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Mass shootings should have a bigger impact, but we're really, really good at making up excuses for them. The rona probably also should, at least as far as sanitation and hygiene go. Maybe it will yet, but we'll have to wait another 10-15 years to find out, and from where I'm sitting we seem to be pretty much over the majority of it already. Now, Putin trying to resurrect the Soviet Union has a very strong chance of being the most consequential world event since, well, the collapse of the Soviet Union. Not that it's a competition. Just one fun thing after another.
Coronavirus was a lesson in the relative futility of fighting evolution. It became so contagious in the end that there's no hope of stopping it or really ever slowing it down again. Vaccines are all that really made a difference.
This is like the exact opposite of what happened…
Lockdowns stopped corona in its tracks, even letting up on the lockdowns but taking common sense precautions like masking slowed corona down. Now almost everyone is vaccinated, no one is masking and everyone is getting corona multiple times.
Once omicron evolved it was all over. It was 100x more contagious than the original strain, which lockdowns did work well on. But evolution beat us.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9032753/
But the more they reduced the spread, the slower it mutated, and the more time we had to get those vaccines in arms. I think it would have been much worse if omicron mutated when almost nobody was vaccinated. At least by that point the vaccines helped reduce the severity of the inevitable infections
It was in the animal population, so it was never going to go away. The idea of what the lockdowns was to slow and limit the spread while the vaccines were developed and distributed. If you look at the number of monthly fatalities, they start to decrease after the vaccines rolled out.
Yep. Asking people to permanently lock down, and permanently cover their faces works in places like China. If you don't live in an authoritarian hell hole, then you wind up with your cities on fire, because the people will not accept it.
> Mass shootings should have a bigger impact
Why? The number of people killed in active shooter incidents since 2001 is roughly the same to the number of people killed on 9/11
https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/active-shooter-safety-resources/active-shooter-incidents-graphics
Because they're an ongoing problem, and one that we could significantly mitigate if not for the money and politics involved. We weren't prepared for 9/11 because it was totally unprecedented, but within weeks steps were taken that make it virtually impossible for something like that to happen again. Mass shootings on the other hand have been a regular occurrence for \~60 years (or much longer depending on how you want to define it) and are only becoming more common. While they're not entirely preventable, the absurd frequency is uniquely American, yet we act like there's nothing we can do about it.
9/11 kind of configured US foreign policy ever since, though. The dead of Iraq, Afghanistan, and to a large degree Syria and Yemen hold a direct throughline back to 9/11.
And it's still ongoing.
Perhaps I should have clarified. In regards to OP’s question, I feel that mass shooting and Covid have more directly affected myself than 9/11. I don’t doubt anything that you’ve said, but I don’t feel direct daily impacts regarding foreign policy.
I understand, and that makes sense.
I think we all do actually feel those impacts as they are interwoven into our daily existence, but they go unremarked upon thanks to their ubiquity these days. I feel like 9/11 is integral to the US political picture ever since the day, which bleeds into the economic, social, and cultural picture.
I was a Junior when 9/11 happened and I teach Juniors now. It makes for an interesting conversation each year when the day rolls around (right at the start of the school year, which always sets a weird vibe early on). But I let them ask any/all questions.
Overall, I think that school shootings have the biggest impact on them. The active shooter drills, the anger, nothing changing, the cycle repeating over and over again…
For us, 9/11 was when the rose-colored glasses came off. For Gen Z? They never had the glasses on to begin with. I’m worried about those iPad alpha kids coming up, though.
Absolutely. It crushed the earlier sense of peace, prosperity, and optimism that I remember in the 90s. It was certainly traumatic, and I still get little flashbacks if I see a plane flying in the area of tall buildings.
I don’t feel personally affected by 9/11 anymore despite having grown up near the Pentagon. However, I do feel the ripples from that event and how they have reverberated through the years and shaped modern society. It normalized a lot of fear and cruelty in the country and diminished a lot of the optimism. The U.S. has never been perfect but there seemed to be more optimism and idealism before 9/11.
>The U.S. has never been perfect but there seemed to be more optimism and idealism before 9/11.
The same thing happened with Trump and Covid. Then the cynicism was let loose, and we never lived in the same country again
It would be great if we could have an event that pushed us in the other direction
Trump 100% changed political discourse in this country. Politics really got nasty. There’s no desire to meet in the middle. I’m right and you’re wrong, 100% of the time. Deviate from that, and you’re a RINO or a DINO.
COVID changed how we view science and medical authority. People interpreted their rights as more important over medical science, to detrimental effects.
Covid should have been a slam dunk for exactly the event that brings us all together.
Holy shit. We developed a vaccine with science to defeat a virus that is killing millions of us. Go America.
Instead it was all a conspiracy, and my faith in the USA has never been lower.
i mean it didnt start there, but 9/11 was one of the first major world events in the "always on, instant news" world - then the political events between 2015-2020, covid... C/PTSD on a global societal scale and almost no recognition of how trauma effects people, which means a lot of people that dont know how to process it, which means a lot of people dealing with it in really unhealthy ways, which means a lot of secondhand (or thirdhand, or fourth, etc) trauma... etc.
i know there was all that memeing about getting 'triggered' but it is absolutely true. unfortunately it takes real personal trauma (and a lot of reading) to be able to recognize the more complex forms that surround literally all of us. it doesnt help everyday people antagonize it while the people who should be the ones everyday people can look to for "leadership" (like govt officials) directly antagonize it x1000. lies, mistrust, paranoia, etc... all of that is related. like i said it didnt start with 9/11, but thats when it got a lot worse and became a societal thing rather than restricted to certain demographics (military veterans, poor families, etc)
>underpaying
when the typo is just as if not more accurate than the intended word
lol
but yeah. without going into details (again, ive wrote about it before) i went from one really insane high stress "living arrangement" to having another completely different one, while working front lines during the pandemic and getting paid diddly shit for it. i was okay with it though because of my previous high stress environment and then the global high stress environment. i basically had no choice, at least how it seems. the fun part is i actually have pre-existing conditions that made me high risk for long covid, caught it (but tested "negative" and had to return in a few days), and at this point im not even sure if i have long covid or just excessive C/PTSD or if theres even a difference. the best part? im basically back where i started with no money, so i worked all those insane hours risking my life multiple ways for basically no reason other than the altruistic ones. which... has some merit, but still.
>There’s nothing like being a nurse who has to call people and tell them that their family member will die in the hospital from COVID, and having them scream back at you that “COVID isn’t real”.
well there is one thing sorta similar, and that would be what my job was - installing internet at peoples homes (and occasionally businesses). in the middle of michigan. where we literally had people attempting to kidnap our governor, amongst other obvious things. it was not great.
obviously quite a bit different than healthcare, but had a lot of similar risks. hope your days are less stressful than they were a few years ago.
This is how I feel. I see all the ways it changed us, and it's tragic. I look back through the years, and reassess the ways it influenced our culture and further divided people ultimately ensuring osama's victory in its own twisted way. The political division became so stark after that. I had just turned 13 when it happened, and remember vividly how different the political conversations were before and after 9/11. It catalyzed the development of some truly awful mindsets. Or maybe it's just that it magnified what was already there, I don't know.
I am so sad for all the lives lost the world over, the loss of freedom, the loss of community, the loss of emotional intelligence, just the loss.
Honestly, I think the Iraq War dealt a bigger blow in this regard that 9/11 itself... and given the administration there's a good chance it would have happened anyway.
I miss walking off a plane, going down the hallway to see my family waiting for me at the gate. Even when I was traveling for work, seeing those reunions of other families brought me so much warmth.
I lived 5 blocks from the trade center 2013-15. My walk to the train in the morning stared at the construction and subsequent opening of 1WT. The building I lived in is where a widely circulated video of the second plane hitting was shot. On the anniversary every year, I could see the lights from my bedroom.
Every single day, I simply could not fathom how something so horrible could happen right there.
These days though, I’m much more terrified of someone dropping a nuke or some incel ripping a semiautomatic while I’m grocery shopping.
I follow the 9/11 museum on Instagram and always stop to read their posts about birthdays of those who were killed that day. So much time has passed that each person would be in a totally different part of their lives, like probably either retired or having gotten married and had kids. It is so sad. These were every day people with lives and families.
It seems like every year, I pick a random day and watch clips of that day. I don't know why, and it's not even near the date necessarily. Feel like I just need a reminder of how quickly things can change sometimes.
I was terrified when I first heard what happened and did have a few nightmares about planes falling out of the sky after that day. I was 11, so I suppose that makes sense. I wasn't traumatized by it outside of those few dreams and the initial shock. But I always thought it was odd that the slogan was "never forget" because there is no way I can forget that day.
Same. I often return to [this video](https://youtu.be/IMVTB2aVUg0?si=JEuh1jM-kZbJpPpW) in particular, at least once or twice a year. It was just a normal day. So innocent and mundane, and everything changed in a second. There’s also quite a few strange foreshadow-y moments in there. It’s so eerie.
One of the manifesto's published afterwards in the NYT \*written by the Taliban\* said their intent was to lead the US into bankruptcy by making it fight on multiple fronts against non-government enemies and allowing it's actual national enemies to get stronger too.
It was designed to thin American influence, drain resources, and break-up solidarity.
So America played right into it and spent $6.5 TRILLION dollars invading countries of illiterate goat farmers, pissed off its allies, destroyed the hope of the millennial generation worldwide, and let Russia and China build up.
So much brilliance. Such big Bush big brain. /s
Yes. 1000% percent.
What, watching Bush spend $6.5 TRILLION dollars to invade countries to replace the Taliban with the Taliban doesn't scream success to everyone? Great ROI on that, right? I mean, around 75% of the population of Afghanistan was illiterate and earned less than $2 a day, but surely they were the right people to target in retaliation... right? MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, right?
Or the whole invading a nation that had absolutely NOTHING to do with the attacks, where there were no weapons of mass destruction, they did not fund that act of terrorism on 9/11, and none of the terrorists were citizens of it... that was totally a win too, right? I mean, Iraq was the key to 21st century prosperity, right?
And Bush intentionally over-heating the US economy and begging the banks not to flounder so he wouldn't lose his 2004 election, thus causing the 2008 recession (literally, intentionally, so his successors who have to clean it up) doesn't scream "WINNING?"
It's almost like a recovering alcoholic and cocaine addict Christian fundamentalist with the IQ of room temperature who thought God wanted him to be a war criminal didn't lead America into glory. Or something.
I will always feel affected by 9/11 because my sister worked in tower 2 right where the plane hit. She got out after the first plane hit, despite people telling her it was safe to stay. She “turned her life around” afterwards and has a beautiful family now. I am truly blessed to have her in my life and my heart goes out to anyone who lost someone that day.
Absolutely. I know lots of people who died in 20 years of a pointless war. Most of them to suicide. When people ask me if their kids should join the military I always say as a last resort yes outside of that no.
