How is 9/11 viewed internationally?

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jumjalalabash

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Jan 25, 2010
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As an American I got over it by about 4pm same day. Mainly because I was in middle school and EVERYONE around me thought they were gonna die for 8 hours.
 

thevillageidiot13

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Sep 9, 2009
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Aizsaule said:
The "war on terror" hurt America 10 times more than terrorism ever will
As an American myself, I share your sentiment towards the 9/11 attacks. It was a horrible thing that happened, but the "War on Terror" reaction that the U.S. had was handled very poorly.

At first, I viewed the War on Terror as a righteous act of justice against attackers, but after a flurry of missteps and questionable decisions (i.e.: the decision to invade Iraq, the Patriot Act, the anti-Islam sentiment that has emerged throughout America, the torture tactics at Abu Ghraib) has shown me that it's become more about zealotry and bloodlust than an actual fervor for justice.

I firmly believe that the way we've treated the international community (especially the Middle Eastern nations and the Islamic community) in the wake of the 9/11 attacks is despicable. How can individuals in the Middle East *not* hate America and become terrorists after we've treated them like this? With how we've alienated them, we've probably inspired more terrorists than we've killed.

TLDR: It's downright depressing that we've tarnished the memories of innocent lives by mishandling the War on Terror that is waged in their name.
 

Firetaffer

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May 9, 2010
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I haven't heard anything about 9/11 (I guess that would be 11/9 in most countries) in the past week except from the internet. So it's not significant at all in New Zealand.
 

andrat

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Jan 14, 2009
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Canada.
Most people I know are indifferent to it, but there's the occasional person that makes a big deal over the whole thing.
 

Olrod

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Feb 11, 2010
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It's just another disaster like Hurricane Katrina, except it's got the equivalent of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_white_woman_syndrome
 

GeneWard

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Feb 23, 2011
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I feel for the innocents who died, but my anger is with the perpetrators of the Gulf Wars and the "War of terror." It was not unprovoked. The American government (whom I can say with extreme prejudice are aggressors and incompetents) played with fire, and the people suffered as a result, but the government prefer to think of it as though the September 11th attacks came out of the blue, but you fuck with another country so you can be in excess of plastic and gasoline for the next 20 years with no concern whatsoever for the people of said country, who have the same rights as any American. No, the government did not commit the attacks, but they are every bit as responsible for them as the terrorists.
 

Trivea

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Jan 27, 2011
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Cheshire the Cat said:
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.
So, by your logic, anyone who didn't lose a family member in the Holocaust shouldn't care about that, either.
 

SillyBear

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May 10, 2011
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Last time I checked, the people who died in those towers and airplanes around the east coast had nothing to do with the middle east.

I know it makes you sound edgy comparing the death tolls between 9/11 and civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, but you're being disingenuous.

The people who perished had nothing to do with US foreign policy. Be considerate. When we mourn those who died in 9/11 who aren't saying they are more important than those who died overseas, nor are we being disrespectful to those who died over seas. We are simply acknowledging the fact that innocent lives were lost.
 

Fudd

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Nov 9, 2010
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If Americans want something to remember, why not remember how on this day in 1973 they helped overthrow a democratically elected leader in favor of a brutal military dictatorship in Chile? Or better yet, why not how in a month from now in 1965 they aided and gave international legitimacy to the slaughter of over 500,000 Indonesians who were involved in or were suspected of being involved in the Indonesian Communist Party and supported the rise of a brutal 30-year military dictatorship?

Perhaps instead of taking a day for reflecting on the hurt done to ourselves, we in the West should use the day to reflect on the hurt we have done to others. I've empathy for those who dig their own graves, and I am more than willing to help people rise from them, but sympathy is hard to come by in a world full of American atrocities.
 

ninetails593

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Nov 18, 2009
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If you ever post anything on the internet, you'll get a dozen people arguing against it. That being said, 9/11 threads are great places where people's stupidity leaks out.
 

Estelindis

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Jan 25, 2008
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I remember watching the second plane hit on TV. It was a terrible day that I will never forget.

This year, I visited two friends of mine who had emigrated to live and work in New York. I went to the Twin Towers memorial. I already knew that the attacks had robbed thousands of people of their loved ones and caused untold pain. What I didn't know about was the courage and hope that showed forth in the people of New York on that day and in the days that followed. Fire-fighters going in again and again to save as many as they could. Running up and down forty floors for as long as it took to help the wounded, until they lost their own lives in the towers' collapse. People bringing food and medical aid to the attack site, some of them driving thousands of miles across America to be there. People working for months to unearth bodies from the rubble and identify them to bring closure to loved ones and allow decent burial. People refusing to be broken by the attack, affirming that New York would be stronger than ever before. I was in tears nearly the whole time I was in that memorial. I'm in tears now, remembering. At first, the tears were sorrowful, but by the time I was even half way through they were tears of awe at the sacrifice and bravery of the people of New York, of America. They did not let themselves be defeated by evil. They proved themselves greater than that.
 

