Where were you on September 11th 2001 when you heard the news?

Getting ready for my exams at Warsaw University. Afterseeing what's happened on telly i wasn't able to pay an attention at my exam.

I was at work - getting phone updates from my wife who was herself being updated by her mother who was looking after my son at our house. Tried getting on the various news sites but they were all swamped.

Went to watch Brighton v Southampton in the League Cup that evening - no-one gave a shit about the game. Looking round the ground it was hard to imagine that the estimated death toll at that time ammounted to over 50% of the crowd that night.

Over the next couple of days, it emerged that a respected poster on North Stand Chat was on the 90-somethingth floor and had died. A memorial fund was set-up and continues to support youth football in Sussex and New York. Every year the main fund raising event is a match between Brighton and Palace fans.

Had been out late the night before and, struggling through a vile hangover, I turned on the telly when I belatedly got up to check a footy result from the previous night which in some vague way affected Stoke. The 24 hour news had already kicked in on the BBC.

What I remember more clearly was watching the telly later that evening round at a mate's place. There was a lass there who I'd not met before, who introduced herself by showing off her new £500 coat. Someone then told me she was an Oxbridge graduate. She'd not seen any of the footage until now but had been told about falling bodies, the collapse of the towers and so on. When she first saw the people chucking them selves out she was laughing; later whooping when the towers tumbled. Someone asked her why she thought it was OK to laugh at this stuff.

"Because they're capitalists".

She wasn't the only person in the room with that point of view. Even with hindsight, and having seen the way that the events of that day have been used to justify all sorts of horrors, I have rarely been in the company of such a bunch of crass, unthinking wankers.

Not even when you've had a beer with me?

Seriously though, champagne socialists are the vilest of all humanity. Was there any further contact with these 'people' Martin?

Uncle Liam wrote: Not even when you've had a beer with me?

Seriously though, champagne socialists are the vilest of all humanity. Was there any further contact with these 'people' Martin?

yeah he married her.

I wouldnt have thought that ********* ******* was like that!

Uncle Liam wrote: Not even when you've had a beer with me?

Seriously though, champagne socialists are the vilest of all humanity. Was there any further contact with these 'people' Martin?

Nope, though I got very drunk and angry that night and didn't really hold back with what I thought about them, which I later got told earned me the moniker "angry 9/11 guy".

Less 'champagne socialists', more Total Fucking Arseholes.

Had just got back from work - half day as it was a Friday, stuck the TV on, just weird seeing it all happen... Remember a mate of mine down the pub that night being really paranoid, sure that the end of the world was nigh or something... Looking back now it all seems really surreal, hard to imagine actually having lived through the coverage as it happened...

Snorri xxx

Defo a Tuesday. I was on a training course at work, and the trainer hadn't turned up for some reason, so we were hanging around the reception area when I saw the TV. I'm not sure I still quite realise the enormity of what happened.

El Jarvo wrote:

Snorrimon wrote: Had just got back from work - half day as it was a Friday, stuck the TV on, just weird seeing it all happen...

That's one thing I'll never forget. It was a Tuesday.

Shows how quickly you forget... I stand corrected... Definitely saw it all at lunchtime though, so why I wasn't at work...

Snorri xxx

Snorrimon wrote:

El Jarvo wrote:

Snorrimon wrote: Had just got back from work - half day as it was a Friday, stuck the TV on, just weird seeing it all happen...

That's one thing I'll never forget. It was a Tuesday.

Shows how quickly you forget... I stand corrected... Definitely saw it all at lunchtime though, so why I wasn't at work...

Snorri xxx

Alehouse (with no telly)???

In New York. I didn't hear the news I heard the crash.

I win the shared tragedy game!!!!!!!!

J.A.K wrote:

Snorrimon wrote: Shows how quickly you forget... I stand corrected... Definitely saw it all at lunchtime though, so why I wasn't at work...

Snorri xxx

Alehouse (with no telly)???

Phew, that's that one sorted... Now, where was I and what was I doing at 2 am on 15th January 2003?

