How is 9/11 viewed internationally?

[GoldenFish]

I didn't even notice it was "9/11" today, I just thought it was a normal day like every year (yes including 2001). As a New Zealander I really don't care. As others have already said it's too hyped up and to be honest a little bit whiny.

 

[Sir Boss]

Australian, I was wishing we could all move past this about five years ago, yes, something happened, let's move on. Now when people talk about it I just find it annoying. I'm also somewhat against ANZAC day for similar reasons.

 

[AceTrilby]

In Scotland (and I suppose the UK as a whole), we're respectful. There are a lot of documentaries on the BBC about the events, but other than that we've moved on. Oslo is a far fresher wound for now, considering how close Scotland is geographically to Norway. Even fresher still are the London riots, and there were only around five casualties from that.

Having said that, the 2001 Clear Channel memorandum was ridiculous.

 

[Sonicron]

Actually, it's left a pretty big impact here in Germany. Just yesterday we got terror alerts, and several suspects from ongoing investigations were apparently arrested.

Personally, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when it happened, and I don't think I'll ever really forget. The shock and horror of it all, and the pervasive sense of dread that followed, that sticks with you; not all the time, mind you, but it's there nonetheless. I also lost a distant relative in the event (he was actually working in one of the towers), but I hardly knew him, so his death didn't affect me too badly.

On a completely unrelated note: Escapist, PLEASE employ a different kind of Captcha. It took me about 20 refreshes to actually get something I could decipher.

 

[Archaic Thought]

As an American, the day it happened was terrible. But the constant attention that usually starts a week before the 11th every year is a bit much. Every decade would be good, every year...not so much. It's kind of lost significance as a day of mourning, it's more of a day to make politicians look good with an endless amount of speeches.

 

[Craorach]

I spent my entire childhood having to be aware that, at any time, my town could be the target of a major attack by terrorists.. because I grew up during The Troubles in the UK.

When this happened to the US, I was sad, it truly was a terrible thing. However, it was ten years ago and the US' response was just as disgusting. The appropriate response to terrorism is to try to make the world a better place. You cannot fight terrorism and fundamentalism with guns and bombs, you must fight it with reason, tolerance and compromise.

Now, on the day of it, I was actually extremely concerned.. a friend of mine was meant to be in the building at the time... fortunately, it turned out she was okay, but her sister was not. I was as horrified as everyone else, and I believe it should be remembered. However, it is no longer about that one tragedy, it is not about an excuse for war, jingoistic hatred and "Us vrs Them" mentality that have turned it into an even greater tragedy than it ever was.

 

[Gabanuka]

NZ. Not cared about in the slightest. In fact[footnote]Though to be fair this is just from people I have spoken to about it.[/footnote] people find it distasteful that americans still go on and on about it like it was such a big thing. And the whole "They attacked us!" is disgusting.

Simple fact is this, unless you actually lost a family member in the attack then you really need to stfu about it and stop acting as if it had anything to do with you.

Oh and internationally its viewed 11/9. <.<

Not to sound like a douche but those are my views as well. I understand why you think its a big deal but for us it was a tragic event that people need to move on from.

 

[Aprilgold]

NZ. Not cared about in the slightest. In fact[footnote]Though to be fair this is just from people I have spoken to about it.[/footnote] people find it distasteful that americans still go on and on about it like it was such a big thing. And the whole "They attacked us!" is disgusting.

Simple fact is this, unless you actually lost a family member in the attack then you really need to stfu about it and stop acting as if it had anything to do with you.

Oh and internationally its viewed 11/9. <.<

Simple fact, if your god damn country had the same thing happen *lets say instead of America, it was your country* don't you think you would remember the day.

A great loss REMAINS a great loss, and remembrance should be taken on some scale.
Hell, that happened 10 years ago, thats still pretty recent, thus any mourning should keep mourning until the people that lived / people who remember watching it die off, then it will become something similar to the civil war, people remember it, but they take it to there is no mourning to be done, because all has been mourned.
In my opinion, people saying "OH ITS OBSESSIVE, GET OVER IT USA!" Is a different deal, and disrespectful in taste, remembering it once a year is not a bad thing, once a year is not obsessive, it would BE obsessive to have a remembrance page in every newspaper for every day. As pointed out up top, if your country had that happen, a symbol of your countries well being *Trade Center is a example* destroyed without provotion, and thousands of innocent people, just going to work, saw that symbol fall. I almost guarantee a similar thing would happen with your country, mourning would occur.

I am NOT saying that you should not care, but you SHOULD let people mourn as much as they want, saying GET OVER IT is rude and disrespectful for those who have died.

