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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that if 9/11 had happened anywhere else we wouldn't be remembering it ten years on?

471 replies

wannaBe · 10/09/2011 18:06

... or probably even one year on.

I am not taking away from how horrific it was for all who were directly affected.

But if it had been anywhere but America the world would have moved on and we wouldn't be facing wall-to-wall coverage ten years on. Even if it had been the UK only the UK would be remembering.

OP posts:
glitterkitten · 11/09/2011 16:18

How does disrespecting those remembering victims of 9/11 help dengue fever victims?

Compassion and respect aren't finite. Not least how I was brought up.

theinet · 11/09/2011 16:32

I am sickened by some (a few) people on this thread belittling the events of 911 and essentially saying " no one would bother if it wasn't Americans".

It affected people of all nationalities, it has affected the last 10 years horrendously.

Even other than the effects of the US and Western powers spending trillions on wars since, you could even lay the current financial crisis partly at the door of 9 11 , we were in a small recession at the time and the fear was that the events could bring on serious economic problems, such was the shock to people - and financial policy became very relaxed across the western world, leading to a huge credit boom.

People are crackers if they think 9 11 isn't important. It's will probably be seen as the most important event bar none of the 21st century and will still be remembered in hundreds of years.

TalkinPeace2 · 11/09/2011 17:02

glitter
compassion is not finite
but resentment limits its effectiveness

the USA Government spends more on its military than on anything else
8 times as much as it spends on schools
and it did so before 9/11

people bark about the overseas aid budget being protected
but it is LESS than the discounts given to UK arms dealers selling overseas (otherwise known as the ECGS for the pedants)

the only people to win out of the last 10 years have been the weapons companies like Halliburton (CEO one D Cheney, non exec director one G Bush)
and their like and their bankers (consultant T Bliar )

THAT is what we should still be angry about

glitterkitten · 11/09/2011 17:06

You can be angry and compassionate at the same time.

Are your emotions mutually exclusive? Are you a robot?

TalkinPeace2 · 11/09/2011 18:02

no, I am a psychopath,
as are 1 in 4 of the directors of FTSE 100 companies as per Horizon on Wednesday night.
Lucky they did not measure the politicians

I compartmentalise - it makes for greater efficiency and less knee jerk emotionalism.

I did not watch ANY of the 10th anniversary coverage today
I do not need to to remain outraged at
what was done
why it was done
and the atrocities since that have been justified by it

Proudnscary · 11/09/2011 18:03

REALLY insensitive and unnecessary header today (and any day).

glitterkitten · 11/09/2011 18:46

I have every sympathy for the victims of the wars that have clung to the back of 9/11.

I can have sympathy and feel for more than one group of people at a time. Maybe that's a skill not everyone has. It's nice though. I'd recommend working on it.

madhousewife · 11/09/2011 19:43

I think the OP has raised a very valid point and a question we should all think about, HARD, before we start shouting YABU!
Why are we so fixated on this tragic event when bombings, death and terrorism are an everyday occurrence in other countries? Why are we reacting so angrily to this post - what are we too scared to admit?

jellybeans208 · 11/09/2011 19:47

well said madhousewife

ThePosieParker · 11/09/2011 19:55

America is on our TV everyday, we breath American culture, they speak our language....we are involved in conflicts with them. We lost 67 British people in these unprecedented attacks.

Why wouldn't we?

ThePosieParker · 11/09/2011 19:58

To be honest I can think of better times to discuss the wrongs or rights of news coverage, it's very much in poor taste.

glitterkitten · 11/09/2011 20:10

Madhouse can you name any other terrorist event that was played out before our eyes, filmed so extensively etc. Perhaps that's why. Seeing is believing and for the vast majority of people believing such evil existed is still something they are coming to terms with.

You make it sound as though anyone marking the day is revelling in some macabre glow.

madhousewife · 11/09/2011 20:23

glitterkitten - here is an example -en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beslan_school_hostage_crisis

no revelling in some macabre glow - just wondering why we (myself included) don't feel the same shock to the same extent when it has happened and continues to happen elsewhere.

glitterkitten · 11/09/2011 20:28

I remember that well, and much as I hate to get into some form of "tragedy top trumps" 9/11 saw more death, destruction anne devastation. It's in it's own league in that respect in so far as impact on others.

madhousewife · 11/09/2011 20:36

It was shock value - a hollywood blockbuster at it's best that keeps on delivering.
death is death is death and 3000 killed in america is equally as horrific as the 300 killed in russia. It wasn't 10 times easier to deal with any more than it was 10 times harder to deal with b/c 10 times more people were killed.

glitterkitten · 11/09/2011 20:39

Mmm, I'm not sure madhouse. Ten times the amount of victims seems so incomprehensible. Which is exactly why people are still trying to comprehend.

bemybebe · 11/09/2011 20:46

madhouse but why do you think that we do not feel the same shock. I do, please do not count me in your sick crowd of people who do not care.

On the 1st sept 2004 I was in Holland visiting relatives. We all talked about this, were sickened by what was happening in front of our very eyes. Dutch coverage was pretty continuous.

In Russia people remember Beslan alongside 9/11.

madhousewife · 11/09/2011 20:48

bemy - no need for the personal attack. I'm not saying people do not care, but they don't remember in the same way as 9/11.

bemybebe · 11/09/2011 20:56

where is the personal attack?

bemybebe · 11/09/2011 20:57
Hmm
madhousewife · 11/09/2011 21:00

'your sick crowd of people'

goodnight everyone! I'm off!

not asking anyone to justify their feelings, just asking you to think about it.
'Do you want to be right, or do you want to know the truth?'

peace and love, love and light, good night.

bemybebe · 11/09/2011 21:19

my feelings are all fine, are yours?

Portofino · 11/09/2011 21:34

After reading all the posts, and digesting such, I think this was so important BECAUSE it was on TV. Because the media had access to the footage., to the phonecalls etc. No-one will ever make such a big thing of 7/7 - not because it was not equally atrocious, but because we don't have those lovely "iconic" video images of people being murdered.

Honestly, RIP everyone who died on 9/11. RIP everyone who died in the resulting wars. Honi soit qui mal y pense.

SansaLannister · 11/09/2011 21:53

'Why are we so fixated on this tragic event when bombings, death and terrorism are an everyday occurrence in other countries? Why are we reacting so angrily to this post - what are we too scared to admit?'

Nothing, really. Except maybe admitting that many people pay remembrance to everything, yes, even in America, where there are many hundreds of millions of people from all over the world. That not all in any country think alike and are full of hate. That there are educated, wonderful people, Muslim and not, there and here, who are for peace and understanding and you can't label everyone. It's not so simple and so that makes it easy to start threads like this, which bang on and on.

So the body count rises, everywhere. That's all that happens from 'discussions' like this. They descend into judgements and sanctions under the guise of educated enlightenment.

So the cycle continues.

GruffalowsMammy · 11/09/2011 22:13

OP YANBU