9/11 Life Under Attack - ITV last night. Sensitive content

[MydogWillow]

I'm unsure where to post this as it's to off-load really.

I sometimes watch programmes on 9/11 but found last night's ITV one so incredibly harrowing. It's stuck with me moreso than the others possibly because it was mostly personal footage.

It was a superbly put together programme but has affected me so much last night and today. I just wanted to see if anyone else has been particularly affected by this one?

The footage which has particularly stayed with me are the things I haven't seen before: the thuds on the canopy, the eery piped music in the plaza/complex still playing in the aftermath, the lady speaking to the emergency service telephone operator and the students reactions.

The whole thing is still incomprehensible. I guess the personal footage brings home the impact that day had on ordinary people's lives and how they have coped since.

*and Hispanic of course.

I watched it OP. I watch a few 9/11 documentaries - it is such a defining moment for the world. I remember thinking at the time that the world had changed forever. I think that particular documentary is one of the most haunting in terms of showing us what it was like for the people in the towers and also nearby. I couldn't stop thinking about it either - the muzak was just like a film, the man who was walking away after carrying a lady down 69 floors. I'm also finding it hard to stop thinking about the people of Afghanistan and what will happen to them now that the Taliban is back in charge. There is an amazing YouTube 9/11 story by Will Jimeno. He was buried under the towers and was rescued. It is really uplifting and his message is that the good that came out of that days overshadows the bad. We all need to focus on the good in the world.

How come no one can discuss how horrific they found a certain event without the 'whatabouterry' brigade showing up. THAT boils my piss. Roll eye fucking emoji.

To get back to it, the impact of it all seems as just as raw and upsetting 20 years on. It was the thuds of the jumpers and the phone calls that particularly got to me. The Netflix one is interesting.

And yes toothbrush, people do give a shit about non-Western atrocities as well. Only today I was pleasantly surprised to see my local village (rural, very white, very middle class) had to stop taking in donations for Afghan refugees because the hall holding the donations was physically full to bursting - they couldn’t even walk through it. Plus several people were commenting to ask how they could sign up to offer their spare bedroom to a refugee. So pardon me if we also have one measly thread to take a moment to acknowledge the horrors of 9/11 and remember its poor victims.

Thanks for the clarification, @Realyorkshiretea. I found the text of the poem online and read it rather than watching the video. I think poetry is better experienced hearing it in your head rather than listening to someone read it.

I will now watch the video. And thanks for your empathy, it really means a lot.

@MLMbotsno

I visited the memorial site and museum a few years ago. It's very moving. I remember the day vividly.

That's great. We get loads of tourists in NYC of course, but the Brits are our favorites. We have lots of British ex-pats here too. My husband used to live and work in London and has promised to take me there on holiday some day.

Reading these comments on the first page actually made me feel quite sick so i haven't bothered reading the rest of thread definitely people I would not associate myslef with.
I wonder if they voice those opinions in real life if they really are that heartless talking like it's a competition. Disgusting.

I started to watch but I couldn't i had to turn it off. It still has the same I affect on me years later.

@MissConductUS

Thanks for the clarification, *@Realyorkshiretea*. I found the text of the poem online and read it rather than watching the video. I think poetry is better experienced hearing it in your head rather than listening to someone read it.

I will now watch the video. And thanks for your empathy, it really means a lot.

I agree about the poetry - I can’t read or watch it without tears though. So I pick my moments!

Ignore people like Toothbrush. The ‘xenophobic, uncultured’ American label is no more accurate than the ‘Racist, Brexiteer’ British one. They’re blaming us for our politician’s decisions - which is twice as unreasonable as our politicians screw us over as well!

I’ve been to the States several times and loved it - it has such a sense of optimism and possibility than I don’t think we quite have here. It’s my dream to live and work in NYC for a year but my career offers no travelling opportunities, and I’ve looked at visas but it seems like they don’t want me! Maybe I’ll make it across for a holiday though!

I remember that day really clearly. Ds was a baby, i was ironing watching the telly after lunch. I watched it until i couldn't watch anymore. I turned on the radio and Sail away by david gray was on....'crazy skies above us now...' i had to get out the house so went to a bit of grass near here with ds...met other mums there, all in shock .
Ds is 20 now

That musak, yes like a film, all of it in a way. How can it be 20 years this Saturday

I haven't watched the ITV one, but I watched a 5 part documentary on NowTV (discovery channel) where it was told by the survivors.

I thought I knew most of what happened, but it being retold by those who survived and seeing unseen footage, I cried and I'm still feeling unsettled.