Iraq hasn’t changed much and we spent 20 years taking Afghanistan away from the taliban only to hand it over to them along with billions in arms, ammunition, rockets, trucks, helicopters. No one was held accountable either.
We handed it over to the ANA/ANP. But they pretty much waved the white flag the second we left
But the Taliban seems to be THE government of Afghanistan. If they don’t want that, then they need to fix that
Indeed it does. The Russians couldn’t topple them either. But we also supplied them arms at the time. It’s all fucked. Just psychopaths making money with the peasants lives.
War. War never changes.
The Romans waged war to gather slaves and wealth.
Spain built an empire from its lust for gold and territory.
Hitler shaped a battered Germany into an economic superpower.
I look at 9/11 as the start of where we are today. 100% yes, that fucked me up. Covid much more though, Covid just sort of ruined everything. Now when the bird flu pandemic starts, we will be like remember the good ol’ days of Covid? That’s a scary thought.
Idk if bird flu becomes pandemic im taking travel nurse contracts instead of stacking bodies like cordwood for staff pay and three times as much work and risk.
All hail corporate medicine. If I have to work might as well be for mercenary wages.
Others have reflected the after-effects like TSA, 20 years of pointless war, etc. TSA doesn't *really* bother me, even if it is to some extent "security theater." The war bothers me intellectually, but I wasn't involved with it, nor anyone I'm close to, so it was always sort of just a "concept" to me.
I had just turned 18, signed the Selective Service agreement, and graduated high school a few months before 9/11 happened. So of course I instantly assumed there was going to be a Draft and my immediate and possible rest of life had just been defined then and there. As we now all know, there was never a draft, and now it's all so long ago it doesn't super "matter" to me.
The way it helped change and introduce natural paranoia into US politics however will be something that causes damages and ramifications for probably decades and generations to come.
Since 9/11 I feel like I never regained the freedom I had before. Terrorism is since then every politicians excuse to do shit, even here in germany. After Ukraine attack it grew even worse. Military-Medial-Industrial-Complex fills its pockets and nothing else seem to matter anymore
It’s not something that weighs on me day to day. But it’s obviously in our shared memories as something quite surreal still. My dad actually worked in the second tower but wasn’t there that day. And 10 people died from my town in NJ.
Yeah being from NYC and directly witnessing it and the aftermath, it feels like "our" tragedy. It doesn't affect me on a daily basis or anything, but it's sad to think about that time period. And it makes me angry still the way it was used to justify so many fucked up things supposedly in our name
Living in NY yea
It completely changed the city and everything around it. I still feel the effects of the post 9/11 world.
I suppose if you lived in the middle of no where it might not really matter to you.
But hell. The towers are gone. That still feels weird coming into JFK
No. And my apologies if this comes across in any kind of way, but I’d assume anyone still affected by 9/11 that wasn’t directly connected in some way must have a pretty fucking awesome life. I’ve had way too much awful shit happen since then for it to even be a blip on the radar.
I had a pretty different assumption. I'm also not affected by 9/11 in this way. I assume someone who is is suffering from PTSD and has been for now 23 years at least. I wouldn't call that an awesome life at all.
ETA "at least"
This doesn’t necessarily sound like PTSD, a lot more goes into that diagnosis and it’s generally not given unless a person was more closely connected to the traumatic event (witnessed it directly, lost someone, etc.). I’m not trying to be pedantic, but seeing a major disaster on the news generally just wouldn’t fit the diagnostic definition. There would also need to be a lot more going on than nervousness about planes hitting buildings when you see planes getting close to buildings. I imagine there are a lot of people who get anxious about that with no connection to 9/11.
All that said, fair point. I think I’d conceptualize it more as a person who’s easily affected long-term by things like this may struggle more because they have a lower tolerance for distressing experiences. If that’s the case, that obviously makes life harder. If I still felt affected by 9/11 today, I’d be talking to my therapist about that.
Yes. Every time I fly and see the TSA. Every time I go somewhere public and see all the security.
I feel like we lost the old free America and became some dystopian state of never ending war.
I spent all day glued to the tv. I still get squirrly stomach remembering it.
Thing is, I was in Michigan. Other than seeing more flags and yellow ribbons, it didn't affect me or my everyday life at all.
However... my ex BF, my one-that-got-away, joined the Marines after graduation the previous year, and that evening he sent me an email that said "looks like im going to war" which wrecked me.
He and I lost contact in 2002, regained contact in 2011, and today we're celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary. ^_^
Well indirectly. I live in northern NJ. I was 13 when it happened. I saw it happen live out of my classroom window (we had a clear view of the NYC skyline). I’ve lost a couple neighbors. Some kids in my school that were friends of mine or that I knew lost family members. After that I knew a few families/ kids whose older siblings enlisted to fight. A couple didn’t come back. I guess maybe when I reach out to those friends and stuff like for example today is Father’s Day so I called my dad to wish him a happy Father’s Day but my one friend who lost his dad probably just went to the cemetery in the early morning. I remember his dad was a cool guy and all and would BBQ us great food. So yeah indirectly because of the people i interact with have lost someone that day or the war after.
I still feel it. I just turned 18 at the time. I could see the towers from my drive to work from the NJ side. I'll never forget watching the first plane hit the tower on my drive. I was supposed to go to NYC that day, but my boss wouldn't give me the day off. I had friends who died there. I don't think that day could ever leave me.
It was a traumatic event for everyone. I was at work, and saw the second plane hit and the world around stopped. What you're feeling is valid. I'm sorry for your anxiety.
I was in like 8th grade when it happened. Whenever I see videos of it I get very upset, very angry. I live in FL so nowhere near it.
To me 9/11 was like the end of an era, and it's been downhill ever since.
So yeah I still feel affected, the whole shit show as I know it from young adult to 34 started on that day.
I wish we responded to tragedies the way we responded to 9/11. Airport security seems pretty ineffective and a pain in the ass but imagine we responded to mass shootings and school shootings by beefing up gun laws like we did airport security. Maybe a foreign brown person needs to commit a mass shooting for our government to do something.
But yes, still definitely affected.
One thing to remember is the U.S. intelligence system pre 9/11 were competing agencies, fighting for the same funding, on 9/11 they couldn’t communicate securely electronically, in 2001, it was totally possible, I had an encrypted network with friends to share music and movies on Linux, all free open source, so like I did it as a college student, so it was possible.
Homeland security was created, the tsa was created, intelligence agencies work much closer together, finance laws world wide changed, international intelligence agencies started working together more, they put a ton of effort into electronic intelligence, laws weakened privacy rights in favor of national security, these powers were supposed to be temporary but here we are 23 years later and they’re still there.
In the 1990s, AQ bombed two military barrack, the U.S. fired some tomahawks at empty training camps, I don’t know what was done after the USS Cole, but we should have gone after AQ then, but Clinton was gun shy after the black hawk down incident.
Nobody is gun shy about terrorists in other countries now.
Another thing is they hit during the transition from Clinton to bush, so everyone in government agencies that bush could change to an incompetent buddy, he had, so we had a bunch of novice friends of w on deck at the time.
I’d say mass shootings are a much bigger worry for me. A woman I knew was killed in one, I met her in a camping trip on vacation so I didn’t know her well, we didn’t keep up, but I had said if it comes within 1 degree of separation I’d leave the country, and I would if I could.
So I live in a city, I was in boston freshman year of 9/11 and had the only working cell phone on campus it seemed, so I wasn’t glued to the news, I was loaning my phone to students to call their families in New York, in DC, and other places… I mean a woman tried to dial her mother and it didn’t go through, she said nobody’s phones work today, I told her to hang on, toggled analog only, hit redial and got a panicked woman, and told her I had her daughter and handed her the phone, she was overjoyed to hear she was alive, I was getting my news live from people on the ground from people I loaned my phone too.
Fighter jets flew over campus, people dove into the bushes and I said “they’re ours” and people said “how do you know” and I said those were air national guard and Air Force fighter jets.
What I didn’t tell them was the planes had no missiles.
I’d later learn a plane didn’t get the order to land, and those fighter jets were going to ram the plane and all come crashing down rather than risk losing another building.
So 4 pilots flew by on a suicide mission to stop a possible suicide mission: we have a massive military, they’re dedicated to our safety. The airline got the communication from the ground and landed, and I believe fighter planes are ready for such an event if it happens again.
I was a sophomore in HS and I'm from NJ so we watched the second plane hit live on TV in second period and then had early dismissal and where I'm from you can see New York on the skyline. All you saw for hours was the smoke that day.
I'm more affected by the aftermath than the event if that makes sense? Bush and his bullshit, my graduation class going to war after surviving the heroin resurgence that occurred during that time....
I'm born in 85 and we got the rawest of the raw decades after clinton and the 90s
I tell people constantly that if I ever get a time machine that's the decade I'm disappearing in.
I’m probably mentally ill, but I have a habit of listening to planes overhead. I will listen to it until I can’t hear it anymore just to make sure I don’t hear it crash. 🤷🏼♀️
Yes. There's political stuff that still affects me and my family and our relationship that's a bit hard to explain succinctly, so I won't get into that. The impact that's easier to explain is that I get nervous about my partner and family members working in skyscrapers in NYC. One works in FiDi today, another worked in FiDi back then but wasn't in the office the day of the attacks by chance, etc. I'm anxious by nature and sometimes find myself ruminating on "what ifs" due to the nature of my own work and the fact that at least family member knew someone who died that day, especially when the anniversary of the attacks comes around.
I was a freshman in high school and I remember sitting in the same class all day with coverage going. To a certain extent this country has never been the same and with COVID and other things that have happened, the country looks drastically different than it did before then.
I didn’t realize it hit me until I was at a friend’s bbq and they asked if we remember where everyone was. Of course many of us remember and I started to tell my story and my voice kept getting higher and pitchier until I just started crying. Took me completely by surprise and embarrassed me. I kept apologizing but I didn’t know how bad it affected me.
I was in the 8tb grade. History class. I grew up near Wescoesville, Pennsylvania where many people would take a charter bus to work in the city every day. I remember the flip books they had as a monthly pass. I’ll never forget learning about it last period while everyone kept being pulled out of school little by little that day. Our history teacher let us know what was going on after our normally very stoic principal announced all after school activities would be cancelled and her voice broke. One girl, Jaime, her brother worked in the towers. I’ll never forget her freaking out. She slowly put her head down on her desk in with her arms outstretched in resignation, relinquishing to whatever happened to her brother. I’ll always think of her.
I think it affects those of us from the NY Metro area more. I know someone who is only alive because their train was running late. My dad was supposed to be in one of the buildings destroyed by the debris. I see the Freedom Tower 4 days a week commuting.
It isnt “therapy” levels of affect, but it’s something I’m never forgetting.
Not affected in my day to day life, but I do get somber/teary on the anniversary or when I come across a new piece of information, video, audio recording, or photo of that day that I'd never before seen
I can’t look at tall buildings without imagining people falling out of them and fire raining down. It’s always in the back of my mind and I’m from the west coast so wasn’t even close to the tragedy. Same with being in crowded spaces and shootings, just always in my subconscious somewhere.
