What did 9/11 do to you kids? (Read beyond thread title and relate to the OP or so help me)
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Ok. So basically I'm trying to rip the scab off a healing wound. Man, I'm a dick. I could ask you some more follow up questions about how what you saw others go through, how quickly they healed- and what you felt when you saw them... but I don't want to be a bother.Instinct Blues said:
That's gotta suck. I remember going out of my way to treat middle eastern people with the same respect I always did... because I could see their guard up in my every exchange with them. We heard plenty of hate crime stories coming from around neighboring Dearborn, MI. It has the highest concentration of middle easterners out of any city it's size.Iffat Nur said:
Nothing changed for me except that airports are more annoying to get through, people are paranoid about others who aren't the same colour as them and there aren't as many bins in public any more. Which is annoying.
The death of one person is a tragedy, the death of a million is a statistic.dancinginfernal said:
I think Stalin said that.
Well maybe I should have qualified that statement. I was a kid living across the US with divorced parents. My mother wouldnt let it go on tv for fear of scaring me and my father didn't have cable. They mentioned it at my school but I never made a personal connection with it.xDarc said:
xDarc said:
Well it basically gets ripped off every year when 9/11 rolls around again so you can ask more questions if you like. On a side note though I really do feel bad for people in America who's birthday is on 9/11.
In the UK it did effect us in that society immediately became more paranoid and cynical.
This was mainly due to the media turning the fear factor dial to maximum, and our prime minister at the time insisting we get involved with 9/11 and terrorists as much as the rest of the country didn't want to.
This was mainly due to the media turning the fear factor dial to maximum, and our prime minister at the time insisting we get involved with 9/11 and terrorists as much as the rest of the country didn't want to.
By themselves, cynicism and a lack of trust in people to be inherently good isn't much new- I guess. But what you're telling me is you noticed a change at that time and in the years that followed- because you do contemplate about "how things used to be" from the stories you've heard.THEAFRONINJA said:
It's hard to articulate what is different, isn't it?
Nah we're still good. The smart ones, like me, will make a decent living and some might even fix the problems. The 'dumb' ones and the unlucky ones will be a little worse off; some will go on the dole, others will hop from job to job and just manage to scrap a living, some might see that the best way to live would be to join the army and some might turn to a life of crime. It'll be like all other generations, we do fine with a few hiccups along the way. Political changes and war won't really change much unless it's total war or nuclear war.
I was in 6th form at the time studying for A-Levels. It had no impact on me whatsoever. Although I was very much aware that it would be used as an excuse by the American government and military to do whatever they damn well please even more than usual...and I was right.
I have absolutely no idea whether it affected me or not. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary when I was 4. If I did I don't remember it.
Well, it's made me grow up with my first thought on seeing anyone who looks "foreign" being "They might be a terrorist!"
So yeah. My main response to the climate of fear was to tell it to fuck off.
It's just fucking annoying, this constant "woo, there might be a bomb" "woo, we're under attack". I've just stopped caring. Maybe I secretly hope for another bomb just so those fearmongers will realise they failed at doing anything.
So yeah. My main response to the climate of fear was to tell it to fuck off.
It's just fucking annoying, this constant "woo, there might be a bomb" "woo, we're under attack". I've just stopped caring. Maybe I secretly hope for another bomb just so those fearmongers will realise they failed at doing anything.
It's the older generations that were affected far more.
I was 17 at the time it happened, senior in high school. My classmates and I were talking often about our plans for life after school. After that happened, it was shocking how many started talking about joining the military and going to "fight the bad guys," as it were. It became an idealistic attempt at some justified heroism, or, at least, that's how it seemed to me.
At least 5-6 people in my class (of less than 20) joined the military. They all came back (thankfully,) but it's easy to tell that they will never be quite the same people.
Doing that stole a little of their soul, it seems.
That was far more affecting to me, personally, then what happened in NY oh so many miles away.
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Go another generation or two above that, and in some cases, this fear and paranoia becomes almost palpable.
The fact that this supposed "fear" was latched onto by the political spheres and played like the Red Scare of the Cold War has done more to affect the emotional climate than the event itself ever did. You almost can't mention the word "Muslim" to someone over 40 without seeing their eye tic, and their faces close. It's very quite depressing.
I was 17 at the time it happened, senior in high school. My classmates and I were talking often about our plans for life after school. After that happened, it was shocking how many started talking about joining the military and going to "fight the bad guys," as it were. It became an idealistic attempt at some justified heroism, or, at least, that's how it seemed to me.
At least 5-6 people in my class (of less than 20) joined the military. They all came back (thankfully,) but it's easy to tell that they will never be quite the same people.
Doing that stole a little of their soul, it seems.
That was far more affecting to me, personally, then what happened in NY oh so many miles away.
---
Go another generation or two above that, and in some cases, this fear and paranoia becomes almost palpable.
The fact that this supposed "fear" was latched onto by the political spheres and played like the Red Scare of the Cold War has done more to affect the emotional climate than the event itself ever did. You almost can't mention the word "Muslim" to someone over 40 without seeing their eye tic, and their faces close. It's very quite depressing.
I wouldn't say 9/11 "ruined" me, more like it only helped to make me more cynical.
See, I live in Pennsylvania (about a mile from the site of the third crash, in fact), and the year before, I had taken part in a school field trip to Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty, where my mom (who had come with me) took a photo of the skyline.
That very year, I was in the 6th grade, at only 11 years of age. I remember being at lunch when the principal came in to tell us of a plane crash in New York. We didn't get oiut early, so I didn't think too much of it. Boy was I in a surprise when I got home.
It seems that afterwards, the more I learned about what humans were capable of, the more I learned to dislike them.
...I told you I was cynical. But I'm not anti-war/terrorism as much as I am anti-human stupidity.
See, I live in Pennsylvania (about a mile from the site of the third crash, in fact), and the year before, I had taken part in a school field trip to Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty, where my mom (who had come with me) took a photo of the skyline.
That very year, I was in the 6th grade, at only 11 years of age. I remember being at lunch when the principal came in to tell us of a plane crash in New York. We didn't get oiut early, so I didn't think too much of it. Boy was I in a surprise when I got home.
It seems that afterwards, the more I learned about what humans were capable of, the more I learned to dislike them.
...I told you I was cynical. But I'm not anti-war/terrorism as much as I am anti-human stupidity.