Snorri xxx

Smarra[gold]dona wrote: i watched it unfold from outside my job, i worked 2 blocks from WTC(I Work a block Closer now) it was insanity, the last 5 years have gone so fast. today it seems a lot of people are home from work, but there are tons upon tons of people down here, remembering, protesting, whatever... i did see a lot of people who lost someone, they are walking with pictures pinned to their clothes and i think those are the people i feel bad for today. i know one thing has changed in the last 5 years, for me anyway, america really turns me off, i dont know if its bush or the government in general but i dont feel the pride that i used to

Hey how long before you got internet back? Did you lose it? I remember about 8 pm that night number 7 world trade center fell and verizon's isp servers were in there. I didn't have internet at work or at school for a week.

It was tragic.

Also what was horrible was seeing all those damn missing posters all over the city afterwards. The women in hysterical tears running through the streets with pictures of their children. It was realy horrific. Just wow..

It's that kind of shit that everyone trying to make some sort of self-important "I remember where I was when I heard the news" connection to things as if it happened to them can't fake.

C-Ro wrote:

Smarra[gold]dona wrote: i watched it unfold from outside my job, i worked 2 blocks from WTC(I Work a block Closer now) it was insanity, the last 5 years have gone so fast. today it seems a lot of people are home from work, but there are tons upon tons of people down here, remembering, protesting, whatever... i did see a lot of people who lost someone, they are walking with pictures pinned to their clothes and i think those are the people i feel bad for today. i know one thing has changed in the last 5 years, for me anyway, america really turns me off, i dont know if its bush or the government in general but i dont feel the pride that i used to

Hey how long before you got internet back? Did you lose it? I remember about 8 pm that night number 7 world trade center fell and verizon's isp servers were in there. I didn't have internet at work or at school for a week.

It was tragic.

Also what was horrible was seeing all those damn missing posters all over the city afterwards. The women in hysterical tears running through the streets with pictures of their children. It was realy horrific. Just wow..

It's that kind of shit that everyone trying to make some sort of self-important "I remember where I was when I heard the news" connection to things as if it happened to them can't fake.

"I was there - everyone else fuck off".

Nope, that's not remotely self-important. But, then, that's just your schtick, innit?

C-Ro wrote: In New York. I didn't hear the news I heard the crash.

I win the shared tragedy game!!!!!!!!

Congratulations.

Did you lose anything other than your internet connection? I'm sure it was scary actually being there and all, but it doesn't make you special. We were all shocked/afraid/angry that day and we're all still here.

I grew up in New York and feel lucky to have been several hundred miles away.

Mr disco 99 wrote:

C-Ro wrote: In New York. I didn't hear the news I heard the crash.

I win the shared tragedy game!!!!!!!!

Congratulations.

Did you lose anything other than your internet connection? I'm sure it was scary actually being there and all, but it doesn't make you special. We were all shocked/afraid/angry that day and we're all still here.

I grew up in New York and feel lucky to have been several hundred miles away.

Yeah.. right... It doesn't make me special at all... In fact, I'm fucking saying the opposite.

but I don't see why people have to sit here and go through and try and place themselves at a point and time where they weren't. It's like all that "I am a Londoner" shit with regards to the 07/07/05. It's not strength and shared fucking tragedy. It's fucking "oh let's see how I can forge a connection when there's none there"

For example, this woman with whom I used to be friendly (until she said this--and it showed me what a smacked ass she was), was telling me about her experience on 09/11/01, saying how in Ottawa, they really felt the pain "that new yorkers were going through" because they were "one hour from the new york border"

That's fucking bullshit.

As for what I lost... I lost family the same as a fuck load of people from this area... does *THAT* make me win this fucking useless game now?