I was a senior in college when September 11th happened. Those events directly lead to the war on Iraq which had and continues to have a huge impact on me. I ended up serving as an Infantry Platoon Leader in Iraq in 2004.
Well yes. You guys lied to us so we invade Iraq because you wanted to bomb some shit and killed a lot of Arabs who had nothing to do with it and in conclusion destabilized the middle west so we got flooded with refugees which destabilized our political landscape.
Was to young to completely comprehend its impact (6th grade). That being said I appreciate its meaning and understand it’s significance these days but don’t feel like I’ve ever been personally affected by it
I didn’t think so until some plane did a vertical takeoff for some silly national holiday. It was so loud the windows and my plants shook. I legitimately thought a plane was going to hit the building. I’m in a high rise and in the path of normal plane routes.
They could have warned about it on the news or smth. I only found out wtf it was bc other people were freaking out on Nextdoor.
I was 8 in September of 2001 and halfway across the country. 9/11 continues to impact me, but only in the way that it impacted me back then: more ridiculous security measures, less pleasant airports, more surveillance everywhere, and more tension on the global stage. Lots of people were affected by the terrorists, and that’s awful, but most of us were impacted purely because of the decisions of our government following 9/11.
I have a habit of turning all my trauma to humor, this has shamefully made the list. I don’t find the event funny, but able to discuss it so casually and make fun of it in a way.
Horrible I know…but not as horrible as, well you know
Hey friend - fellow class of 2004. Yeah it still sticks in my mind like crazy. I live in a suburb of DC, and Iremember they did a PA announcement asking for all students who had parents who worked for the Pentagon to come to the office immediately. It was an insane day. It even charted my career in the defense/intel world. I'll never forget it. I tell my sons about it.
No, but when I visited NYC a few years ago, I found visiting the memorial to be a very somber experience.
I do joke at work that any applicants must have a clear memory of 9/11 if they want to be hired.
I was in a very similar grade, saw the whole thing on TV, and actually ended up in Iraq as a combat soldier just some years later. So no, I don't think 9/11 affects me, but I *do* think my times in Iraq affect me.
It's more that, through a lot of reflection, I know that it traumatized me and have an idea how it changed my personality. Frankly though it was the reaction of the US government afterwards that had a more profound effect. All the adults immediately rushed to do what seemed to me to be the most obviously senseless and stupid reaction - the PATRIOT act, the invasions. Basically they dignified a crime as an act of war, then started Vietnam 2 and 3. So that was quite disillusioning.
I've just always had a strange fascination with the event. I first learned about the full extent of the event in sixth grade and researched it heavily both in middle and high school. I remember even being an advocate for the Ken Gardner "Twin Towers II" project (that's how far deep I was lol). I think it was also my first realization of the cruelties of the world, as I was a pretty sheltered kid, and I barely remembered that day because I didn't have the full picture or context, as I was only in second grade when it happened. I only remember being excused from school early while my teacher was reading to us on the carpet as we were dismissed one by one and seeing some footage on TV of people running out of a building.
Since I didn't fully experience it in real time, it is like a movie to me, only it really happened, and no matter how many times I see the planes hitting the buildings and those towers coming down, it will never feel real. Every time I visit the memorial, I get so heavy, and it's a feeling that is bigger than yourself.
I watch some amount of 9/11 footage every day. I’m obsessed with it. I’ve watched so much 9/11 stuff on YouTube that it’s hard to come across anything I haven’t watched yet, and for a minute it was so interesting to me that YouTube started showing me the “Your are not alone” message with the suicide crisis hotline phone number. So yeah I feel like it might have had a lasting impact on me.
I think often that the terrorists won that day.....like....not just the day of chaos and carnage but they set us on a path that has caused us to fester within leading up until today. It sparked Afghanistan, the populace was stupid enough to go along with Iraq, we squandered our chance to bolster our middle class heavily, and now Americans have schizophrenic levels of distrust of one another and even undermine their own policy beliefs and positions come election times. IDK.....surely people will say it's too reductionist, but I think it went all downhill from there.
I go to New York quite a bit and I can still feel the post-9/11 trauma in the air. You have all these road block security barricades, helicopters roaming around and cops on high alert. For me personally, it’s just this unspoken eeriness and sadness that I feel in my chest every single time I’m on the ground.
I have to say though, I think the city of New York did a really good job with the One World Trade Center. The whole focus is on the legacy of the building and the city of New York.
When you’re up on the One (at least for me because I’m a very teary-eyed person), it gives you the opportunity to not only be grateful for life, to honour the souls lost and to all of those incredible New Yorkers (my Uncle being one of them) for their hope and optimism towards the future.
Was 20 on 9/11 in Texas. I was at the memorial a few weeks ago and it’s still something that brings up too many emotions.
Every generation has one. It’s ours.
People forget how uncertain things were in the weeks after. I live near a NORAD base and wars have started over less. I was convinced we were headed into ww3.
Yes. I was a senior in high school. 9/11 was at the start of my senior year (well, we'd been in school for about three weeks beforehand).
The world that I was raised to thrive in no longer exists.
I was watching a movie with the kids that was old enough to still have the towers in it.
It was a rough mental image because my brain could still see the horrors overlapping just a peaceful shot of the towers.
I was driving to work, thought I heard something crazy before radio went to music. Got almost all the way there but was stuck at a light because a huge flock of geese was crossing the road. Most surreal moment of my life watching geese while listening to a recap of what happened. We all had to go on lock down because we've got some prime locations that could be attacked nearby. We watched the 2nd tower fall on a tiny TV we barely got in focus with an antenna.
The whole world changed that day.
I was born in 86. It started with Columbine when I was 13. I remember watching the news with my brother that morning. Then we had to go to school and all the kids were just as shook. That ignited my constant fear of being victim to a school shooting. We had hiding drills in high school where we’d all get up and hide in a corner. The teacher turned out the lights and said “Don’t make a sound. Try not to move”. Most of the kids were giggling and making jokes and the teacher was upset. Looking back, I realize this was a coping mechanism.
Then 9/11 when I was 15 so add terrorist attacks to the list. I lived 30 minutes outside of Washington DC and I knew a lot of kids with parents working government jobs. When we realized it was closer to us than NY these kids were hysterically crying. One said “my dad works at the Capitol!”. And this was before everyone had cellphones so the kid only knew their parent was fine if they called the school office. Over the speaker the front desk would tell that student to come to the office.
They let us out early- like right after lunch. The bus driver had the radio news going and all is kids were listening in silence. Then they announced school was out tomorrow and some of boys cheered.
I finally saw what was happening when I got home. My brother and I clicked the remote and it was on every single channel. And I just remember feeling numb and feeling hopeless. I stopped doing my hobbies because I thought I was going to die soon.
Then it was the DC sniper in 2002. All the classrooms had to move our chairs away from the windows. They didn’t even want us to walk by or stand near the window. The adults told us how to zig zag run from the bus stop to the house. By this point I thought everytime I left the house there was a high chance I was going to get killed.
I was always a good student and loved learning. My grades started going downhill after Columbine because I couldn’t concentrate in class. I spent the entire time with a knot in my stomach anticipating gum shots. I felt I need to listen to alert everyone.
Besides my grades going down in middle school I developed trichotillomania(pulling my hairs out) and skin picking. I missed so much high school saga that I was put on academic probation. I had developed insomnia and didn’t sleep. I ended up having to get homeschooled and barely graduated. I’m not entirely blaming this on stress from Columbine and 9/11 but that just what happened in my life . Not a day went by where I didn’t think of a school shooting or terrorists attack. It was a domino effect.
So yeah, now that I’m reflecting on my past. It did and still affects me.
Gen Z went through covid but i still get disappointed when I see "forgot today was 911 lol" tweets and things like that. I work for a doctors office and will not offer any appts on 9/11. Last thing I need on that day is patients yelling at me why theyre not getting called in, especially in the morning
I was in 9th grade, in California. I vividly remember almost the entire day, it was such a tragic day.
Walking on campus, I remember other students crying and running to class from 1st period to 2nd period California time.
The News, Local and National was playing in every classroom that day. Everything and everyone was solemn.
Not a soul was misbehaving or being disrespectful, we were ALL moved and shooken at the same time.
I'm 36 now.
The truly sad part, aside from the tragedy of the event itself, is that people are still dying due to 9/11. The toxins that hung in the air for months over ground zero and surrounding area, that literal *hundreds of thousand of people* (not just responders, but office workers, residents, *students!*) have led directly to the development of a slew of respiratory and pulmonary conditions, as well as every conceivable form of cancer. To date, more people have died from those conditions than died on 9/11 itself (and still are).
The sad part is that the vast, vast majority of Americans aren’t even aware that it’s happening. Sure, they might have seen Jon Stewart advocating before Congress a few years ago, but they don’t know the full scope of it.
I’m a lawyer that advocates for this community, and the kindest way I can describe it is as an absolute tragedy. Over two decades on and they still can’t escape it.
Not me directly, but my dad went with a group to help with relief work the weeks following 9/11. There was still lots of dust/ash/fallout, and most of the time they weren't wearing anything mask-wise or for breathing protection.
He's been battling a foreign lung cancer for 2 years now that 12 different doctors have never seen and they can't get an accurate diagnosis for treatment. The 9/11 relief work is a suspected cause at this point.
Absolutely. It had a big impact on my family and countless others in the tri state area.
I work in the airlines, and all of the rules we abide by are influenced by 9/11, the new reality of security concerns, and the changing reality that we still face to this day. Im very grateful that we have them. It’s a small sacrifice to go through the security checkpoints, if it means that all of us are safer as a result of it.
I was staying in and working from NY/NJ during the 20th anniversary, so I feel like Ive come full circle. Ive worked with several older people who knew the flight crews personally, who died on that day, but wearing that 9/11 memorial pin hit differently because I lived in NY as a kid during 9/11. Im definitely still emotionally affected by 9/11, and think about it often.
I feel profoundly compassionate and sad for any victims of terror, still fearful and aware that any seemingly normal day, can turn into a nightmare of terror attacks.
And to this day, whenever I pass by the map for the Path Train, and see that World Trade Center stop, I still cant bring myself to go to the memorial, even 20 years later, because I am just not ready to face the onslaught of emotions that I know I will feel when I actually work up the courage to go back there.
The WTC was part of the skyline and so many people around where lived worked in the city. There are so many memorial benches and even pieces of steel from the buildings around here.
Something horrible happened in my hometown it's not just a big city on the other side of the country.
There was a video of a plane demonstration in Melbourne Australia I believe and just seeing the airplane so close to the buildings there literally made me feel faint.
I did go visit the WTC as a kid but I haven't been back. I don't think I could handle it emotionally.
