On Demand
Follow-Up Friday: Why Commemorate 9/11?
Friday, September 14, 2007
We ask our listeners to call in and tell us how or if they mark the 9/11 anniversary 6 years later. And Glenn Corbett, professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, joins us to respond to listener questions rasied during our special 9/11 coverage this week.
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On 9-11 I was far from the WTC howver I saw the second plane hit the south tower and didn't know well anyone killed. So I've felt far removed from the whole experience.
I think it's wrong to ramp down the memorials for 9-11. In fact I think they should be expanded and there should be a national day of observance.
It should be a national day off to remember what happened.
I'm mean look we get Columbus day off why not shouldn't we be off for 9-11.
Not a day to go to the beach but to give pause for what happened.
Also it was not a tragedy it was an attack. People are confusing the two and there is a very distinct difference.
In previous years I was very sad on the anniversary of 9/11. Sad for the loss of lives, the families affected, and the sense that life for most New Yorkers will never be the same.
This year however, the overwhelming feeling I had was anger - I found myself very very mad that the person responsible for these attacks (Bin Laden) is alive and well, and for all we know having a better life than most 9/11 survivors. I am mad at President Bush for not doing more to capture Bin Laden. I am mad at our administration for not targeting Bin Laden specifically. And with what is going on now with our military in Iraq, one wonders if Bin Laden will forever get to keep his "get out of jail free card" that we seemed to have given him
I breifly thought of my friend (a fireman) who died that day in the towers. But I mostly did not want to get into the whole remembrance thing. To me it has now become too expected and choreographed and ungenuine and an official media event. Im sickened by that and by the use of it in politics. I have 9/11 fatigue.
For god sakes, The fire just weakens the metal it does't need to liquefy it. The weight does the rest. Truthers are ridiculous.
why did building 7 fall? 7 was detonated, they said it was. what happened to building 7? they said the structure was poor in 7, bring it down.
Would an airliner of the type supposedly headed for Washington DC, have been able to penetrate the dome of the Capitol Building considerign that it is made of iron ribs? My unqualified position is that it might have hit it and just 'dribbled' down the side.
What I realized this year in conversation with my friend (both of us were living downtown then), was that the over politicization of 9/11 has made it impossible for me, and other friends of mine who lived through it to process the true beauty that we saw.
When I walked out of downtown that morning, in the midst of the worst tragedy I have ever experienced, everyone was equal. People who needed help and support were getting it from strangers, I was handed a dust mask and water as I walked. When I realized hours later that I was hungry, I wasn't charged for the pizza I got.
The tragedy of 9/11 made us, as humans collectively living through tragedy, equal.
This is not a memory we are allowed to live, because the date has been used to justify two wars, and a domestic policy that has changed the cultural and political landscape. The patriotic outbreak of the aftermath covered something that was really human in red white and blue. And that is a tragedy in and of itself.
we should get rid of labor day and on the 2nd Monday in September we should remember all who have died to make the world safe for American capitalism.
That's interesting because the millenium hotel, deutsche bank building AND wtc 5 and 6 are closer and didn't collapse..
I as working in a building on Crosby Street and could see the destruction of the towers quite clearly. Now I work in Greenwich CT and I was originally against the reading of the names, but I listened to some of it this year and I felt like I was in church. It did not have anything to do with mass sentimentality. It invoked my memories of a solemn Good Friday Mass.
Dull ache and frustration. I had moments when that day came back very sharply, and I felt angry that so many of the issues posed on that day are still so grossly unresolved. I was angry at the "move on and get on with it" crowd-- we have no memorial, we have no consensus on the right response, we have cut off our civil liberties to spite our faces, and we have enabled an insane war against the wrong people. We've done everything wrong, and worse, squandered the world's compassion and good will. No wonder we still feel bad.
I appreciated the 6 moments of silence on Brian's show. But my mind was on a local issue. The afternoon before 9/11, in the Flatbush area, I saw a young man shot in the head by another young man in the midst of children and families on the street. Earlier in the day I had accompanied a family to a school meeting, because their young son is being recruited by gangs and is having trouble in school. Have we given up on these young people, and on our community here? Let's hope not.
In response to Gloria's comment - What happenend on 9/11 cannot be compared to the death of Bill Cosby's son's death. Every unnecessary death is tragic, but what happened on 9/11 is something that shouldn't be forgotten!
A day celebrating American capitalism????
9/11 can at least be used to remember those who died, that's it.
Try reading a book, or even an issue of Foreign Affairs:
American capitalism caused 9/11.
Yeesh!
Barry it's not about being a truther, just look at
the evidence....
WTC number 7 was the emergency command center for New York, the basement had enough fuel to power the center for a week.
When you have a huge fire burning near a huge explosive fuel source you get explosions. It took hours for that building to collapse, probably because it took hours for the fire to spread to building 7 in such a way as to ignite the fuel source.