I was 21 at the time, just starting fertility tests and watched it all unfold on the tv on my day off work. It left me unsure if I wanted to continue. I found out I was pregnant (though fertility treatment) on the 1 year anniversary.

My aunt was an office worker for a law firm at the WTC on 9/11.

She did her daily commute from her apartment in Hell's Kitchen, stopped to get a coffee and a pastry, rode the elevator to her office and begin her work. She was an ordinary person doing an ordinary job.

She was one of the survivor's of the atrocity but it took her many years to talk to anyone apart from her husband and children about what she experienced in any depth. I visited her a few years ago and she only relayed a very little bit of her experience on the day and it was horrifying. I can totally understand why it took her 15 years to even return to the site. She was 63 then and due to the insistence of my uncle, she retired from working on that day.

Yes, there have been many atrocities before and after but on that day, it was personal. On that day, I watched in horror believing that I lost my family member and I was so far away (I lived in England then) and I couldn't get a hold of anyone for news. The day reminds me of that deep feeling of helplessness, fear, and deep sorrow.

I remember the elevator in the WTC. the speed it flew up, my ears popped. And the view from the top, the cars were like ants. I'm horrified at the people that had to jump or hang out the windows. Utterly horrified.

I was 30 when 9/11 happened. I agree about the impact being about the fact it was effectively the first western atrocity being broadcast live. PP are right to worry about what footage would be available if it happened now.

A lot of the footage from this ITV programme is from the Naudet brothers documentary which is well worth a watch. Available on Netflix.

Ignore how people feel and you only cause more problems. The road to reconciliation isn't an easy one. It requires soul searching of a kind which requires you to acknowledge things you don't want to.

I have this conflict between the humanity of the things that happened that day and the political and fall out from that day.

Both are important.

Accuse me of what you like. I found the event painful in ways that others clearly don't share because of how it resonated with me.

I am well aware i dont quite see the world in the same way as others. There's reasons for that. Ones that don't go away.

Sorry @RedToothBrush I appreciate the subject of 9/11 is huge and opens up many, many debates - rightly so - but my thread was specifically about the ITV programme and how the content affected me more than other 9/11 footage. Nothing more.

I have to say that my life changed enormously that day and every year the anniversary is hard.

I can't really put it into words. But then no words are ever enough.

The looks on everyone's faces - no matter what the skin colour, age, social background, the shock and fear and reactions in the moment were all the same.

@MydogWillow

It affects me though, because it brings back a flood of memories about a lot of things.

There's comments in the programme which I found as upsetting as some of the events which are violent because they are reflective of the world at that time and this sense of innocence. I already felt like I'd had that taken from me as a child and I had (and still do) have a sense of bitterness about how oblivious to that other people were.

We all respond to events like this in different ways. We are a product of the lives we have already lived.

What I find triggering in it is very different to others, quite clearly.

It doesn't lesson how any of us feel. But we should recognise there is a range of responses and feelings, none of which are 'right'.

I contextualise things very differently. I find it brings back real deeply conflicting feelings. It triggers memories of my own experience and anger at those who funded it as if it were a game of 'winning' and 'losing'.

I think the problem with violence is its always the innocent that have the most to lose. Its not the perpurtrators or the politicians.

Having said that, what I take away from events like this isn't the horror. Its the humanity and the stories of selfishness which reassure me about the best in people even at the very worst of times. Its how I've coped with it over the years and deal with traumatic events. It almost switches it from a story about the murderers and takes away that power and fear and then turns it into one in which the people who make decisions that make a difference change the world in their own ways. Its how I process things and cope with them. See the fireman going into the building and knowing they weren't coming up is haunting. But also gives me hope in a way. Same for the fate of United 93.

I think the humanity of that also helps me to better relate to others rather than this sense of bewilderment and the narrative of monsters who do these things.

I think by 9/11 happened, I'd already come to the realisation that engagement and guns don't stop conflict and the whole thing troubled me for how it was, even on the day it happened itself, obviously was just going to continue this pointless cycle.

For the most part, I don't think people are evil - the word came up a lot on 9/11 and in the period after. People are more likely to do bad things because something bad has happened to them, and they then make a decision to get revenge to appease this sense of injustice.

The trouble is, it doesn't change the past and it just passes on the pain.

As I say, my feelings about it are deeply complex. They've got a number of different layers. They are different to others. I kind of felt in a very different place from other people on the day - further down the road of dealing with extreme violence. Still do really. Watching it and how people reacted reminds me of that even more.

I think its important to try and explain why I have a very different response to many others watching that programme.

I think the fact I've had other experiences doesn't make me see that programme as going further or being worse than any other 9/11 footage. Just different and from an angle which perhaps I can connect to more.