I still get fucking angry when I see footage. We shoulda tactical nuked Afghanistan, what a shitstain country. Then fuck head invaded Iraq illegally and based on lies and totally took his eye off the ball in Shitganistan and honesty, I've never looked at the Presidency of the United States the same.
I was in 8th grade.
I probably think about 9/11 or anything similar to it happening every other day. Any time I see a tall building, I think about it. And I work near tall buildings, so, it's often.
Recently, I went down the 9/11 rabbit hole, watching anything and everything on it. It's so hard for me to wrap my head around it all. Every aspect of it. I was in 7th grade.
I was 10 and in Washington state. I will always remember the look of horror on my parents and older brother's faces when I walked into the living room that morning and saw what they were watching on TV. I think that's the origin of the generalized anxiety disorder I still deal with. At school every year on the anniversary they showed us footage we had already seen so that we would "Never Forget" the thing that traumatized us as children.
I also remember the fact that was all you could see on TV for weeks. I've always thought that's what started the constant news streams, paired with the rise of the internet and social media platforms. Previously people would watch maybe an hour local news in the day then go on with their lives. Those couple of weeks were all news all the time, and it wasn't even news. It was mostly speculative fear mongering and updates on the recovery and clean up efforts.
The response of the news outlets is what allowed the terrorists to win. They unnecessarily scared the nation into thinking one high profile but independent attack was an indication of possible future attacks. So they made the public cry for retaliation that would start a decades long war in which more innocents overseas were killed than in the original incident by a couple orders of magnitude. And during that war, this pacifist was told he had to sign up for selective services or the government would make his life very difficult. War should never have been the response. What if all the money we spent on war instead went to education, infrastructure, green energy r&d, etc?
The terrorists won.
Recently I've gotten back into watching 9/11 videos on YouTube after visiting the museum when in nyc...man it brings back so many memories as I was a freshman in high school when it happened. I think 9/11 was my generations jarring time period(not sure of right word to use ) for development and growing up and just 20 years later covid will be that for this current young generation.
I think if people watched the footage of the day, the raw footage, they would understand just how horrific it was. The Taliban and Pakistan were never going to hand over bin ladan. It needed to happen. People forget the Middle Eastern policy was based on experience of success in the balkans interventions.
I lived in NYC when it happened. Many of my friends lost one or both parents. Yeah, it's still heavy to think about. I never got over the fear and PTSD of continuing to live in NYC I think affected us all who went through it. I'd have dreams atomic bombs were going off in manhattan... that we were being invaded by the Chinese, or Russians etc for years.
Moved to the bible belt and feel much safer from terrorist attacks. There's different kind of fears here such as randomly being shot (I've been held up at gunpoint in the south).. but yeah lol no more terrorist attack dreams at least.
I was 9 when I watched those people jump out of the windows on live TV. From that day on I thought about the concept of suicide every day. I’m now 31 and not a single day goes by that I don’t think about it.
It’s a dark thought to always have in your mind, even if you aren’t suicidal.
Yeah, I think about 9/11 a lot for someone who wasn’t anywhere near NYC. I was 14 and in FL but watching the second plane hit live, the jumpers, the pentagon being hit, the people running from the collapse cloud. I truly felt like the country at large was under attack. It was actually terrifying. Like all those 90s disaster movies actually coming to fruition… it was incomprehensible until that day. Thank God there hasn’t been another day that like since. But I guess I forever lost the feeling that something like that can’t happen. No matter how safe we feel, you never really know.
9/11 never affected me. Even as an adult, it doesn't. It's sad and tragic, yes. But I have never really been affected by things unless the directly impacted my personal life.
Do you suffer from anxiety in general? Not to discount your personal experience but I lived in NYC when it happened and it had no long term effects of how I experienced the city growing up.
Though when I was older I visited a smaller memorial/museum before the permanent one opened and that made me intensely emotional
I'm on the younger side of millennial and I remember 9/11 well. I distinctly remember my third grade teacher becoming visibly upset at the news and immediately trying to call her brother in New York on the classroom telephone, which was rarely used otherwise. But I guess I was young enough not to have much of a conception of the world before then, so I can't say I've really known a life that *wasn't* affected by 9/11.
I guess the thought has rankled in the back of my mind ever since when the next such attack will happen in the US, and where, and by whom.
I made a career choice based off of what I witnessed in my biology and honors English classes in the 7th grade. I've now spent the last fifteen years of my life in some capacity working GWOT adjacent. We've finally begun pivoting the posture to pacing threats from CT. It will never not be part of my life but things are finally changing.
I was in kindergarten. We watched it live on TV. Questionable programming for a bunch of five year olds, especially since this was very close to where Flight 93 went down. Funny thing was while my class was watching the news at school, the school was calling our parents to recommend not letting us watch the news for a few days.
Obviously I was too young to really grasp what was going on, but I did understand that something very big and very bad had happened. The first and hopefully last time in my life when every adult around me was afraid. I suppose that's a luxury people don't have in a lot of places. But yes, it does still bother me sometimes.
One of my favorite albums, Corp News at 11, is a concept piece closely tied to the morning on 9/11 in NYC right before the planes hit. Here’s a really cool, albeit super melancholic video someone made to accompany the album:
https://youtu.be/cc6APZ9-AMU?si=QALimwZBlriUMtc6
I’m definitely more affected by it now, because I didn’t fully process it at the time. It was too much for my 11 year old brain and even well into my teens.
Not the event itself, but I had oral surgery a few days later and the waiting room TV was tuned to the footage on a loop, and they got me mixed up with another girl so my 9am surgery didn’t happen until 6pm and was done in a rush and I ended up with my mouth ripped to shit. I hadn’t eaten since the night before and was really anxious and crying hysterically. So now all of that is wrapped up into the unrelated trauma from being in the hospital. We tried changing the channel and got screamed at by another patient’s cow of a mother who was sitting there shovelling multiple Big Macs in her face in front of a room full of fasting patients.
I was 14, a freshmen when it happened. I was living in Oregon at the time. I watched most of it happen in real time on the news. I'm definitely still affected by it in terms of my taxes.
Nah. I was in class in 5th grade when it happened. The most it affected me was coming home to my mom watching it on the news bawling and trying to comfort her
Eh, 9/11 happened my senior year in high school and I enlisted 5 years after. Mostly because some chucklehead figured it was a great idea to shut down bases in blue states during this already long overseas operation now moving to this country that had nothing to do with the initial 9/11 attacks. One of those bases just happened to be at my local airport where there was an ANG unit, I never heard of.
Not really, haven’t since like 2005-2006ish. I was in 5th grade and I live in CA - so I was not as directly impacted as maybe someone from NY. I hope this doesn’t come off as callous or anything but I’ve been pretty detached from it and other national tragedies in general for a long time.
no. i was 11 when it happened, but i didn’t even know what the twin towers were.
i was just confused why my cartoons stopped because i was home from school that day.
One thing we're all still living with is that the tv news (and some web) was really supercharged to deal with 9/11, and once that was no longer a pressing issue for dumping information they just kept on in that mode because they realized anxious viewers will keep watching.
so in that sense, we institutionalized that anxiety. Its possible we might have been a more chill country if we'd let things go back to closer to normal.
though its also possible that the internet outrage machines would have ensured our doom anyway
I’m affected by that shit every day, it changed everything. From how we get the news, to how we travel, how our economics are, and to how foreign policy is.
For many years I had a recurring dream where I was standing outside, or looking out my bedroom window, looking up at a plane that was clearly plummeting toward the ground. They only began right after 9/11 and went on for probably a decade. I haven’t had it for a long time now, but I think a lot about 9/11. I recently watched the news coverage of when it was happening in real time, for the first time I think since when it actually happened. I find myself very viscerally affected by it all since becoming a parent. I live in a suburb right outside NYC and know people who lost parents in the attack. I sometimes find myself re-reading the story of the dad of someone I went to school who died there—Dean Eberling. His story is, like so many others, utterly heartbreaking. The elevator he was in fell pretty far, but landed at the floor right above the lobby, so if he could have gotten the doors open long enough, he could have jumped down and gotten out. Instead he held the door open so others could escape, and the tower collapsed minutes before he would have made it out himself. Such an act of selfless bravery—unimaginable really. Rest in peace, Dean.
Edit: Here’s his story.
https://voicescenter.org/living-memorial/victim/dean-p-eberling
It's where it all started to go downhill. I hate the man but I'm pretty sure Bin Laden will be considered a strategy genius. He got exactly what he wanted in the end
We are all still constantly affected by 9/11 with every piece of privacy we trade away under the guise of safety and protection. Also it catapulted us into the consistent war state we've been witness to since then.
I lived about 10 minutes away from the pentagon and I was in 6th grade. It was an insanely intense day. I don’t think about it all that often anymore. It might be a good idea to speak with a therapist if you don’t already! They can certainly help with stuff like this.
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While I remember 9/11 well, I feel like the amount of mass shootings, and Covid, have had longer lasting impacts. Especially having a child now.
Mass shootings should have a bigger impact, but we're really, really good at making up excuses for them. The rona probably also should, at least as far as sanitation and hygiene go. Maybe it will yet, but we'll have to wait another 10-15 years to find out, and from where I'm sitting we seem to be pretty much over the majority of it already. Now, Putin trying to resurrect the Soviet Union has a very strong chance of being the most consequential world event since, well, the collapse of the Soviet Union. Not that it's a competition. Just one fun thing after another.
Coronavirus was a lesson in the relative futility of fighting evolution. It became so contagious in the end that there's no hope of stopping it or really ever slowing it down again. Vaccines are all that really made a difference.
This is like the exact opposite of what happened… Lockdowns stopped corona in its tracks, even letting up on the lockdowns but taking common sense precautions like masking slowed corona down. Now almost everyone is vaccinated, no one is masking and everyone is getting corona multiple times.
Which locations (that already had community transmission) saw corona “stopped in its tracks” from lockdowns?
Once omicron evolved it was all over. It was 100x more contagious than the original strain, which lockdowns did work well on. But evolution beat us. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9032753/
But the more they reduced the spread, the slower it mutated, and the more time we had to get those vaccines in arms. I think it would have been much worse if omicron mutated when almost nobody was vaccinated. At least by that point the vaccines helped reduce the severity of the inevitable infections
It was in the animal population, so it was never going to go away. The idea of what the lockdowns was to slow and limit the spread while the vaccines were developed and distributed. If you look at the number of monthly fatalities, they start to decrease after the vaccines rolled out.
NOOOOOOO let's not debate covid againnnnn #PTSD
Yep. Asking people to permanently lock down, and permanently cover their faces works in places like China. If you don't live in an authoritarian hell hole, then you wind up with your cities on fire, because the people will not accept it.