I'm 26 now.This is my direct response this 9/11/2007. Thank you Brian!
Even if you are not from New York you have a clue
Why us Americans are so sad and blue.
I saw it wth my own 2 eyes:
Visions of evil on the rise.
When i was on my way to work that fateful morning.
Didnt know it would turn to mourning
Of lifes that where gone in mere minutes.
God, I knew people who were there in it!
I was safe on my train
Couldn't process it in my brain.
It was a sight to see
The 2 towers burning in front of me.
Only days ago they were standing so tall.
Decades of pride, for new yorkers one & all.
So many innocent lost their lives.
Children, friends, lovers, husbands and wives.
My heart feels heavy on this day.
Saddness so deep theres not much to say.
Thats why we have to be brave:
To set an example, to respect those in their grave.
The world is watching us so lets do things right.
Dont let our pride and arrogance control us tonight.
Let us hope and pray
Tomorrows too late: how about today?
9/11/07 ~ Crystal Hayward
For me, it is important for us as a country to remember 9/11 not as much because of those who died (that IS important but, as others have said, no more important than acknowledging people who have died in other ways), but because of the way we came together as a nation on that day. It saddens me to see people returning so soon to divisiveness and indifference. I had hoped we would not forget how much we have in common and how much we can do to comfort and help each other when we are willing to make the effort. Just six years, and we are already bickering over petty things like whether reading the names is an annoyance. Incredible.
The 9-11 celebrations/commemorations are 100% politicized shows to designed to justify/amplify Bush war policies.
It's good for the military industrial petrochemical financial complex to have us be as hysterical as humanly possible over these attacks.
So far they have profited to the tune of at least a trillion dollars by milking this event.
Meanwhile, American dead and wounded in Iraq are virtually made invisible by the same PR machine. There was one picture of coffins on a plane that was leaked a few years ago, and that's it.
Folks, we're being manipulated by interests that don't give a damn about anything other than their power an profits!
@Lori, who cares about problems in america, lets spend all our money on blowing up iraq! humanity wont change until there is a mass awakening. have fun while you wait, its like the wild west out there.
I am now listening to the callers and I also believe that 9/11 should be made a national day of remembrance. I found myself extremely emotional this year, 6 years later. Perhaps b/c 9/11 was for the first time on a Tuesday. I was actually pleased that the weather was bad b/c I thought that would make it worse. I am a New Yorker who currently lives in Belgium and hadn't really thought about 9/11 it until the day before, when I heard and read about the various programs that were being planned. I watched the ceremony via live feed from CNN on my computer. I believe that this day must be remembered and marked. Some of the comments show how many people have 'forgotten' about this horrific attack on our nation and the sensless murder of so many innocent victims. We celebrate Memorial Day and Veterans Day every year, among other holidays remembering citizens who have given their lives for their country and I believe 9/11 should be remembered with the same respect.
I witnessed a moment on 9/11/2007 that left with me with very bitter feelings. I was taking the LIRR home that night, and in my car were people who were coming home from the 9/11 memorial.
Someone did not have a ticket, and the conductor charged him for it. The response to this was extremely belligerent. A man started screaming at the conductor, yelling "Happy f**k**g 9/11!" over and over again, then chewing out the conductor for charging someone on such a day. He screamed as the conductor quickly walked away, saying "How can you sleep at night?" with many obscenities to follow.
I was absolutely steamed at this passenger. How dare he use 9/11 as a bargaining chip for a free train ticket? I couldn't believe that someone would exploit such a tragedy, 6 years later, and with such vulgar language. I'm sure there were people in that car who were personally affected by the tragedy. The last thing they need to hear is this man's temper tantrum.
It was this particular moment that encapsulates my frustration with the memorials and pomp and circumstance 6 years later. It somehow allows that man on the train to feel that he is justified to treat another person, who was just simply doing his job, in such a disrespectful manner. It allows people to exploit tragedy.
i lost many dear coworkers that day. i still think about them all the time. i think the reason that many people are still feeling so much sorrow and rage, besides the inherent enormity of the event, is that the country's leadership, with very few exceptions, hijacked 9/11 for their own corrupt and criminal agenda.
for example, about that last guy who said that the one plane that missed should have been the one that hit its target -- i really understand where he's coming from, i feel that way too sometimes. but it's important to remember that if that plane had hit the capitol, many innocent first responders and other "powerless" people would have died alongside the warmongering pigs who are pretending to govern.
i think to keep from becoming pigs ourselves it's important to stay on higher ground -- and for inspiration i can't think of anything more beautiful and powerful than the response of the amish community after all those poor girls were murdered at their school last october; one amish neighbor even gave comfort and forgiveness to the murderer's family a few hours after the tragedy.
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