Most people here (Canada) say they remember what they were doing when they heard the news, so I guess people still care about it. I personally have no clue what I was doing at the time, because it wasn't a big deal to me at the time. I mean, I do feel bad for everyone who lost their lives/loved ones, absolutely... but it was 10 years ago, and thousands of people die every day for similar reasons (though smaller incidents).
If someone you knew died personally, then you have every right to make a big deal out of it each year. If not, then by now I think it should be put into the back of our minds. Pay your respects as you will of course, but there is no need to make a huge deal about it on the news and whatnot anymore.
9/11 matters because it was unexpected in that country, but worse things happen every day elsewhere that no one cares about. Not saying it's right, but it's true.

Theres a difference between thousands of people dying, all in different ways, at random, then there is a person plotting the death of thousands, the fall of a symbol to the people, and using planes, full of legal citizens, being rammed into the symbol and at a very political, important place, starting a war, LOSING many because of that war, then the original start being un-warned.
Simply being, YOU DON'T SEE FUCKING COUNTRIES SYMBOL OF PROSPERITY BEING KNOCKED OVER BY PASSENGER PLANES EVERY DAY, DO YOU!

Look, I'm american, and as such, I should at least care about that date in a small significance, but saying "GET OVER IT AMERICA, LOLZ!" Is just disrespectful in a large chunk of ways, you can care as much as you god damn please over seas *or others on this continent* but don't just say get over it, because I bet your country would be doing the same.
*10 years isn't a long time people, remember that.

EDIT: Forgot one thing, this remembrance will probably end now that the man that plotted it is dead. So anyone who doesn't give a shit won't have to hear it anymore. I'm sorry if I was a ass in my original post, but as far as I see, any country, even REMOTELY that cared about its people, would set a official date for mourning.
As I pointed out above, once all that have witnessed it are dead, then the date will become less and less about it, but until then, it will either cease, or continue quietly.
*doesn't mean people won't mourn, but it won't be quite as a huge mourning holiday.*

 

[The Almighty Grigard]

Well personally I celebrate the 11th September. Cake and party and everything.





Because it's my birthday.

Sweden.
Yes we do think it is horrible that so many died. But come on it has been 10 years now. Thousands die every day in every country in starvation and agony. It was a great sign that anything can happen on your home turf. But it really starts to come off as a "They hit us dey are de bad guyz". I'm sorry.

Look up the Rwandan Genocide. That faded into oblivion damn fast, at least over here. You have been going for 10 years. Try to stop making my birthday into a "Mourn for 'Merica" day.

 

[TheFederation]

it is still remembered alot here in england, but it isn't thought of as much as it is in america

 

[hawkeye52]

Down in Cyprus no one cares because America kind of helped cause a massive uprising against the Makarios government with the use of the Junta in Greece and CIA. This pretty much ended up with a load of ultranationalists going around killing Turkish Cypriots and vice versa to the point that when the uprising took place and overthrew our government it led to Turkey having to intervene in Cyprus and therefore causing a small scale war which Cyprus got roflstomped in and has led to the creation of an illegal state in north Cyprus and years of tension to this day since 1974.

On my British side no I don't really care because the above post sets out my general sentiment and feelings towards the US because of the pointless wars we have been dragged into and the fact that we joined them we got attacked ourselves in the 7/7 bombings in London and an attempted bombing in Scotland.

(which was almost comic by how bad it was. It was essentially a bunch of guys planning to ram a van into an airport with a bunch of explosives and setting them off. They tried crashing through the glass at the front with their van and didn't get through and the engine caught alight I think which resulted in the driver of the car being set alight as well and he ran out to put himself out and a nearby Scotsman just ran up to him and hit him in the face several times knocking him out. I think thats what happened anyway)

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

It was a terrible thing. I imagine people will still care for some time to come if you live in the USA. For example the Black and Tans were monsters and I know people who hate all British people because of them. Also the troubles wasn't just the IRA and while they did really bad things so did the UDA and UVF. The worst attack of the troubles was the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

 

[Rednog]

Just some food for thought about the US and 9/11....

 

[Pipotchi]

I can appreciate its impact on world events but on a personal level I couldnt care less.

More than 50,000 Libyans have been killed in NATO bombings in the last 6 weeks, Hundreds of Somalians are dying everyday in the famines? Why should I care about 3000 Americans who died 10 years ago when I dont have the energy to care about all the people dying today?