(The Good Doctor) Martin Fradley wrote:

C-Ro wrote:

Smarra[gold]dona wrote: i watched it unfold from outside my job, i worked 2 blocks from WTC(I Work a block Closer now) it was insanity, the last 5 years have gone so fast. today it seems a lot of people are home from work, but there are tons upon tons of people down here, remembering, protesting, whatever... i did see a lot of people who lost someone, they are walking with pictures pinned to their clothes and i think those are the people i feel bad for today. i know one thing has changed in the last 5 years, for me anyway, america really turns me off, i dont know if its bush or the government in general but i dont feel the pride that i used to

Hey how long before you got internet back? Did you lose it? I remember about 8 pm that night number 7 world trade center fell and verizon's isp servers were in there. I didn't have internet at work or at school for a week.

It was tragic.

Also what was horrible was seeing all those damn missing posters all over the city afterwards. The women in hysterical tears running through the streets with pictures of their children. It was realy horrific. Just wow..

It's that kind of shit that everyone trying to make some sort of self-important "I remember where I was when I heard the news" connection to things as if it happened to them can't fake.

"I was there - everyone else fuck off".

Nope, that's not remotely self-important. But, then, that's just your schtick, innit?

Way to not get it, jackoff.

EdelBrock wrote:

This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote: I remember I was in a US history course during my senior year of high school and another teacher came in to tell our teacher to turn on the TV. He said that a plane had crashed into the twin towers. So, she turned on the TV and we watched what was going on. As we left the class, the tower fell. Two periods later, my English teacher tried to keep on teaching - he told us that this really wasn't that important - but after 20 minutes, we were told that we all had to leave school and go home. As soon as I got home, my mother asked, "What's the big deal?"

Sounds like your around a bunch of people with their heads up their asses....I'm sorry, i know it's your mother, but come on, "what's the big deal?" ????????? How about almost 3,000 Peaceful, American citezens with families, fathers/mothers, sisters/brothers, children, and friends. Their only fatal mistake was working in the tallest building inthe US. The lives of the people related to them will never be the same. How about asking one of the family or friends of these people "what's the big deal?".

She understands now. When it all happened, she was stuch at a train station in Trenton, NJ. When I got home from school, she wondered why I got home early and why I had to be sent home. I had to explain to her that two planes just crashed into the twin towers...

But my English teacher did really have his head up his arse. The TV was on in the classroom showing the news and he wanted us to be reading about Huckleberry Finn.

I was at work in a video-rental outfit (how quickly that line of business went down the tube). Bizarre day, cause I saw it in the window of a TV shop while I was out for morning tea-break, but it was just a load of burning buildings at that stage.

Being a video shop (mainly VHS at that stage), there was loty of tellies, but no TV. We managed to pick up dodgy telly pictures through an old ariel. Then people kept coming into the shop to have a chat about it. A shop like that attreacted lonely people who watched a lot of videos. They all needed to talk to someone about it all on the day in question. I remember a stock-broker type (with a beautiful leather satchel) coming in toward the end of the day, and he was emotionally wrecked cause he had just lost a fucking fortune. We werent sure if he was a rich junkie, or an actual broker, but either way, he had his fair share of marching powder that day. He was quite amusing.

Working in that shop (towards the end of my summer-job) was pretty terrible. Conditions were crap, and I was glad to get the Friday off for the day of mourning. I dont remember a whole lot more about that period, apart from the fact that in the immediate aftermath, people lost all critical control and the most bizarre places were closed to investigate anthrax attacks (hmm, I dont think that an Irish shopping centre is top of Osamas hit-list).

C-Ro wrote:

For example, this woman with whom I used to be friendly (until she said this--and it showed me what a smacked ass she was), was telling me about her experience on 09/11/01, saying how in Ottawa, they really felt the pain "that new yorkers were going through" because they were "one hour from the new york border"

That's fucking bullshit.

I agree totally.

You're right. I totally missed your point.

C-Ro wrote:

Also what was horrible was seeing all those damn missing posters all over the city afterwards.

in the life magazine 2001 yearly review, if you open the front page my friend stacey's missing poster is right in the middle of the inner cover. to make it worse, it was put up by her best friend, abi, whose father had been on united flight 11, the first plane to hit. i suppose she was putting up two posters that day. when i first saw it i wasn't expecting it at all, and needless to say i was a little verklempt. of all the thousands of missing posters, they had to choose hers.