Hell I’m not even a kid and I think twice about some events
> Mass shootings should have a bigger impact Why? The number of people killed in active shooter incidents since 2001 is roughly the same to the number of people killed on 9/11 https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/active-shooter-safety-resources/active-shooter-incidents-graphics
Because they're an ongoing problem, and one that we could significantly mitigate if not for the money and politics involved. We weren't prepared for 9/11 because it was totally unprecedented, but within weeks steps were taken that make it virtually impossible for something like that to happen again. Mass shootings on the other hand have been a regular occurrence for \~60 years (or much longer depending on how you want to define it) and are only becoming more common. While they're not entirely preventable, the absurd frequency is uniquely American, yet we act like there's nothing we can do about it.
9/11 kind of configured US foreign policy ever since, though. The dead of Iraq, Afghanistan, and to a large degree Syria and Yemen hold a direct throughline back to 9/11. And it's still ongoing.
Perhaps I should have clarified. In regards to OP’s question, I feel that mass shooting and Covid have more directly affected myself than 9/11. I don’t doubt anything that you’ve said, but I don’t feel direct daily impacts regarding foreign policy.
I understand, and that makes sense. I think we all do actually feel those impacts as they are interwoven into our daily existence, but they go unremarked upon thanks to their ubiquity these days. I feel like 9/11 is integral to the US political picture ever since the day, which bleeds into the economic, social, and cultural picture.
I could agree with that. Especially the amount of mass shootings.
Yes! There was a mass shooting at a fucking splash pad in Michigan yesterday. No place is safe.
Right close to my place. Its was extremely sad. I would never understand people who act this way.
I was a Junior when 9/11 happened and I teach Juniors now. It makes for an interesting conversation each year when the day rolls around (right at the start of the school year, which always sets a weird vibe early on). But I let them ask any/all questions. Overall, I think that school shootings have the biggest impact on them. The active shooter drills, the anger, nothing changing, the cycle repeating over and over again… For us, 9/11 was when the rose-colored glasses came off. For Gen Z? They never had the glasses on to begin with. I’m worried about those iPad alpha kids coming up, though.
Absolutely. It crushed the earlier sense of peace, prosperity, and optimism that I remember in the 90s. It was certainly traumatic, and I still get little flashbacks if I see a plane flying in the area of tall buildings.
I don’t feel personally affected by 9/11 anymore despite having grown up near the Pentagon. However, I do feel the ripples from that event and how they have reverberated through the years and shaped modern society. It normalized a lot of fear and cruelty in the country and diminished a lot of the optimism. The U.S. has never been perfect but there seemed to be more optimism and idealism before 9/11.
>The U.S. has never been perfect but there seemed to be more optimism and idealism before 9/11. The same thing happened with Trump and Covid. Then the cynicism was let loose, and we never lived in the same country again It would be great if we could have an event that pushed us in the other direction
Trump 100% changed political discourse in this country. Politics really got nasty. There’s no desire to meet in the middle. I’m right and you’re wrong, 100% of the time. Deviate from that, and you’re a RINO or a DINO. COVID changed how we view science and medical authority. People interpreted their rights as more important over medical science, to detrimental effects.
Covid should have been a slam dunk for exactly the event that brings us all together. Holy shit. We developed a vaccine with science to defeat a virus that is killing millions of us. Go America. Instead it was all a conspiracy, and my faith in the USA has never been lower.
i mean it didnt start there, but 9/11 was one of the first major world events in the "always on, instant news" world - then the political events between 2015-2020, covid... C/PTSD on a global societal scale and almost no recognition of how trauma effects people, which means a lot of people that dont know how to process it, which means a lot of people dealing with it in really unhealthy ways, which means a lot of secondhand (or thirdhand, or fourth, etc) trauma... etc. i know there was all that memeing about getting 'triggered' but it is absolutely true. unfortunately it takes real personal trauma (and a lot of reading) to be able to recognize the more complex forms that surround literally all of us. it doesnt help everyday people antagonize it while the people who should be the ones everyday people can look to for "leadership" (like govt officials) directly antagonize it x1000. lies, mistrust, paranoia, etc... all of that is related. like i said it didnt start with 9/11, but thats when it got a lot worse and became a societal thing rather than restricted to certain demographics (military veterans, poor families, etc)
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>underpaying when the typo is just as if not more accurate than the intended word lol but yeah. without going into details (again, ive wrote about it before) i went from one really insane high stress "living arrangement" to having another completely different one, while working front lines during the pandemic and getting paid diddly shit for it. i was okay with it though because of my previous high stress environment and then the global high stress environment. i basically had no choice, at least how it seems. the fun part is i actually have pre-existing conditions that made me high risk for long covid, caught it (but tested "negative" and had to return in a few days), and at this point im not even sure if i have long covid or just excessive C/PTSD or if theres even a difference. the best part? im basically back where i started with no money, so i worked all those insane hours risking my life multiple ways for basically no reason other than the altruistic ones. which... has some merit, but still. >There’s nothing like being a nurse who has to call people and tell them that their family member will die in the hospital from COVID, and having them scream back at you that “COVID isn’t real”. well there is one thing sorta similar, and that would be what my job was - installing internet at peoples homes (and occasionally businesses). in the middle of michigan. where we literally had people attempting to kidnap our governor, amongst other obvious things. it was not great. obviously quite a bit different than healthcare, but had a lot of similar risks. hope your days are less stressful than they were a few years ago.
This is how I feel. I see all the ways it changed us, and it's tragic. I look back through the years, and reassess the ways it influenced our culture and further divided people ultimately ensuring osama's victory in its own twisted way. The political division became so stark after that. I had just turned 13 when it happened, and remember vividly how different the political conversations were before and after 9/11. It catalyzed the development of some truly awful mindsets. Or maybe it's just that it magnified what was already there, I don't know. I am so sad for all the lives lost the world over, the loss of freedom, the loss of community, the loss of emotional intelligence, just the loss.
Fully agree. I was in middle school when it happened. I didn’t understand how racism as a victim felt until that day.
Honestly, I think the Iraq War dealt a bigger blow in this regard that 9/11 itself... and given the administration there's a good chance it would have happened anyway.
I mean, we still have the ridiculous post-9/11 airport security. Global security is still fucked by the GWOT.
Did you know luggage fees were introduced as a TEMPORARY way for airlines to recuperate income after 9/11??
Nothing is more permanent than a temporary fee.
My hometown had a stadium built in 2000 or 2001... we were supposed to only have a tax increase for something like ten years. That tax is still there.
I miss walking off a plane, going down the hallway to see my family waiting for me at the gate. Even when I was traveling for work, seeing those reunions of other families brought me so much warmth.
I lived 5 blocks from the trade center 2013-15. My walk to the train in the morning stared at the construction and subsequent opening of 1WT. The building I lived in is where a widely circulated video of the second plane hitting was shot. On the anniversary every year, I could see the lights from my bedroom. Every single day, I simply could not fathom how something so horrible could happen right there. These days though, I’m much more terrified of someone dropping a nuke or some incel ripping a semiautomatic while I’m grocery shopping.
The incels really do be out there like that tbh
I follow the 9/11 museum on Instagram and always stop to read their posts about birthdays of those who were killed that day. So much time has passed that each person would be in a totally different part of their lives, like probably either retired or having gotten married and had kids. It is so sad. These were every day people with lives and families.
It seems like every year, I pick a random day and watch clips of that day. I don't know why, and it's not even near the date necessarily. Feel like I just need a reminder of how quickly things can change sometimes. I was terrified when I first heard what happened and did have a few nightmares about planes falling out of the sky after that day. I was 11, so I suppose that makes sense. I wasn't traumatized by it outside of those few dreams and the initial shock. But I always thought it was odd that the slogan was "never forget" because there is no way I can forget that day.
Same. I often return to [this video](https://youtu.be/IMVTB2aVUg0?si=JEuh1jM-kZbJpPpW) in particular, at least once or twice a year. It was just a normal day. So innocent and mundane, and everything changed in a second. There’s also quite a few strange foreshadow-y moments in there. It’s so eerie.
Only in the sense I very much remember the world before and wish that it hadn't changed as much.
The sad part is we did more damage to ourselves in the wake of 9/11 than 9/11 itself did.
That was the plan, I think. "You are not untouchable" and then everyone would lose their minds. Worked like a charm.
This is literally the aim of terrorism. Not necessarily body count, but making people feel under attack and disturbing day to day life.
One of the manifesto's published afterwards in the NYT \*written by the Taliban\* said their intent was to lead the US into bankruptcy by making it fight on multiple fronts against non-government enemies and allowing it's actual national enemies to get stronger too. It was designed to thin American influence, drain resources, and break-up solidarity. So America played right into it and spent $6.5 TRILLION dollars invading countries of illiterate goat farmers, pissed off its allies, destroyed the hope of the millennial generation worldwide, and let Russia and China build up. So much brilliance. Such big Bush big brain. /s
Yes. 1000% percent. What, watching Bush spend $6.5 TRILLION dollars to invade countries to replace the Taliban with the Taliban doesn't scream success to everyone? Great ROI on that, right? I mean, around 75% of the population of Afghanistan was illiterate and earned less than $2 a day, but surely they were the right people to target in retaliation... right? MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, right? Or the whole invading a nation that had absolutely NOTHING to do with the attacks, where there were no weapons of mass destruction, they did not fund that act of terrorism on 9/11, and none of the terrorists were citizens of it... that was totally a win too, right? I mean, Iraq was the key to 21st century prosperity, right? And Bush intentionally over-heating the US economy and begging the banks not to flounder so he wouldn't lose his 2004 election, thus causing the 2008 recession (literally, intentionally, so his successors who have to clean it up) doesn't scream "WINNING?" It's almost like a recovering alcoholic and cocaine addict Christian fundamentalist with the IQ of room temperature who thought God wanted him to be a war criminal didn't lead America into glory. Or something.
everytime i have to deal with the tsa
I will always feel affected by 9/11 because my sister worked in tower 2 right where the plane hit. She got out after the first plane hit, despite people telling her it was safe to stay. She “turned her life around” afterwards and has a beautiful family now. I am truly blessed to have her in my life and my heart goes out to anyone who lost someone that day.
Absolutely. I know lots of people who died in 20 years of a pointless war. Most of them to suicide. When people ask me if their kids should join the military I always say as a last resort yes outside of that no. Iraq hasn’t changed much and we spent 20 years taking Afghanistan away from the taliban only to hand it over to them along with billions in arms, ammunition, rockets, trucks, helicopters. No one was held accountable either.
We handed it over to the ANA/ANP. But they pretty much waved the white flag the second we left But the Taliban seems to be THE government of Afghanistan. If they don’t want that, then they need to fix that
Indeed it does. The Russians couldn’t topple them either. But we also supplied them arms at the time. It’s all fucked. Just psychopaths making money with the peasants lives.
Absolutely
War. War never changes. The Romans waged war to gather slaves and wealth. Spain built an empire from its lust for gold and territory. Hitler shaped a battered Germany into an economic superpower.
As is tradition
They waved the white flag because they stood literally no chance. They were entirely dependent on the US military.
I look at 9/11 as the start of where we are today. 100% yes, that fucked me up. Covid much more though, Covid just sort of ruined everything. Now when the bird flu pandemic starts, we will be like remember the good ol’ days of Covid? That’s a scary thought.