LikeDustInTheWind

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Mar 29, 2010
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Kodachi said:
Canada... on a personal level, we're respectful and sympathetic as we often have relatives that were directly affected but in the grand scheme of things, we really don't care/observe anything. It's your thing and we respect your history but it had nothing to do with us.
For me its this in a slightly less respectful tone.

Mimsofthedawg said:
Should the US have stayed out of World War II because it would have caused millions more to die? or was the sacrifice of those millions what saved entire races of people and most of the world being dominated by an evil, oppressive force?
You realize the U.S didn't single handedly end WW2 right? And it's most likely that that the Allied forces would have beaten the Axis without your help anyway. You didn't save races and the world, get over yourself.

I don't mean for this to be offensive but it irks me when Americans get overly nationalist.
 

Lilani

Sometimes known as CaitieLou
May 27, 2009
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Kodachi said:
Canada... on a personal level, we're respectful and sympathetic as we often have relatives that were directly affected but in the grand scheme of things, we really don't care/observe anything. It's your thing and we respect your history but it had nothing to do with us.
Yeah, but that's Canada. If you guys weren't respectful and sympathetic, we'd think something was wrong with you ;-P
 

BlumiereBleck

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Dec 11, 2008
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Seems a lot of angry brits can't even say it right. 9/11. Thats how it is folks...learn to accept cultural differences.
 

Compatriot Block

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Jan 28, 2009
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So if I say I don't care about it at all, does that make me cooler?

Because a lot of this thread is "3000+ people died, and I don't give a shit."
 

Evilbunny

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Feb 23, 2008
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I live in the New York area and a friend of mine lost his father in the 9/11 attacks, so maybe it's because I have a personal stake in it, but I find the majority of comments in this thread to be extremely disrespectful and borderline sociopathic. Seriously, the terrorist attack in Norway involved nobody I knew and was in a far away country but I still felt sad when it happened and will mourn for the dead on its anniversary. Goddamn it people show some freaking respect for the dead.
 

ShadowsofHope

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Nov 1, 2009
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Skullkid4187 said:
Seems a lot of angry brits can't even say it right. 9/11. Thats how it is folks...learn to accept cultural differences.
I think it should be well obvious at this point how ironic such a statement is. American cultural linguistics come first when talking about the international community, after all. /sarcasm
 

BlumiereBleck

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Dec 11, 2008
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ShadowsofHope said:
Skullkid4187 said:
Seems a lot of angry brits can't even say it right. 9/11. Thats how it is folks...learn to accept cultural differences.
I think it should be well obvious at this point how ironic such a statement is. American cultural linguistics come first when talking about the international community, after all. /sarcasm
You saw what I did there...
 

Fortesque

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Jan 16, 2009
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As Australian, im kinda over it. Im sick of being bombarded with shows and crap about it in September.

All I remember from the day it happened, was being pissed off because Cheese TV wasnt on and I couldnt watch Dragon Ball Z before I went to school. I watched some thing about 9/11 last year, and I found it really hard to watch... this year however, I just dont care.
 

Fudd

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Nov 9, 2010
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Evilbunny said:
I live in the New York area and a friend of mine lost his father in the 9/11 attacks, so maybe it's because I have a personal stake in it, but I find the majority of comments in this thread to be extremely disrespectful and borderline sociopathic. Seriously, the terrorist attack in Norway involved nobody I knew and was in a far away country but I still felt sad when it happened and will mourn for the dead on its anniversary. Goddamn it people show some freaking respect for the dead.
I am sorry for your friend's loss, and yours. At the same time I wonder if Americans are even capable of understanding and apologizing for the losses their county has caused to others. How many even know? Do any even remember the hundreds of thousands dead by your influence in Indonesia, in the Congo, in Chile? Are these things even taught in schools?

I suppose the frustration is this. You have a voice for your loss. You have the capacity to mourn it on a global scale and you do. Yet you do not remember the loss you have caused, and indeed there are few places outside the internet where these losses can even be acknowledged or remembered. You have your outlet. Let the world that lacks access to that outlet use the one it has for there are many losses to be remembered on this day. It is not yours alone.