'Selfies' at the WTC Memorial?

[girlinacoma]

Selfie sticks and groups of people saying '1-2-3 cheeeeese'?

I've visited twice now and found the first visit really compelling but strangely unemotional. For some reason, I found the second visit much more moving and sobbed quietly away as the enormity of it all hit me.

I get that people will react differently and experience different emotions but a group of 8 or so middle-aged Americans pulling funny faces and doing rabbit ears for a selfie is a bit much - no?

I have raging PMT by the way, so totally prepared to be told I'm being unreasonable.

People really fuck me off though sometimes.

YANBU. Totally inappropriate behaviour IMO. Taking photographs at a memorial is ok, but discrete and soberly.

Wtc. ??? What does that mean, sorry

World Trade Centre :)

I lost friends in there so I have no objectivity really

it's really noticeable, I think, that there's no longer any kind of time lag before it becomes okay to do this stuff. Then again, I don't understand why people are fascinated by the Titanic either.

I have been back to New York several times but I won't ever go back to that area because I think what you describe would set me off. I might slap people...eek. I can tell you, from visiting relatives, that people were taking pics of the debris and not taking selfies but certainly treating it as a tourist attraction. My mate's mum said to me she wished she hadn't bothered because all she was doing was collecting her daughter's things - she thought it would give her some closure but reality was it was just very damaging. And there's a limit to how much closure you can get if no body/body parts/DNA are ever recovered.

Actually it's World Trade Center. Whilst mumsnet may sneer at Americanisms, WTC was American.

No sneering here bestyderek just a simple error on my part x

lorelei My mum lost two close friends there too on the first plane that hit the tower. She hasn't now and never will visit and I asked her if she'd like me to find their names and take a photograph as I know of one other person who found comfort in that. She didn't want that at all but asked me to spend a few minutes tracing their names with my finger (which I did).

I'm struggling to comprehend how it must feel for those people that lost family in this or any other tragedy. I can't make sense of it at all and I suppose others must also struggle but I found the 'goofing around' to be so shocking.

girl, I know it's been a grim experience for you but for what it's worth, I'm relieved that you found that shocking and that you posted about it. It's an odd experience, I mean obviously I know other friends and relatives but it's a sort of a weird thing - I've even had more cold hearted people question me quite a lot about what it was like - and it's good to know there's still people around with that sensitivity.

so thank you.

Eh Derek?!

I understand what you mean op. It's totally inappropriate. Why anyone would think it is is beyond me.

lorelei I'm so sorry to hear about your friends you lost. I had a family member caught up in it who thankfully survived. Memories of that day are still horrific, so I can't even imagine what it must have been like to lose loved ones.

I was a bit shocked by the people doing smiley selfies in front of the poppies at the Tower of London the other year - am horrified they would do it at the WTC. Good grief.

I have visited and I found it sobering and emotional.

People have bloody shame is the problem. Tasteless and awful to have selfies.

no

I saw a very good article on this. Posting in case it's of help or interest to anyone

www.buzzfeed.com/stevekandell/the-worst-day-of-my-life-is-now-new-yorks-hottest-tourist-at#.leekAGQPA

If its any comfort at all then I would say that the vast majority of people there were very respectful. There are clearly large groups of tourists and family groups visiting as well as couples etc and on the whole people seemed very calm and thoughtful. Which is why the behaviour of those that weren't, seemed to stand out more I suppose.

There always seems to be fresh white roses dotted around (inserted into various names) and I'm not sure who places these here or how the names are chosen as it seems to vary. The roses are identical and always fresh, never wilted so I think it must be an official placing them there? None of these are ever disturbed though x

When we went to New York, we deliberately avoided walking past the WTC, crossing the road to do so. We just felt uncomfortable, as if it would be incredibly voyeuristic. It wouldn't have upset us, it just felt a bit bad taste.

And selfies and even photos are just plain awful.

I didn't see anyone doing that whilst I was there but do know it happens. People need to realise that it is a mass grave and should be treated with respect.

It is a very moving place.

I went to Auschwitz last year and saw young people taking selfies against the back drop of gas chambers and the scratches on the wall where the Jews had been trying to climb the walls to escape. This selfie craze has gone tpo far and far too many people have no respect for the past and its dead.

Was just going to say similar to what thecity said.

I read this article by Anthony Horowitz the other day which shocked me: www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/poland/articles/Why-Auschwitz-should-be-a-selfie-free-zone/

Just terrible

Is it a lack of empathy, or just plain old ignorance?

I think it's totally inappropriate to take selfies, but I'm not particularly keen on the fact that people are visiting at all. I don't know why. It just feels wrong that it's been turned into a tourist attraction.

I think it's ignorance and possibly because 'selfies' and the ability for anyone to take photos so easily these days people forget where they are. They're conditioned to pull faces or smile when they see a camera and forget why they are there. It's still a stupid, thoughtless thing to do. There aren't many reasons to take a photograph at a memorial unless it is of the memorial itself so you can take it away and remember it at home or you have lost someone there and want to take a photo with them if you see what I mean?
I did a tour of the Belgian battlefields and memorials when I was 17 and some girls in the class were picking the poppies and wearing them in their hair or making chains out of them, I did get upset that they just didn't think of what they were doing.

I have been only once, but I was relieved to see no-one talking selfies. People took photos of the memorials, but that's ok.

When we were there it was thronged, but people were quiet and reflective.

We found plenty of things to do in NYC without having to visit WTC to take a picture. I don't like it at all.

I didn't think of it as a "tourist attraction" at all when I went last month. To me, it is a memorial to which (most) people go to pay their respects.

It is a beautiful memorial, very very moving. And the museum is fantastically done. Understated, respectful, every single life remembered and commemorated.

I didn't see anyone doing selfies; in the main everyone was quiet, hushed and respectful. But I do know it happens. The NYC tripadvisor forum is very good at raising awareness of just how inappropriate it is to take selfies at the memorial.

We were there just a week ago Dogs & agree with you. It's not a tourist attraction at all but a place to pay your respects. I didn't see anyone taking selfies either thankfully & thought it was 'policed' quite heavily as my DS 7 was leaning over the memorial outside the museum looking down & someone was over in a heartbeat telling him to get off.

I sobbed the whole way round - found it very moving.

Totally inappropriate and disrespectful!