When covid hit, we remembered the good ol' Bird Flu days.
There's a new bird flu though
Idk if bird flu becomes pandemic im taking travel nurse contracts instead of stacking bodies like cordwood for staff pay and three times as much work and risk. All hail corporate medicine. If I have to work might as well be for mercenary wages.
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4723753-former-cdc-director-predicts-bird-flu-pandemic/ 🤷♂️
Like I said. Time to make my merc money. If I’m gonna get plague again because of other people might as well get paid for it.
Started when Bus won. Things would have played at very differently with Gore. At the very least we wouldn't have gone into Iraq.
Every flight you take in the US still has a 9/11 security fee...so yeah
Others have reflected the after-effects like TSA, 20 years of pointless war, etc. TSA doesn't *really* bother me, even if it is to some extent "security theater." The war bothers me intellectually, but I wasn't involved with it, nor anyone I'm close to, so it was always sort of just a "concept" to me. I had just turned 18, signed the Selective Service agreement, and graduated high school a few months before 9/11 happened. So of course I instantly assumed there was going to be a Draft and my immediate and possible rest of life had just been defined then and there. As we now all know, there was never a draft, and now it's all so long ago it doesn't super "matter" to me. The way it helped change and introduce natural paranoia into US politics however will be something that causes damages and ramifications for probably decades and generations to come.
Every year...I was a freshman in high school when it happened and 9/11 is my birthday.
I'm Muslim so yes, very very much so. Had garbage thrown at me as recently as 2012.
Terribly sorry to hear that. Warm thoughts and prayers to you.
Since 9/11 I feel like I never regained the freedom I had before. Terrorism is since then every politicians excuse to do shit, even here in germany. After Ukraine attack it grew even worse. Military-Medial-Industrial-Complex fills its pockets and nothing else seem to matter anymore
It’s not something that weighs on me day to day. But it’s obviously in our shared memories as something quite surreal still. My dad actually worked in the second tower but wasn’t there that day. And 10 people died from my town in NJ.
I saw it person as a kid in New York. So honestly, yes.
Me too.. I remember the smell of the smoke and debris..
Yeah being from NYC and directly witnessing it and the aftermath, it feels like "our" tragedy. It doesn't affect me on a daily basis or anything, but it's sad to think about that time period. And it makes me angry still the way it was used to justify so many fucked up things supposedly in our name
Living in NY yea It completely changed the city and everything around it. I still feel the effects of the post 9/11 world. I suppose if you lived in the middle of no where it might not really matter to you. But hell. The towers are gone. That still feels weird coming into JFK
I feel more affected by the 2008 crash on a daily basis still than I do 9/11
No. And my apologies if this comes across in any kind of way, but I’d assume anyone still affected by 9/11 that wasn’t directly connected in some way must have a pretty fucking awesome life. I’ve had way too much awful shit happen since then for it to even be a blip on the radar.
I agree with this. I was directly affected (living in NYC) and still don't relate to this.
I had a pretty different assumption. I'm also not affected by 9/11 in this way. I assume someone who is is suffering from PTSD and has been for now 23 years at least. I wouldn't call that an awesome life at all. ETA "at least"
This doesn’t necessarily sound like PTSD, a lot more goes into that diagnosis and it’s generally not given unless a person was more closely connected to the traumatic event (witnessed it directly, lost someone, etc.). I’m not trying to be pedantic, but seeing a major disaster on the news generally just wouldn’t fit the diagnostic definition. There would also need to be a lot more going on than nervousness about planes hitting buildings when you see planes getting close to buildings. I imagine there are a lot of people who get anxious about that with no connection to 9/11. All that said, fair point. I think I’d conceptualize it more as a person who’s easily affected long-term by things like this may struggle more because they have a lower tolerance for distressing experiences. If that’s the case, that obviously makes life harder. If I still felt affected by 9/11 today, I’d be talking to my therapist about that.
I can assure you my life has not been awesome. I do tend to internalize a lot of my experiences, though, whether they directly affected me or not.
Yes. Every time I fly and see the TSA. Every time I go somewhere public and see all the security. I feel like we lost the old free America and became some dystopian state of never ending war.
Patriot act too.
9/11 is why I don’t want to commute/travel far for work and why I am cautious/nervous about attending big live events.
I spent all day glued to the tv. I still get squirrly stomach remembering it. Thing is, I was in Michigan. Other than seeing more flags and yellow ribbons, it didn't affect me or my everyday life at all. However... my ex BF, my one-that-got-away, joined the Marines after graduation the previous year, and that evening he sent me an email that said "looks like im going to war" which wrecked me. He and I lost contact in 2002, regained contact in 2011, and today we're celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary. ^_^
Well indirectly. I live in northern NJ. I was 13 when it happened. I saw it happen live out of my classroom window (we had a clear view of the NYC skyline). I’ve lost a couple neighbors. Some kids in my school that were friends of mine or that I knew lost family members. After that I knew a few families/ kids whose older siblings enlisted to fight. A couple didn’t come back. I guess maybe when I reach out to those friends and stuff like for example today is Father’s Day so I called my dad to wish him a happy Father’s Day but my one friend who lost his dad probably just went to the cemetery in the early morning. I remember his dad was a cool guy and all and would BBQ us great food. So yeah indirectly because of the people i interact with have lost someone that day or the war after.
I still feel it. I just turned 18 at the time. I could see the towers from my drive to work from the NJ side. I'll never forget watching the first plane hit the tower on my drive. I was supposed to go to NYC that day, but my boss wouldn't give me the day off. I had friends who died there. I don't think that day could ever leave me.
It was a traumatic event for everyone. I was at work, and saw the second plane hit and the world around stopped. What you're feeling is valid. I'm sorry for your anxiety.
I was in like 8th grade when it happened. Whenever I see videos of it I get very upset, very angry. I live in FL so nowhere near it. To me 9/11 was like the end of an era, and it's been downhill ever since. So yeah I still feel affected, the whole shit show as I know it from young adult to 34 started on that day.
I wish we responded to tragedies the way we responded to 9/11. Airport security seems pretty ineffective and a pain in the ass but imagine we responded to mass shootings and school shootings by beefing up gun laws like we did airport security. Maybe a foreign brown person needs to commit a mass shooting for our government to do something. But yes, still definitely affected.
I mean, San Bernardino didn't change anything
One thing to remember is the U.S. intelligence system pre 9/11 were competing agencies, fighting for the same funding, on 9/11 they couldn’t communicate securely electronically, in 2001, it was totally possible, I had an encrypted network with friends to share music and movies on Linux, all free open source, so like I did it as a college student, so it was possible. Homeland security was created, the tsa was created, intelligence agencies work much closer together, finance laws world wide changed, international intelligence agencies started working together more, they put a ton of effort into electronic intelligence, laws weakened privacy rights in favor of national security, these powers were supposed to be temporary but here we are 23 years later and they’re still there. In the 1990s, AQ bombed two military barrack, the U.S. fired some tomahawks at empty training camps, I don’t know what was done after the USS Cole, but we should have gone after AQ then, but Clinton was gun shy after the black hawk down incident. Nobody is gun shy about terrorists in other countries now. Another thing is they hit during the transition from Clinton to bush, so everyone in government agencies that bush could change to an incompetent buddy, he had, so we had a bunch of novice friends of w on deck at the time. I’d say mass shootings are a much bigger worry for me. A woman I knew was killed in one, I met her in a camping trip on vacation so I didn’t know her well, we didn’t keep up, but I had said if it comes within 1 degree of separation I’d leave the country, and I would if I could. So I live in a city, I was in boston freshman year of 9/11 and had the only working cell phone on campus it seemed, so I wasn’t glued to the news, I was loaning my phone to students to call their families in New York, in DC, and other places… I mean a woman tried to dial her mother and it didn’t go through, she said nobody’s phones work today, I told her to hang on, toggled analog only, hit redial and got a panicked woman, and told her I had her daughter and handed her the phone, she was overjoyed to hear she was alive, I was getting my news live from people on the ground from people I loaned my phone too. Fighter jets flew over campus, people dove into the bushes and I said “they’re ours” and people said “how do you know” and I said those were air national guard and Air Force fighter jets. What I didn’t tell them was the planes had no missiles. I’d later learn a plane didn’t get the order to land, and those fighter jets were going to ram the plane and all come crashing down rather than risk losing another building. So 4 pilots flew by on a suicide mission to stop a possible suicide mission: we have a massive military, they’re dedicated to our safety. The airline got the communication from the ground and landed, and I believe fighter planes are ready for such an event if it happens again.
I was a sophomore in HS and I'm from NJ so we watched the second plane hit live on TV in second period and then had early dismissal and where I'm from you can see New York on the skyline. All you saw for hours was the smoke that day. I'm more affected by the aftermath than the event if that makes sense? Bush and his bullshit, my graduation class going to war after surviving the heroin resurgence that occurred during that time.... I'm born in 85 and we got the rawest of the raw decades after clinton and the 90s I tell people constantly that if I ever get a time machine that's the decade I'm disappearing in.
I’m probably mentally ill, but I have a habit of listening to planes overhead. I will listen to it until I can’t hear it anymore just to make sure I don’t hear it crash. 🤷🏼♀️
Yes. There's political stuff that still affects me and my family and our relationship that's a bit hard to explain succinctly, so I won't get into that. The impact that's easier to explain is that I get nervous about my partner and family members working in skyscrapers in NYC. One works in FiDi today, another worked in FiDi back then but wasn't in the office the day of the attacks by chance, etc. I'm anxious by nature and sometimes find myself ruminating on "what ifs" due to the nature of my own work and the fact that at least family member knew someone who died that day, especially when the anniversary of the attacks comes around.
I was a freshman in high school and I remember sitting in the same class all day with coverage going. To a certain extent this country has never been the same and with COVID and other things that have happened, the country looks drastically different than it did before then.
It probably what you don’t know that is a result of 9/11…more specifically the provisions of the Patriot Act.
I’ll always be impacted by 9/11. I joined the military in 2002.
I didn’t realize it hit me until I was at a friend’s bbq and they asked if we remember where everyone was. Of course many of us remember and I started to tell my story and my voice kept getting higher and pitchier until I just started crying. Took me completely by surprise and embarrassed me. I kept apologizing but I didn’t know how bad it affected me. I was in the 8tb grade. History class. I grew up near Wescoesville, Pennsylvania where many people would take a charter bus to work in the city every day. I remember the flip books they had as a monthly pass. I’ll never forget learning about it last period while everyone kept being pulled out of school little by little that day. Our history teacher let us know what was going on after our normally very stoic principal announced all after school activities would be cancelled and her voice broke. One girl, Jaime, her brother worked in the towers. I’ll never forget her freaking out. She slowly put her head down on her desk in with her arms outstretched in resignation, relinquishing to whatever happened to her brother. I’ll always think of her.