Like it or not, it happened on telly. Like it or not, that's one of the defining 'communal' experiences we have. The London bombings didn't happen on live television, although something like - say - Hillsborough did, and like most others I remember both days as a 'witness'.

No-one's trying to appropriate anyone's 'pain', at least not in the contributions here as far as I can see. It's prosthetic memory, for sure, but then what isn't? Perhaps one ought to be amazed by how those images brought - and still bring - a mass outpouring of genuine shock and sympathy here in the UK, a country with an astonishing kneejerk loathing of America. Obviously, if we had similarly graphic broadcasts from Iraq on a daily basis things in the Middle East would be very different.

the main problem i have with the news coverage of 9/11 is the constant footage of the planes hitting the towers and the towers collapsing. you can't escape these images. i know the public enjoys 'rubbernecking,' but i wish more people would see it for what it is: watching the murder of over 2000 people. why must they show these pictures again and again? (except, of course, to get ratings. which perhaps answers my own question.)

Yeah i agree .And why inflate terrorists egos by constantly replaying those images?

AgentWood wrote: the main problem i have with the news coverage of 9/11 is the constant footage of the planes hitting the towers and the towers collapsing. you can't escape these images. i know the public enjoys 'rubbernecking,' but i wish more people would see it for what it is: watching the murder of over 2000 people. why must they show these pictures again and again? (except, of course, to get ratings. which perhaps answers my own question.)

Well, yeah, its displaced the Zapruder footage as the most (in)famous snuff film in the world, that's true. I think you underestimate people if you think the fascination with those images is purely voyeuristic. How do you make sense of the deaths of several thousand people? You simply can't, so you watch that footage again and again and again to try and make sense of it. You can't rationalise it with words cos it's beyond language - no poetry after Auschwitz and so on. Besides, those images are easy to watch on a multitude of websites, so its not like you can really blame TV networks for opportunistically broadcasting death porn when you can see it anytime with the click of a mouse.

And, I'll admit it, those images still fascinate me: I'm fucked if I know exactly why, mind.....

(The Good Doctor) Martin Fradley wrote:

AgentWood wrote: the main problem i have with the news coverage of 9/11 is the constant footage of the planes hitting the towers and the towers collapsing. you can't escape these images. i know the public enjoys 'rubbernecking,' but i wish more people would see it for what it is: watching the murder of over 2000 people. why must they show these pictures again and again? (except, of course, to get ratings. which perhaps answers my own question.)

Well, yeah, its displaced the Zapruder footage as the most (in)famous snuff film in the world, that's true. I think you underestimate people if you think the fascination with those images is purely voyeuristic. How do you make sense of the deaths of several thousand people? You simply can't, so you watch that footage again and again and again to try and make sense of it. You can't rationalise it with words cos it's beyond language - no poetry after Auschwitz and so on. Besides, those images are easy to watch on a multitude of websites, so its not like you can really blame TV networks for opportunistically broadcasting death porn when you can see it anytime with the click of a mouse.

And, I'll admit it, those images still fascinate me: I'm fucked if I know exactly why, mind.....

theodore adorno had a point about auschwitz. after all, how can we truly view beauty and applaud humanity after the worst mass-murder in history. can we recover from 9/11? i don't know, but i think life will be different from now on.

you're right about the death porn on the internet. consider how many people watched the beheading of nick berg. however, it is rather insensitive to those who lost loved ones to show the WTC footage ad nauseam. i've always wondered what happened to todd and stacey between the time the towers hit and when they fell, and i can't even imagine what the family members are going through, seeing those images every day.

one thing i wonder: where are the stories about katrina and those who lost their lives due to miscommunication between government agencies? new york can rebuild itself...new orleans has a few decades before it must move to a new location. it's a dying city and a poor city. yet we seem to have forgotten what happened those days in september. we can learn from our experiences with katrina yet the news channels seem eerily silent on the issue.