The world is watching

[superbatranger]

So, less than 30 minutes ago the last of the 33 trapped miners in Chile was rescued. I started watching it at my work when they had 7 of the men out. When we weren't taking calls, we were all glued to the TV as time and time again the capsule came out of the hole, bringing another miner to safety.

It made me think, "Right now, millions of people around the globe are watching the same thing I am. Everyone is hoping for the miners' safe return to their friends and family. The world is watching." Then, I started to think of other events that brought the world to their TV screens to witness something extraordinary, be it the fall of the Berlin Wall, the inauguration of Barack Obama, man walking on the moon.

So, what world-captivating events drew you to the TV?

Before I forget.. Mision cumplida, Chile. Los felicito por todo el trabajo duro para rescatar a los mineros. El mundo te dan sus gracias a todos quienes ayudaron.

 

[Varrdy]

So, less than 30 minutes ago the last of the 33 trapped miners in Chile was rescued. I started watching it at my work when they had 7 of the men out. When we weren't taking calls, we were all glued to the TV as time and time again the capsule came out of the hole, bringing another miner to safety.

I've been keeping a close eye on this too and watched the last three being rescued live. There was a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes as I watched the reunions between the miners and their family / loved ones.

Although the circumstances were not good, I am so glad to report that today a little bit of my faith in humanity was restored. People from all over Chile and, indeed, the world pitched in to get those men out and, in the Presidents own words, hang the cost!

Well done, guys...well-bloody-done!

Wardy

 

[Yoshisummons]

None yet, the death of a individual is tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic. I'm personally tired of the special treatment of a select few people in tragic experiences while there are far more out there in numbers not noticed or cared about; but fuck that the plight of only 33people are on the tv!

This message brought to you by: Thesis procrastination, we'll get it done, eventually.

 

[Talshere]

I think the remembrance service is generally quite highly watched in the UK every year, and its quite eerie really because we still (and I agree with) practice turning everything off for 2 mins. So you'll be in a supermarket, the tannoy will come on announcing the silence, then all the till will stop, all the shoppers will stop, all the ovens are turned off, all the staff stop stacking. Its....odd.


Personally I dont think Ive ever been around when something collosal like that you mentioned has happened. But off the top of my head:

The Twin Tower attack, live news
Live Aid
Various different declarations of peace
The boxing day Tsunami
New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
Iceland volcano eruption

 

[Marter]

Does the Olympics count as a "world captivating event"?

I'm going with it regardless.

 

[Yureina]

So, less than 30 minutes ago the last of the 33 trapped miners in Chile was rescued. I started watching it at my work when they had 7 of the men out. When we weren't taking calls, we were all glued to the TV as time and time again the capsule came out of the hole, bringing another miner to safety.

It made me think, "Right now, millions of people around the globe are watching the same thing I am. Everyone is hoping for the miners' safe return to their friends and family. The world is watching." Then, I started to think of other events that brought the world to their TV screens to witness something extraordinary, be it the fall of the Berlin Wall, the inauguration of Barack Obama, man walking on the moon.

So, what world-captivating events drew you to the TV?

Before I forget.. Mision cumplida, Chile. Los felicito por todo el trabajo duro para rescatar a los mineros. El mundo te dan sus gracias a todos quienes ayudaron.

I was one of the millions people on the National Mall to see that.

[sub]It was damn cold too![/sub]

 

[Dark Knifer]

The twin tower attacks probally, although that just made me annoyed since I was young and couldn't watch my favourite kids shows for a week because they wouldn't stop covering it...

 

[Jellly]

The twin tower attacks probally, although that just made me annoyed since I was young and couldn't watch my favourite kids shows for a week because they wouldn't stop covering it...

Exact same thing happended with me haha but it was really close to my birthday so I had a very boring day :/

 

[fulano]

9-11. Everything stopped that day, even over here in Mexico. And I was having a ball.

