Topic: 9/11

[Trump's tiny tiny hands]

I came home after my shift at my part time bar job (was studying at the time) and turned on the TV to reports of the first plane hitting. Sat stunned for hours watching it unfold. Then news came in that one of the flights was from Boston and my feelings quickly turned to anguish. My girlfriend at the time was in Boston visiting family and was due to fly that day, to NY. With no cellphone coverage and the news taking time to clarify where that Boston flight was originally heading it added a horrible edge to what was terrible event.

It is still staggering to me that it was all so possible for the terrorists to achieve such devastation.

RIP to all those lost

[MrGrumpy]

I took a flight from Newark to Miami on September 8th 2001. My memories of that day are the lack of visibility from my seat next to the engine on the Continental Airlines MD-80 series and the lack of security at Newark.

Curb side check-in was new to me, I was far from happy leaving my suitcase by the side of the road at a busy airport. Having experienced high security airports like Tel-Aviv, I was bemused to be able to walk through security without having to empty my pockets. As we waited for our flight my friends and I commented about how easy it would be for a terrorist to hijack a plane here. None of this made the shock of seeing the World Trade center collapse on live television a few days later any less shocking.

The World Trade Center sadly very a soft target, may those that died on that awful day 20 years ago rest in peace.

[WhereAngelsPlay]

Republicans really are thick as shit

https://twitter.com/KenPaxtonTX/status/1436647462710792194

[Gilly77]

I was at work and when we heard about it we put the TV on in the canteen and could not believe the horror unfolding.

Shortly after I called my dad to ask if he had seen what was happening. He said his Brother, my Uncle, used to work in the building, although he thought he had moved jobs. However my nan believed he had gone back and he was obviously concerned. He had been trying to contact my Aunt in the States but had not been able to get through.

We agreed to meet at home and see what we could do. I got home before him and as he came in he gave me my Uncles phone number to call and said just keep trying. I got an answer 1st time. My Aunt answered, I gave the phone to my dad. She was distraught. She said he's in there and my Dad just burst into tears. He was on the 103rd floor of the North Tower, first tower hit and second to fall. He never stood a chance. He had a wife and 3 children.

2 weeks later I was in New York with the family. We visited the family support centre and Ground Zero.
We met so many people left in all sorts of different awful situations and so many wonderful people helping and supporting them. It was a truly humbling experience and one that will stay with me for ever.
RIP to all

[BarryCrocker]

Republicans really are thick as shit

https://twitter.com/KenPaxtonTX/status/1436647462710792194

Who painted that monstrosity and where is it currently hanging?

[Jiminy Cricket]

Who painted that monstrosity and where is it currently hanging?

https://www.facebook.com/158505064164861/posts/from-a-different-perspective-/2931886770159996/

Dave Mastrejuan (from California) painted it.

A tweet of the same image on the 9/11 anniversary from last year by Jenelle Evans* - a 'reality television personality' - caused her to be 'cancelled'.

It was an interesting choice of image by AG Paxton. If only he was a follower of Jenelle Evens, he could have avoided this debacle - because, obviously, he is incapable of applying any kind of judgement for himself.

The comments to the tweet I linked are staggering in their stupidity.

* Yeah - I have no fucking idea who she is either.

[Hazell]

Republicans really are thick as shit

https://twitter.com/KenPaxtonTX/status/1436647462710792194

I can't stop staring at it. The more I think about it (and the accompanying tweet), the more horrifying and bizarre it gets.

[Jiminy Cricket]

I can't stop staring at it. The more I think about it (and the accompanying tweet), the more horrifying and bizarre it gets.

I would suggest it is because AG Paxton possesses no ability to put himself in the shoes of others. Consequently, he confuses voyeurism/spectacle with empathy, because he has absolutely no understanding of the emotion.

[kloppismydad]

https://www.wired.com/story/pagers-pay-phones-and-dialup-how-we-communicated-on-911/

I was 11 at the time, and my mother's sister had moved to New York with her family 5 years ago. My mother was horrified at the news, and with my dad away on a work trip, she hauled 11 years old me to make an international phone call to my aunt, who was distraught because she couldn't get through to her husband who worked in the area. After a sleepless night, my mother was informed the next morning that my uncle returned home safe and had been stuck on the subway while on his way to work.

Unfortunately, my aunt and her family were racially profiled and targeted for quite some time after 9/11. Some of the scars of the horrors they faced remain, and it shows us how fragile the world really is.

Rest in peace to those who lost their lives. It's one day I'll never forget for as long as I'm alive.

[So… Howard Philips]

Who painted that monstrosity and where is it currently hanging?

Just surprised there isn’t a Pepsi logo on the drinks containers.

[Hazell]

I would suggest it is because AG Paxton possesses no ability to put himself in the shoes of others. Consequently, he confuses voyeurism/spectacle with empathy, because he has absolutely no understanding of the emotion.