I don't really expect others to 'get' what I'm saying tbh. I just feel that I have a need to say it - just as you say in your OP about needing to offload.

@Realyorkshiretea

For those interested in harrowing, realistic portrayals of what happened to the civilians in Iraq, watch Once Upon A Time in Iraq on iPlayer. But brace yourself as it’s deeply upsetting and very harrowing.

I second this.

Absolutely brilliant series of films.

[quote RedToothBrush]@MydogWillow

It affects me though, because it brings back a flood of memories about a lot of things.

There's comments in the programme which I found as upsetting as some of the events which are violent because they are reflective of the world at that time and this sense of innocence. I already felt like I'd had that taken from me as a child and I had (and still do) have a sense of bitterness about how oblivious to that other people were.

We all respond to events like this in different ways. We are a product of the lives we have already lived.

What I find triggering in it is very different to others, quite clearly.

It doesn't lesson how any of us feel. But we should recognise there is a range of responses and feelings, none of which are 'right'.

I contextualise things very differently. I find it brings back real deeply conflicting feelings. It triggers memories of my own experience and anger at those who funded it as if it were a game of 'winning' and 'losing'.

I think the problem with violence is its always the innocent that have the most to lose. Its not the perpurtrators or the politicians.

Having said that, what I take away from events like this isn't the horror. Its the humanity and the stories of selfishness which reassure me about the best in people even at the very worst of times. Its how I've coped with it over the years and deal with traumatic events. It almost switches it from a story about the murderers and takes away that power and fear and then turns it into one in which the people who make decisions that make a difference change the world in their own ways. Its how I process things and cope with them. See the fireman going into the building and knowing they weren't coming up is haunting. But also gives me hope in a way. Same for the fate of United 93.

I think the humanity of that also helps me to better relate to others rather than this sense of bewilderment and the narrative of monsters who do these things.

I think by 9/11 happened, I'd already come to the realisation that engagement and guns don't stop conflict and the whole thing troubled me for how it was, even on the day it happened itself, obviously was just going to continue this pointless cycle.

For the most part, I don't think people are evil - the word came up a lot on 9/11 and in the period after. People are more likely to do bad things because something bad has happened to them, and they then make a decision to get revenge to appease this sense of injustice.

The trouble is, it doesn't change the past and it just passes on the pain.

As I say, my feelings about it are deeply complex. They've got a number of different layers. They are different to others. I kind of felt in a very different place from other people on the day - further down the road of dealing with extreme violence. Still do really. Watching it and how people reacted reminds me of that even more.

I think its important to try and explain why I have a very different response to many others watching that programme.

I think the fact I've had other experiences doesn't make me see that programme as going further or being worse than any other 9/11 footage. Just different and from an angle which perhaps I can connect to more.

I don't really expect others to 'get' what I'm saying tbh. I just feel that I have a need to say it - just as you say in your OP about needing to offload.[/quote]
Thankyou for taking the time to respond with your most eloquent, thought provoking post.

I watched 9/11-102 minutes that changed America, last week on channel 4 which is made up from video/phone footage of people there and I felt the same way OP. I’ve seen a lot of documentaries about it over the years (not so many recently) but there’s something about the raw emotion and intensity of feeling a bit like you’re there watching it unfold whilst having the dread of knowing what’s coming that made me very upset and sick to my stomach. My heart aches for all the people affected by this tragedy.

I watched an interesting drama series called The Looming Tower on Prime after. It stars Jeff Daniels and is based on the poor communication between the CIA and FBI leading up to the attacks.

@RedToothBrush I think your post is rather self indulgent if I’m honest. I’m very sorry for your struggles, but should they really have any bearing on the remembrance of 9/11, particularly as I presume you have no personal link to that atrocity? I’m sorry if I’m wrong there and you do have a personal link. But otherwise I cannot see the relevance of your feelings to the fact people want to commemorate the anniversary and pay their respects without being dragged into a debate.

I watched it and hearing the lobby music playing with the paper/debris around from impact really got me. Something just so haunting, and the distress whistles. Seeing everyone, regardless of any age, social status etc all have the same reaction; scared and distraught at the events unfolding. I shed a few tears during this programme.

@TonyThreePies

The first plane hitting and the sound of the explosion was horrific, I hadn't seen that before. The woman in the tower asking the call handler if she was going to die. The sounds of the music playing and the firefighters distress whistles. It was awful, all of it but I felt that I couldn't turn over, that it would be disrespectful somehow. Apparently the last fire at WTC did not stop burning until December.

My parents went to NY at the end of December that year and the ground was still smouldering 😨