We, being who we are (mexicans), had already started making light of the situation (lots of jokes). There was an air of expectation everywhere for reasons my dumb ass couldn't understand. I remember thinking "Shit, this is crazy!" but that's really as far as I went. I was, of course, a dumbass as I didn't undertsand the huge ramifications of the whole thing.

Funnily enough, I remember reminiscing about that very thing yesterday when walking back home from a class, about how mexican society relates to tragedy, how we deal with that kind of stuff and how it could quickly become very off putting to someone else. That was going through my mind because as I was nearing home I saw the flashing lights of a police car and a small number of onlookers gathered around a convenience store, and though "Oh, shit..."

I asked a nearby guy, a cop, who was busy filing some forms about what was going on, and he nonchalantly told me that some car had bumped onto another. No big deal. Then he asked me "What? You thought someone got killed?" and then he laughed. And then I laughed too. And then I went home thinking at how normal the whole thing ought to be, considering that that's the kind of guy that gets beheaded these days (though to be fair, no cops have been beheaded for over two years over here, methinks).

Back home I thought about how odd the whole thing must be when people look at us from the outside due to how we perceive tragedies difefrently, which got me thinking again about 9-11 and what a horrible fucked up thing it was.

 

[SimuLord]

9/11, but only because I'd spent the entire previous night playing Madden, turned off the PS2 at 8:30 in the morning meaning to go to sleep, and was flipping channels for something suitably dull.

Well, there's not much duller than a morning show, and...

Yeah. I didn't sleep on 9/11. Too busy making sure that not only did I not know anyone personally but as few of my friends as possible did. Living in Boston at the time, where the WTC planes took off from, well...

Yeah. I'm still prone to occasional bouts of frothing racism when I see that footage, but I'm mostly better now.

 

[Luftwaffles]

9/11. Woke up in the middle of the night coz i heard telly was on. Was in time to see 2nd tower get crashed into.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

It's funny, because I actually didn't give a damn and paid the whole thing no heed whatsoever.

 

[SonicWaffle]

9/11. Woke up in the middle of the night coz i heard telly was on. Was in time to see 2nd tower get crashed into.

That happened at about the same time as I got home from school. My mum was watching it in the kitchen. I asked her what it was, and she said a terrorist attack on a building in America. My reaction was the shrug and say "Oh, alright then" and go off to find something interesting to do.

OT: Princess Diana's funeral, if only by accident. My family were visiting my grandfather that day, and by gods his house was boring. All there was to do was watch TV. Unfortunately for my sister and I, every channel was showing the funeral, so we ended up watching it despite being bored to tears.

Like the 9/11 example, I seem to have very apathetic reactions to major events. You know how they say that everyone remembers what they were doing when they heard Diana was dead? I was in bed. My sister ran in, shook me awake, and excitedly yelled "Princess Di's dead!". My reaction was to push her away, mutter "Fuck off, I don't care" and go back to sleep

 

[GrimTuesday]

So, less than 30 minutes ago the last of the 33 trapped miners in Chile was rescued. I started watching it at my work when they had 7 of the men out. When we weren't taking calls, we were all glued to the TV as time and time again the capsule came out of the hole, bringing another miner to safety.

It made me think, "Right now, millions of people around the globe are watching the same thing I am. Everyone is hoping for the miners' safe return to their friends and family. The world is watching." Then, I started to think of other events that brought the world to their TV screens to witness something extraordinary, be it the fall of the Berlin Wall, the inauguration of Barack Obama, man walking on the moon.

So, what world-captivating events drew you to the TV?

Before I forget.. Mision cumplida, Chile. Los felicito por todo el trabajo duro para rescatar a los mineros. El mundo te dan sus gracias a todos quienes ayudaron.

I was one of the millions people on the National Mall to see that.

[sub]It was damn cold too![/sub]

Nice. I know a few people who were there because they were in the Evergreen High School band and they were in the Parade. One of them is a hardcore conservative and he was pissed about being there.

EDIT: I remember being at my Great Grandmothers house and watching the Iraqi people tare down the statue of Saddam, that was pretty crazy.