I don't know anything about him but that would make sense.

[Red Beret]

https://www.facebook.com/158505064164861/posts/from-a-different-perspective-/2931886770159996/

Dave Mastrejuan (from California) painted it.

A tweet of the same image on the 9/11 anniversary from last year by Jenelle Evans* - a 'reality television personality' - caused her to be 'cancelled'.

It was an interesting choice of image by AG Paxton. If only he was a follower of Jenelle Evens, he could have avoided this debacle - because, obviously, he is incapable of applying any kind of judgement for himself.

The comments to the tweet I linked are staggering in their stupidity.

* Yeah - I have no fucking idea who she is either.

Maybe it was deliberate.  We know how Republicans love trolling so they can engage in their favourite pastime of faux outrage at the inevitable backlash. Keeps their base all nicely riled up.

I see stuff like that and can't help but think that the terrorists won. These people have become that which America vowed to destroy. 

[redgriffin73]

I was at work and when we heard about it we put the TV on in the canteen and could not believe the horror unfolding.

Shortly after I called my dad to ask if he had seen what was happening. He said his Brother, my Uncle, used to work in the building, although he thought he had moved jobs. However my nan believed he had gone back and he was obviously concerned. He had been trying to contact my Aunt in the States but had not been able to get through.

We agreed to meet at home and see what we could do. I got home before him and as he came in he gave me my Uncles phone number to call and said just keep trying. I got an answer 1st time. My Aunt answered, I gave the phone to my dad. She was distraught. She said he's in there and my Dad just burst into tears. He was on the 103rd floor of the North Tower, first tower hit and second to fall. He never stood a chance. He had a wife and 3 children.

2 weeks later I was in New York with the family. We visited the family support centre and Ground Zero.
We met so many people left in all sorts of different awful situations and so many wonderful people helping and supporting them. It was a truly humbling experience and one that will stay with me for ever.
RIP to all

What a dreadfully sad post for your first one on RAWK, I'm so sorry for your loss, I can't imagine what all your family had to go througgh. RIP to your uncle.

[PatriotScouser]

21 years ago today, the American people made a promise to *never forget*.

Over time, we've forgotten, mostly. Faces, names, heroes, unity.

The memory returns once a year, for a moment. For a heartbeat we remember the biggest tragedy in American history.

Remember 9/11. Always.

[Mister Flip Flop]

Watched the second tower fall from my apartment in Williamsburg just across the river. Girlfriend woke me running in the door crying and shouting as she returned from going to work in Manhattan. I slept though the whole thing up until then as i worked bartender in the city until 4am the night before and i was exhausted.

The whole day and weeks following where completely surreal and to be honest the city was never the same after that for the remaining time i was there until 2003. One thing i find unsettling was the lingering "fear of the other" in the air the weeks following the attack. Middle eastern people being attacked and abused on subways and on streets is something that left a very bad taste in the mouth. I guess that dissipated over time but have no idea as i haven't been back since 2003.

[reddebs]

I remember it like it was yesterday.

It happened initially as I was driving over to Paul's, we hadn't been together long, so when I'd arrived I relayed everything to him as it unfolded live on tv as he was at work.

The whole thing was like watching a slow motion disaster movie, it was so surreal.

My daughter visited New York as part of her college course in April 2003 and this date still has a profound effect on her as they visited Ground Zero whilst there but as a 15yr old at the time of the disaster it barely registered with her.

RIP to all of them but how sad is it that we've all become so divided on fairly petty issues since 😔

[gravey101]

Worked at 5 WT in the late 90's. Played footie for Cantor Fitzgerald who were hit hard and several lads i played with didn't make it. I moved to the midwest in 98. I've only been back once and is was very surreal.

[Jack_Bauer]

I was 8 when it happened and by the time we would have been waking up in Australia it was about 10/11 hours after the first plane hit. I do remember watching the news coverage that morning and seeing the footage of the plane's hit which is not exactly the thing someone of my age should have been watching but it was on pretty much all 5 main channels at the time taking various feeds from the US.

[Wabaloolah]

Feels mad that it happened 21 years ago, it certainly doesn't feel that long. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing, I was working from home and towards the end of my lunch break I saw a headline on BBC news that a plane had crashed into the twin towers.

I went downstairs and put the TV  and watched the 2nd plane crash on live TV. I didn't do any more work for the rest of the day, it was an unbelievable thing to happen and you felt like a voyeur or a rubbernecker on the motorway when there has been a bad smash. You don't feel comfortable watching but you just had to.

I've been to New York twice, once in 2010 when the construction work for the new buildings were in progress and the second time in 2015. In 2015 we visited the Ground Zero memorial and I can't quite explain how peaceful it was there. You are in the middle of the busiest city in the world, the City that never sleeps, yet it was quiet, so surreal. It felt similar to when I visited the World War Two cemeteries in Normandy to be honest.