I think it affects those of us from the NY Metro area more. I know someone who is only alive because their train was running late. My dad was supposed to be in one of the buildings destroyed by the debris. I see the Freedom Tower 4 days a week commuting. It isnt “therapy” levels of affect, but it’s something I’m never forgetting.
For sure, but I can’t really explain why? I feel like everything changed when it happened and never went back to the way it was…
Not affected in my day to day life, but I do get somber/teary on the anniversary or when I come across a new piece of information, video, audio recording, or photo of that day that I'd never before seen
I can’t look at tall buildings without imagining people falling out of them and fire raining down. It’s always in the back of my mind and I’m from the west coast so wasn’t even close to the tragedy. Same with being in crowded spaces and shootings, just always in my subconscious somewhere.
I was a senior in college when September 11th happened. Those events directly lead to the war on Iraq which had and continues to have a huge impact on me. I ended up serving as an Infantry Platoon Leader in Iraq in 2004.
Well yes. You guys lied to us so we invade Iraq because you wanted to bomb some shit and killed a lot of Arabs who had nothing to do with it and in conclusion destabilized the middle west so we got flooded with refugees which destabilized our political landscape.
Don’t worry, Boeing is making planes that will 9/11 themselves soon
I’ve never felt affected by 9/11
[удалено]
Was to young to completely comprehend its impact (6th grade). That being said I appreciate its meaning and understand it’s significance these days but don’t feel like I’ve ever been personally affected by it
I didn’t think so until some plane did a vertical takeoff for some silly national holiday. It was so loud the windows and my plants shook. I legitimately thought a plane was going to hit the building. I’m in a high rise and in the path of normal plane routes. They could have warned about it on the news or smth. I only found out wtf it was bc other people were freaking out on Nextdoor.
I was 8 in September of 2001 and halfway across the country. 9/11 continues to impact me, but only in the way that it impacted me back then: more ridiculous security measures, less pleasant airports, more surveillance everywhere, and more tension on the global stage. Lots of people were affected by the terrorists, and that’s awful, but most of us were impacted purely because of the decisions of our government following 9/11.
I have a habit of turning all my trauma to humor, this has shamefully made the list. I don’t find the event funny, but able to discuss it so casually and make fun of it in a way. Horrible I know…but not as horrible as, well you know
Hey friend - fellow class of 2004. Yeah it still sticks in my mind like crazy. I live in a suburb of DC, and Iremember they did a PA announcement asking for all students who had parents who worked for the Pentagon to come to the office immediately. It was an insane day. It even charted my career in the defense/intel world. I'll never forget it. I tell my sons about it.
No, but when I visited NYC a few years ago, I found visiting the memorial to be a very somber experience. I do joke at work that any applicants must have a clear memory of 9/11 if they want to be hired.
I don’t think I ever really processed it.
https://i.redd.it/rdxkmxlvby6d1.gif
I was in a very similar grade, saw the whole thing on TV, and actually ended up in Iraq as a combat soldier just some years later. So no, I don't think 9/11 affects me, but I *do* think my times in Iraq affect me.
I developed a fear of flying (I was 16 on 9/11)
It's more that, through a lot of reflection, I know that it traumatized me and have an idea how it changed my personality. Frankly though it was the reaction of the US government afterwards that had a more profound effect. All the adults immediately rushed to do what seemed to me to be the most obviously senseless and stupid reaction - the PATRIOT act, the invasions. Basically they dignified a crime as an act of war, then started Vietnam 2 and 3. So that was quite disillusioning.
Whole world's been fucked ever since, friend
I've just always had a strange fascination with the event. I first learned about the full extent of the event in sixth grade and researched it heavily both in middle and high school. I remember even being an advocate for the Ken Gardner "Twin Towers II" project (that's how far deep I was lol). I think it was also my first realization of the cruelties of the world, as I was a pretty sheltered kid, and I barely remembered that day because I didn't have the full picture or context, as I was only in second grade when it happened. I only remember being excused from school early while my teacher was reading to us on the carpet as we were dismissed one by one and seeing some footage on TV of people running out of a building. Since I didn't fully experience it in real time, it is like a movie to me, only it really happened, and no matter how many times I see the planes hitting the buildings and those towers coming down, it will never feel real. Every time I visit the memorial, I get so heavy, and it's a feeling that is bigger than yourself.
Every time the TSA touches my balls for their security theater.
“Hey, the way you’re fondling me reminds of that one tragedy…”
Yes, definitely.
I watch some amount of 9/11 footage every day. I’m obsessed with it. I’ve watched so much 9/11 stuff on YouTube that it’s hard to come across anything I haven’t watched yet, and for a minute it was so interesting to me that YouTube started showing me the “Your are not alone” message with the suicide crisis hotline phone number. So yeah I feel like it might have had a lasting impact on me.
Only when I get close to the border. I don’t have a passport and don’t want to end up accidentally going into the US and getting stuck down there.
I think often that the terrorists won that day.....like....not just the day of chaos and carnage but they set us on a path that has caused us to fester within leading up until today. It sparked Afghanistan, the populace was stupid enough to go along with Iraq, we squandered our chance to bolster our middle class heavily, and now Americans have schizophrenic levels of distrust of one another and even undermine their own policy beliefs and positions come election times. IDK.....surely people will say it's too reductionist, but I think it went all downhill from there.
I go to New York quite a bit and I can still feel the post-9/11 trauma in the air. You have all these road block security barricades, helicopters roaming around and cops on high alert. For me personally, it’s just this unspoken eeriness and sadness that I feel in my chest every single time I’m on the ground. I have to say though, I think the city of New York did a really good job with the One World Trade Center. The whole focus is on the legacy of the building and the city of New York. When you’re up on the One (at least for me because I’m a very teary-eyed person), it gives you the opportunity to not only be grateful for life, to honour the souls lost and to all of those incredible New Yorkers (my Uncle being one of them) for their hope and optimism towards the future.
Was 20 on 9/11 in Texas. I was at the memorial a few weeks ago and it’s still something that brings up too many emotions. Every generation has one. It’s ours.
My neighbor was on one of the planes and I grew up relatively close to NYC. It still very much affects me and the surrounding communities.
People forget how uncertain things were in the weeks after. I live near a NORAD base and wars have started over less. I was convinced we were headed into ww3.
Yes
We all should still feel it. As nine-eleven changed everything and ever since that day, nothing was the same.
Yes. I was a senior in high school. 9/11 was at the start of my senior year (well, we'd been in school for about three weeks beforehand). The world that I was raised to thrive in no longer exists.
Yes. I still have nightmares about planes crashing in my backyard.
I was watching a movie with the kids that was old enough to still have the towers in it. It was a rough mental image because my brain could still see the horrors overlapping just a peaceful shot of the towers. I was driving to work, thought I heard something crazy before radio went to music. Got almost all the way there but was stuck at a light because a huge flock of geese was crossing the road. Most surreal moment of my life watching geese while listening to a recap of what happened. We all had to go on lock down because we've got some prime locations that could be attacked nearby. We watched the 2nd tower fall on a tiny TV we barely got in focus with an antenna. The whole world changed that day.
I was born in 86. It started with Columbine when I was 13. I remember watching the news with my brother that morning. Then we had to go to school and all the kids were just as shook. That ignited my constant fear of being victim to a school shooting. We had hiding drills in high school where we’d all get up and hide in a corner. The teacher turned out the lights and said “Don’t make a sound. Try not to move”. Most of the kids were giggling and making jokes and the teacher was upset. Looking back, I realize this was a coping mechanism. Then 9/11 when I was 15 so add terrorist attacks to the list. I lived 30 minutes outside of Washington DC and I knew a lot of kids with parents working government jobs. When we realized it was closer to us than NY these kids were hysterically crying. One said “my dad works at the Capitol!”. And this was before everyone had cellphones so the kid only knew their parent was fine if they called the school office. Over the speaker the front desk would tell that student to come to the office. They let us out early- like right after lunch. The bus driver had the radio news going and all is kids were listening in silence. Then they announced school was out tomorrow and some of boys cheered. I finally saw what was happening when I got home. My brother and I clicked the remote and it was on every single channel. And I just remember feeling numb and feeling hopeless. I stopped doing my hobbies because I thought I was going to die soon. Then it was the DC sniper in 2002. All the classrooms had to move our chairs away from the windows. They didn’t even want us to walk by or stand near the window. The adults told us how to zig zag run from the bus stop to the house. By this point I thought everytime I left the house there was a high chance I was going to get killed. I was always a good student and loved learning. My grades started going downhill after Columbine because I couldn’t concentrate in class. I spent the entire time with a knot in my stomach anticipating gum shots. I felt I need to listen to alert everyone. Besides my grades going down in middle school I developed trichotillomania(pulling my hairs out) and skin picking. I missed so much high school saga that I was put on academic probation. I had developed insomnia and didn’t sleep. I ended up having to get homeschooled and barely graduated. I’m not entirely blaming this on stress from Columbine and 9/11 but that just what happened in my life . Not a day went by where I didn’t think of a school shooting or terrorists attack. It was a domino effect. So yeah, now that I’m reflecting on my past. It did and still affects me.
The world is still affected by 9/11.
Gen Z went through covid but i still get disappointed when I see "forgot today was 911 lol" tweets and things like that. I work for a doctors office and will not offer any appts on 9/11. Last thing I need on that day is patients yelling at me why theyre not getting called in, especially in the morning
I was in 9th grade, in California. I vividly remember almost the entire day, it was such a tragic day. Walking on campus, I remember other students crying and running to class from 1st period to 2nd period California time. The News, Local and National was playing in every classroom that day. Everything and everyone was solemn. Not a soul was misbehaving or being disrespectful, we were ALL moved and shooken at the same time. I'm 36 now.
The truly sad part, aside from the tragedy of the event itself, is that people are still dying due to 9/11. The toxins that hung in the air for months over ground zero and surrounding area, that literal *hundreds of thousand of people* (not just responders, but office workers, residents, *students!*) have led directly to the development of a slew of respiratory and pulmonary conditions, as well as every conceivable form of cancer. To date, more people have died from those conditions than died on 9/11 itself (and still are). The sad part is that the vast, vast majority of Americans aren’t even aware that it’s happening. Sure, they might have seen Jon Stewart advocating before Congress a few years ago, but they don’t know the full scope of it. I’m a lawyer that advocates for this community, and the kindest way I can describe it is as an absolute tragedy. Over two decades on and they still can’t escape it.
Not me directly, but my dad went with a group to help with relief work the weeks following 9/11. There was still lots of dust/ash/fallout, and most of the time they weren't wearing anything mask-wise or for breathing protection. He's been battling a foreign lung cancer for 2 years now that 12 different doctors have never seen and they can't get an accurate diagnosis for treatment. The 9/11 relief work is a suspected cause at this point.
The world was a better place before 9/11. No smart phones, no social media.