If you lost family or friends then I feel for you but I dont lose any sleep over it

 

[Rawne1980]

One thing I'd like to note, a lot of people seem to be saying that 'ya, people died, move on.' but I think thats missing the point. What made 9-11 such a big deal was not simply that people died, but the fact that an attack was made on a modern first-world country, resulting in thousands of deaths. It was a big reminder for many people that war and major attacks like this can happen at home, and not just in some distant 3rd-world country or something.

I take you back to my first post.

The IRA had been killing British citizens in terror attacks for many years while America supported them.

So you will have to forgive a lot of Brits that think "now you know how we feel".

A lot of people here are maybe too young to remember the bombings all over Britain resulting in death.

See it's a case of swings and roundabouts. Bad things happen in many countries and people don't seem to give a fuck but when it happened to America it was somehow different. Every year we get reminded and Americans bring it up constantly.

It's not that people don't care it happened it's that people cared THEN, 10 years later the world has moved on.

 

[hawkeye52]

snip

There has been a load of provocation though. The whole get out of the middle east thing for start which is the reason why they did it and by that I mean the way that America has funded and supported proxy wars against Russia with the Middle East being their back drop I.E. Israel.

Not only did Britain break its land lease agreement by giving the British bases to the Jewish people instead of the Palistinians under American pressure and its anti-colonialist habits. The Middle east then declared war on Israel which was right IMO since it was their land to begin with Israel was supported by the West and defended itself which again was also right since they hadn't really provoked the attack its just that they had their country set up in the wrong place. However what they did after was pure stupidity and proceeded to take and hold land and force unfair peace treaties with America's help and this continued on happening right until Palastine is now reduced to West Bank and Gaza Strip which are now the two most poor over populated areas of land on earth and are kept under regular sanctions for aid and relief by the Israelis.

Also the only war that Israel got into that America didn't originally know of was the Suez canal war and when America found out about it they did not approve and ordered an immediate withdrawal sort of showing that Israel was more of being used as a tool to place pressure on the Russians and Middle East then actually wanting to give them their own land which they could have done perfectly fine in the US or elsewhere since we have enough land its just that we wanted to put them in the most politically volatile area on earth for some reason.

 

[Rayken15]

Here in Britain, me and most people I know didn't give a flying duck. That hasn't changed in these 10 years.

 

[Aprilgold]

snip

There has been a load of provocation though. The whole get out of the middle east thing for start which is the reason why they did it and by that I mean the way that America has funded and supported proxy wars against Russia with the Middle East being their back drop I.E. Israel.

Not only did Britain break its land lease agreement by giving the British bases to the Jewish people instead of the Palistinians under American pressure and its anti-colonialist habits. The Middle east then declared war on Israel which was right IMO since it was their land to begin with Israel was supported by the West and defended itself which again was also right since they hadn't really provoked the attack its just that they had their country set up in the wrong place. However what they did after was pure stupidity and proceeded to take and hold land and force unfair peace treaties with America's help and this continued on happening right until Palastine is now reduced to West Bank and Gaza Strip which are now the two most poor over populated areas of land on earth and are kept under regular sanctions for aid and relief by the Israelis.

Also the only war that Israel got into that America didn't originally know of was the Suez canal war and when America found out about it they did not approve and ordered an immediate withdrawal sort of showing that Israel was more of being used as a tool to place pressure on the Russians and Middle East then actually wanting to give them their own land which they could have done perfectly fine in the US or elsewhere since we have enough land its just that we wanted to put them in the most politically volatile area on earth for some reason.

Thank you, changing.
SORRY, EXTENDING POST!
Anyways, didn't know that, and am very happied you told me.

 

[Smithburg]

I see a lot of people saying "get over it" but it's only been 10 years and it was a huge amount of people at the same time. The point is that it was an important location and it all happened at once. More people die from cancer and disease each year but we don't hear about it because it is spread out. We hear about 9/11 because it happened in one day and two major buildings that oversaw major parts of the country (and other countries) were destroyed. Granted even as an American I tend to get sick of hearing it because I didn't know anyone in it but that doesn't mean it is so much of a problem. Hell I heard about the anniversary of Princess Dianas death each year till her tenth anniversary in 2007 and it was only one woman in a car wreck, but it had importance to the British and it was a tragedy.

 

[EeveeElectro]

From what I've seen in the UK, a lot of people still get upset about it but probably not to the extent Americans do. I've seen a few people post about it on Facebook...I personally never have because as sad as it made me feel, I didn't lose anyone that day so I wouldn't feel right acting like a victim.
I'm guessing the news will mention it, but I don't watch TV anymore so I don't know.