Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
Spuddybean · 10/09/2011 18:59

If it had happened anywhere else it wouldn't have had such an impact. It wasn't just horrific for those directly affected either it was horrific for everyone on the planet. Even those perpetrating it. It spiraled onto everything.

It was a pivotal moment and like the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand was the 'crime of the century' and will have a knock on effect for a long time to come (altho the death of ADF is still contributing to it all as well).

It isn't just the deaths of those people. It is the perfect combination of factors which still (and will forever) make it one of the most astonishing, awesome, audacious, mind blowing acts of human will ever perpetrated.

Natural disasters are terrible, but this was an act by people against people. Like the holocaust it transcends comprehension of the will and hatred needed to achieve.

They location was iconic, and a perfect place for this kind of message to strike - it symbolised western decadence, greed, hubris even, was populated by people from many countries but still was on US soil. Then to use the US planes which are another symbol of the above as weapons against themselves.

It was when the west realised, really really, realised there was whole chunk of the planet who had diverged totally from us. it wouldn't have shocked me more if it had been an attack from another planet.

Innocence died and we had to wake up and see the world as it really was.

BatsUpMeNightie · 10/09/2011 19:00

Hideous nasty mean spirited shitey thread. Count me out.

Milsean · 10/09/2011 19:00

YANBU, though I think most respondents don't understand your point.

How many people have died in Libya? In Iraq, in Afghanistan? How many in Nicaragua? How many of these at the hands or bombs of American troops?

If 9/11 happened anywhere in the West, it would be the same as America. If happened lover there though, one of them more foreign places, it wouldn't be the same, no.

banana87 · 10/09/2011 19:00

Oh great, another dumbass 9/11 thread written by someone with no brain cells....YABU.

Milsean · 10/09/2011 19:01

*over. Not lover, obviously.

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 10/09/2011 19:02

I also wonder if it had such an impact because it's the first massive event that we watched live on tv. I saw the second plane hit. I saw the towers fall. Not in edited highlights, but as it was happening. It made it more 'real' in some way. I sat in my living room and cried as people leapt to their deaths. There wasn't the barrier between the event and the viewer that an editing suite allows. We all watched it wondering what the fuck was going to happen next. It left scars.

HerRoyalNotness · 10/09/2011 19:03

Maybe because this was so horrific, perpetrated by other human beings, in full view of the world. I still can't understand it myself.

We know about the Holocaust, Rwanda and others, but this is more our generation, and the way it occurred is just beyond belief. Every country in the world had to tighten airport security as a byproduct of this.

Many nations lost citizens in the attack, the UK lost 66, the greatest number of foreign nationals, India 41, Japan 24, South Korea 28. I think that most countries will be remembering, but perhaps not on the scale as the UK, USA. Just as the Bali bombings, I expect that Australia and NZ will also have memorials for that event, whereas a lot of north hemisphere countries wouldn't.

Milsean · 10/09/2011 19:03

and its not mean spirited or disrespectful or anything else to question and attempt understanding. It is disrespectful to people who died in this and every other conflict not to though.

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 10/09/2011 19:04

Good point, HRN, about the Bali bombings and Aus/NZ.

scuzy · 10/09/2011 19:04

i do understand what jealousy is .... i am using it as i dont understand the point of this thread and all i can gather from it is if it happened in london it wouldnt be televised.

anwyays all i am saying is YABVU, it effected the whole world as many nationalties were lost... didnt ye send troops over there to Afghanistan afterwards??? as a result of 9/11??? i dunno .... if it happened in feckin TimBukToo and many nationalities were lost and it caused a war and was televised at the time? YES we would be remembering it.

troisgarcons · 10/09/2011 19:05

FWIW I dont think the OP was 'yank bashing' - it's a perfectly reasonable ponderance when you factor in media psychology.

A bit before my time - but everyone over 50 can remember what they were doing when JFK was shot (1963) or the moon landings (1969) or indeed in the UK only when England won the world cup (1966) - but I guarantee no one can remember what they were doing when the Aberfan (1966) disaster happened.

I make reference to the dates only because they are of a similar media aware time.

Spuddybean · 10/09/2011 19:07

But sadly people die all the time. Bombs are easy to access (relatively) if you have an axe to grind (tbh i'm surprised the London bombings don't happen more). This was more about the incredible method, rather than the death toll - sounds cold and i do not diminish the individual losses.

HerRoyalNotness · 10/09/2011 19:09

Yes spuddy the method seems incomprehensible to me.

Northey · 10/09/2011 19:12

I think part of it is also that the key visual images are so incredibly powerful and memorable, and also that there was so much filming gong on from different angles that there is a huge wealth of material for the media to work through. They really can keep showing us new stuff.

I remember reading that it was an atrocity deliberately designed fr the media age - from the strength of the main images (plane hitting towers; towers falling) to the timing of the strikes (to be reported on breakfast tv; the second strike to happen just about when everyone would have heard and turned on their tv and cameras would be sending back live shots).

scuzy · 10/09/2011 19:13

wannabe i am sorry ... jealousy was a stupid word to use. we can agree to disagree.

CamperFan · 10/09/2011 19:13

Have you actually read any the thread banana?

scuzy · 10/09/2011 19:15

just thought i'd throw in there... dp is watchin a 9/11 documentary on national geographic right now beside me.

still makes the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

your so right about the visuals Northey.

ChristinedePizan · 10/09/2011 19:15

I think they would be. It was such an act of evil genius to hijack three planes and make them crash within minutes of one another into some of the most iconic buildings in the world. AND kill so, so many people.

I don't think a single act of aggression has ever killed so many.

LadyBeagleEyes · 10/09/2011 19:16

America is a superpower, the twin towers are something we all recognise through our culture, throughout the world. It was the first major attack on the USA, so huge, it was almost a declaration of war.
But I also get where the OP is coming from.
If this had been an event in say, Kuala Lumpur or Kabul, no, it definitely would not be commemerated sp in the west.
Natural disasters like the tsunami will be yesterday's news after the next tsunami.
However we feel, we have to accept that this will always be an event that will stay in our minds, it was just one of these iconic moments.
I don't think you're BU at all, by the way, OP.

scuzy · 10/09/2011 19:17

ok wannabe i think Northey has made me realise what you were getting at in a way ... i think the fact that it was televised made more of an impact on the world hence it bein more remembered.

scuzy · 10/09/2011 19:18

i think your OP should be called "if 9/11 wasnt televised at the exact moment the towers were hit would it be remembered as much"

Badgercub · 10/09/2011 19:19

I think the sheer number of people and nationalities involved adds to the weight of grief.

GingerWrath · 10/09/2011 19:20

YABVVVVVVVU! It was an affront to the World and has changed my life completely, I count down the days to when my DH goes out to the Middle East and count him coming back again, he has missed 2 Christmases out of DD's 5 years.

Of course it should feature heavily in the media, it didn't only affect Americans, it affected THE WORLD!

Here have my very first Biscuit

scuzy · 10/09/2011 19:20

very true Badgercub

MrsDmamee · 10/09/2011 19:20

YABU..I didnt live thru the Holocaust, but will never forget what happened.

9/11 happened in full view of the worlds media. We all watched in horror & disbelief and no matter where it was in the world it was innocent lives destroyed by such an evil act that I fear was designed never to be forgotten.
I'm living in the US now (wasnt at the time)..and yes its hard to watch the recent programs on the history channel of the "days after 9/11" But I think its important for future generations to see and never forget either.