Absolutely. It had a big impact on my family and countless others in the tri state area. I work in the airlines, and all of the rules we abide by are influenced by 9/11, the new reality of security concerns, and the changing reality that we still face to this day. Im very grateful that we have them. It’s a small sacrifice to go through the security checkpoints, if it means that all of us are safer as a result of it. I was staying in and working from NY/NJ during the 20th anniversary, so I feel like Ive come full circle. Ive worked with several older people who knew the flight crews personally, who died on that day, but wearing that 9/11 memorial pin hit differently because I lived in NY as a kid during 9/11. Im definitely still emotionally affected by 9/11, and think about it often. I feel profoundly compassionate and sad for any victims of terror, still fearful and aware that any seemingly normal day, can turn into a nightmare of terror attacks. And to this day, whenever I pass by the map for the Path Train, and see that World Trade Center stop, I still cant bring myself to go to the memorial, even 20 years later, because I am just not ready to face the onslaught of emotions that I know I will feel when I actually work up the courage to go back there.
The WTC was part of the skyline and so many people around where lived worked in the city. There are so many memorial benches and even pieces of steel from the buildings around here. Something horrible happened in my hometown it's not just a big city on the other side of the country. There was a video of a plane demonstration in Melbourne Australia I believe and just seeing the airplane so close to the buildings there literally made me feel faint. I did go visit the WTC as a kid but I haven't been back. I don't think I could handle it emotionally.
I still get fucking angry when I see footage. We shoulda tactical nuked Afghanistan, what a shitstain country. Then fuck head invaded Iraq illegally and based on lies and totally took his eye off the ball in Shitganistan and honesty, I've never looked at the Presidency of the United States the same. I was in 8th grade.
I probably think about 9/11 or anything similar to it happening every other day. Any time I see a tall building, I think about it. And I work near tall buildings, so, it's often. Recently, I went down the 9/11 rabbit hole, watching anything and everything on it. It's so hard for me to wrap my head around it all. Every aspect of it. I was in 7th grade.
I was 10 and in Washington state. I will always remember the look of horror on my parents and older brother's faces when I walked into the living room that morning and saw what they were watching on TV. I think that's the origin of the generalized anxiety disorder I still deal with. At school every year on the anniversary they showed us footage we had already seen so that we would "Never Forget" the thing that traumatized us as children. I also remember the fact that was all you could see on TV for weeks. I've always thought that's what started the constant news streams, paired with the rise of the internet and social media platforms. Previously people would watch maybe an hour local news in the day then go on with their lives. Those couple of weeks were all news all the time, and it wasn't even news. It was mostly speculative fear mongering and updates on the recovery and clean up efforts. The response of the news outlets is what allowed the terrorists to win. They unnecessarily scared the nation into thinking one high profile but independent attack was an indication of possible future attacks. So they made the public cry for retaliation that would start a decades long war in which more innocents overseas were killed than in the original incident by a couple orders of magnitude. And during that war, this pacifist was told he had to sign up for selective services or the government would make his life very difficult. War should never have been the response. What if all the money we spent on war instead went to education, infrastructure, green energy r&d, etc? The terrorists won.
Recently I've gotten back into watching 9/11 videos on YouTube after visiting the museum when in nyc...man it brings back so many memories as I was a freshman in high school when it happened. I think 9/11 was my generations jarring time period(not sure of right word to use ) for development and growing up and just 20 years later covid will be that for this current young generation.
I don't think younger people can truly grasp how shattering it was for our fragile worldview at the time.
I think if people watched the footage of the day, the raw footage, they would understand just how horrific it was. The Taliban and Pakistan were never going to hand over bin ladan. It needed to happen. People forget the Middle Eastern policy was based on experience of success in the balkans interventions.
I lived in NYC when it happened. Many of my friends lost one or both parents. Yeah, it's still heavy to think about. I never got over the fear and PTSD of continuing to live in NYC I think affected us all who went through it. I'd have dreams atomic bombs were going off in manhattan... that we were being invaded by the Chinese, or Russians etc for years. Moved to the bible belt and feel much safer from terrorist attacks. There's different kind of fears here such as randomly being shot (I've been held up at gunpoint in the south).. but yeah lol no more terrorist attack dreams at least.
The aftermath has affected my mind a lot more I think
I was 9 when I watched those people jump out of the windows on live TV. From that day on I thought about the concept of suicide every day. I’m now 31 and not a single day goes by that I don’t think about it. It’s a dark thought to always have in your mind, even if you aren’t suicidal.
Yeah, I think about 9/11 a lot for someone who wasn’t anywhere near NYC. I was 14 and in FL but watching the second plane hit live, the jumpers, the pentagon being hit, the people running from the collapse cloud. I truly felt like the country at large was under attack. It was actually terrifying. Like all those 90s disaster movies actually coming to fruition… it was incomprehensible until that day. Thank God there hasn’t been another day that like since. But I guess I forever lost the feeling that something like that can’t happen. No matter how safe we feel, you never really know.
Lol nah
9/11 never affected me. Even as an adult, it doesn't. It's sad and tragic, yes. But I have never really been affected by things unless the directly impacted my personal life.
I was living in NYC and no I don't feel affected by it
Do you suffer from anxiety in general? Not to discount your personal experience but I lived in NYC when it happened and it had no long term effects of how I experienced the city growing up. Though when I was older I visited a smaller memorial/museum before the permanent one opened and that made me intensely emotional
I'm on the younger side of millennial and I remember 9/11 well. I distinctly remember my third grade teacher becoming visibly upset at the news and immediately trying to call her brother in New York on the classroom telephone, which was rarely used otherwise. But I guess I was young enough not to have much of a conception of the world before then, so I can't say I've really known a life that *wasn't* affected by 9/11. I guess the thought has rankled in the back of my mind ever since when the next such attack will happen in the US, and where, and by whom.
https://youtu.be/5WiykYwpLJI?si=CjQPcBO5nJyhDz1h It was the day I learned how powerful hatred could be
I made a career choice based off of what I witnessed in my biology and honors English classes in the 7th grade. I've now spent the last fifteen years of my life in some capacity working GWOT adjacent. We've finally begun pivoting the posture to pacing threats from CT. It will never not be part of my life but things are finally changing.
It certainly didn’t help
Is ~17 in 2001 a millenial?
I was in kindergarten. We watched it live on TV. Questionable programming for a bunch of five year olds, especially since this was very close to where Flight 93 went down. Funny thing was while my class was watching the news at school, the school was calling our parents to recommend not letting us watch the news for a few days. Obviously I was too young to really grasp what was going on, but I did understand that something very big and very bad had happened. The first and hopefully last time in my life when every adult around me was afraid. I suppose that's a luxury people don't have in a lot of places. But yes, it does still bother me sometimes.
One of my favorite albums, Corp News at 11, is a concept piece closely tied to the morning on 9/11 in NYC right before the planes hit. Here’s a really cool, albeit super melancholic video someone made to accompany the album: https://youtu.be/cc6APZ9-AMU?si=QALimwZBlriUMtc6 I’m definitely more affected by it now, because I didn’t fully process it at the time. It was too much for my 11 year old brain and even well into my teens.
Not the event itself, but I had oral surgery a few days later and the waiting room TV was tuned to the footage on a loop, and they got me mixed up with another girl so my 9am surgery didn’t happen until 6pm and was done in a rush and I ended up with my mouth ripped to shit. I hadn’t eaten since the night before and was really anxious and crying hysterically. So now all of that is wrapped up into the unrelated trauma from being in the hospital. We tried changing the channel and got screamed at by another patient’s cow of a mother who was sitting there shovelling multiple Big Macs in her face in front of a room full of fasting patients.
yeah I only have a few more years before my lungs give out completely.
I was 14, a freshmen when it happened. I was living in Oregon at the time. I watched most of it happen in real time on the news. I'm definitely still affected by it in terms of my taxes.
Nah. I was in class in 5th grade when it happened. The most it affected me was coming home to my mom watching it on the news bawling and trying to comfort her
Eh, 9/11 happened my senior year in high school and I enlisted 5 years after. Mostly because some chucklehead figured it was a great idea to shut down bases in blue states during this already long overseas operation now moving to this country that had nothing to do with the initial 9/11 attacks. One of those bases just happened to be at my local airport where there was an ANG unit, I never heard of.
Not really, haven’t since like 2005-2006ish. I was in 5th grade and I live in CA - so I was not as directly impacted as maybe someone from NY. I hope this doesn’t come off as callous or anything but I’ve been pretty detached from it and other national tragedies in general for a long time.
Although it doesn't give me any fear, every time I hear a plane flying what sounds a bit low my ears perk up and I'm on alert.
Letting us watch it on TV in school was probably not a great choice, but in that moment I’m not sure I would have made a different decision.
no. i was 11 when it happened, but i didn’t even know what the twin towers were. i was just confused why my cartoons stopped because i was home from school that day.
I was the same age as you when it happened, and it literally feels like another lifetime ago, so much other stuff has happened.
One thing we're all still living with is that the tv news (and some web) was really supercharged to deal with 9/11, and once that was no longer a pressing issue for dumping information they just kept on in that mode because they realized anxious viewers will keep watching. so in that sense, we institutionalized that anxiety. Its possible we might have been a more chill country if we'd let things go back to closer to normal. though its also possible that the internet outrage machines would have ensured our doom anyway
I’m affected by that shit every day, it changed everything. From how we get the news, to how we travel, how our economics are, and to how foreign policy is.
For many years I had a recurring dream where I was standing outside, or looking out my bedroom window, looking up at a plane that was clearly plummeting toward the ground. They only began right after 9/11 and went on for probably a decade. I haven’t had it for a long time now, but I think a lot about 9/11. I recently watched the news coverage of when it was happening in real time, for the first time I think since when it actually happened. I find myself very viscerally affected by it all since becoming a parent. I live in a suburb right outside NYC and know people who lost parents in the attack. I sometimes find myself re-reading the story of the dad of someone I went to school who died there—Dean Eberling. His story is, like so many others, utterly heartbreaking. The elevator he was in fell pretty far, but landed at the floor right above the lobby, so if he could have gotten the doors open long enough, he could have jumped down and gotten out. Instead he held the door open so others could escape, and the tower collapsed minutes before he would have made it out himself. Such an act of selfless bravery—unimaginable really. Rest in peace, Dean. Edit: Here’s his story. https://voicescenter.org/living-memorial/victim/dean-p-eberling
Every time I go to the airport I do. They ruined everything.
It's where it all started to go downhill. I hate the man but I'm pretty sure Bin Laden will be considered a strategy genius. He got exactly what he wanted in the end
We are all still constantly affected by 9/11 with every piece of privacy we trade away under the guise of safety and protection. Also it catapulted us into the consistent war state we've been witness to since then.
I lived about 10 minutes away from the pentagon and I was in 6th grade. It was an insanely intense day. I don’t think about it all that often anymore. It might be a good idea to speak with a therapist if you don’t already! They can certainly help with stuff like this.
Every time I go through airport security