September 11th 2001, the day the world changed forever RIP

[Crosby Nick]

I was 8 when it happened and by the time we would have been waking up in Australia it was about 10/11 hours after the first plane hit. I do remember watching the news coverage that morning and seeing the footage of the plane's hit which is not exactly the thing someone of my age should have been watching but it was on pretty much all 5 main channels at the time taking various feeds from the US.

I was in Sydney and remember flicking through the channels before bed and just seeing the aftermath of the first plane and then saw the second one hit live. So surreal. And quite weird feeling so far away from everything, even compared to being in the UK.

[Hij]

I got home from school and walked in the door with my Dad just sitting there astonished at the first plane having hit. I sat there for a while watching with him when we watched the 2nd plane go in live.Will stick with me forever. Horrific. Not even in the country but I felt fear and panic myself.

I recently watched on a Reddit a second by second, minute by minute documentary, featuring the air traffic controllers, the aircrew, testimony from the families of those who were called by people on the planes, video footage from news crews and radio stations and recordings of voice calls from inside pretty much as they happened. Don't really have the inclination to ever watch it again, but as I was only 14 at the time there was much I had forgotten.

RIP to all those that perished and my thoughts as ever with all those forever effected by it.

[Red Beret]

Damn, just realised today is the anniversary. 21 years?  Bloody hell.

It's a moment that will live with me forever. I had some clips downloaded from YouTube of the live "as it happened" broadcasts. Quality is terrible - no 4k back then - but they sent shivers down my spine.

[spen71]

21 years ago.   Where does time go!

I was working for a Pharma company in Wrexham.    Loads of us were sat in the conference room watching as the second plane hit.   A day I will never forget

[Musketeer Gripweed]

I remember it only too well. We only had one computer in the office with the internet and about 8 of us huddled round a computer watching a photo downloading on dial up speed will always be with me.

I've visited the site a couple of times since it happened and I find it a very sombre and sobering experience. Pisses me off no end when I see young people taking selfies and stuff. Each to their own though I guess.

[Mini Soda Scousephile]

2nd week of uni, but hadn't left yet.
Was sat at home in Massachusetts in the US - where a couple of the planes had left from.

Heard about it before leaving, and instead stayed home all day posting about it on an internet message board.
The thread is still there, and I still revisit it sometimes. It's really strange seeing my and everyone else's thoughts and emotions through the whole event.

Then later on I had to go deliver an afternoon newspaper with the news on the front page. A literal "stop the presses" from whatever they had started to print up that morning. It was strange to be delivering the first news that many would be hearing of it.

[BarryCrocker]

I still struggle to watch the planes hit the towers. It was so batshit crazy that I think nothing is off the table for people to commit as an act of terrorism.

[KillieRed]

Will always remember the poor people in those buildings and planes when this date rolls around.

The second plane flying into the tower and the people jumping from hundreds of feet are things of nightmares.

RIP.

[Crosby Nick]

RIP

[Red Beret]

RIP.

[Qston]

RIP

[Red Ol]

RIP

[jillcwhomever]

RIP.

[Yorkykopite]

RIP

[zero zero]

RIP

[Mister Flip Flop]

R.I.P

Let's not forget the same people who planned and funded the murder of these innocents now control Newcastle United and other sporting organisations.

[Rob Dylan]

RIP

I was at work and had gone out to lunch, on the way back I heard on the radio that a plane had hit one of the towers, probably like most people I assumed it was an accident and just a light aircraft.

We had no access to the internet in the office so we were relying on news and rumours people were hearing from home. I remember someone saying that Bush has said they were considering using nuclear weapons in response. We left work only half joking about whether we'd still be alive to come back in the next day. Absolutely mental.

It's crazy to think how different the coverage would've been if it happened today. The amount of information and footage we'd all have instant access to would be crazy. Not sure if that would be a good or bad thing though.

It might be that everyone's already seen this documentary but  I literally only saw it for the first time yesterday. It's made by two brothers who'd been making a documentary about a rookie firefighter in his first few months on the job, he'd spent weeks waiting for a real fire, and then came 9/11. There's a warning about graphic content at the beginning but you don't see anything gruesome. It's pretty extraordinary.

https://youtu.be/gVYYYm3BC8E?si=m2dqb3XN-UaPiWjt

[KillieRed]

Who would Bush have nuked?

Everyone I guess, but not Saudi Arabia.

[Rob Dylan]

Who would Bush have nuked?

Everyone I guess, but not Saudi Arabia.

Well at that time we didn't know who was responsible. Plus Bush had a reputation for being a bit dumb and gung-ho.

[jambutty]

Well at that time we didn't know who was responsible. Plus Bush had a reputation for being a bit dumb and gung-ho.

Iraq was Cheney's message to the Muslim world.