to Disneyland. I read about Disneyland in Chinese books and thought that was America's defining symbol. When the attacks happened, and my parents were astounded by what they saw on CNN, I wasn't as much. It wasn't Disneyland.

There's obviously a sense in which the attacks have been seared into a collective consciousness, immortalized, glorified and such. Individuals made it out to be some kind of scarring symbol, a paradigm shift, and consequently a justification to act carelessly. But this response was predicted, and the motive for the whole act is to be an opening salvo in a greater war.

The point of that story - apart from explaining why I just choose to talk little about it - is to recognize how these events in collective memory are ultimately sculpted by people. Making a show of it - with unverifiable boilerplate like "it shaped our generation" - means manipulating collective memory more than finding the truth. For those who can hardly remember the fallout or lack personal connections to the event, maybe it's better to stop for once.
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New_Conservative
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« Reply #20 on: September 11, 2014, 09:56:09 PM »

Are schools still doing anything? I mean since people in elementary were not born yet and many in college were under 10.

Not really. We had a moment in silence but other than that it was normal procedure.
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Fmr President & Senator Polnut
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« Reply #21 on: September 11, 2014, 10:25:46 PM »

That's thing about that day, or evening for, me.

I was in bed watching West Wing (naturally), then there was a newsflash. I ran straight out to the living room to watch CNN. I sat there until 5am... couldn't sleep. I was 17 and my memories are very sharp and very vivid. I saw real-time, people throwing themselves out of the building, the desperation and terror in people's eyes.

It's very real.

Just over a year later someone I'd known since I was 5 was killed in the Bali bombings. My view from this and from other terrible experiences in my life, you have to live for the living. Remember and commemorate the dead - but always look forward and realise that embracing grief porn, that I see each and every year on TV is not a way. I think this is very risky to people who were very young and for them 9/11 is an idea, not a real event. I think to an extent feel left out from those of us who remember so clearly - so try to recreate the feelings.

How you choose to commemorate those who died is up to you, but realise that they won't be forgotten because you don't undertake some grand gesture of remembrance. 
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All Along The Watchtower
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« Reply #22 on: September 11, 2014, 10:48:52 PM »

I remember when my dad woke me up; it was around 7am in California, so that was basically around the time the towers collapsed. Quite a vivid memory.

I later met someone (friend of my uncle) who lost his brother-in-law in the Pentagon that day
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Antonio the Sixth
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« Reply #23 on: September 12, 2014, 05:13:53 AM »

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Knives
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« Reply #24 on: September 12, 2014, 06:18:09 AM »

Even if you're not an Allende fan, celebrating the death of a democratically elected leader who would be replaced by a brutal dictator is pretty disgusting.
Atlas Forum doesn't really know what a joke is.

Some things you shouldn't joke about.
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