Are you boycotting the Sept. 11th TV coverage?

[Mark Bussman]

After seeing it mentioned on the IRC channel and after reading the Best Buy "rememberance" thread, I thought I'd post the question.

I don't mean not watching the regular news that will of course talk about it. I'm referring to all the additional stuff.

[Shady Sanchez]

I'm not boycotting it, but I'm also kind of avoiding it all the same because it makes me sad. I also don't have a tv so I can't really watch it anyway, and I'm going to be too busy playing Mafia/BF1942/Legion. And I gotta give the company some of my time too.

[Tyjenks]

I do not feel like wading through the avalanche to get to the 2% of the coverage that is actually genuine. I do not need to see what celebreties were/ are thinking. I do not need newscasters looking somber all day long. I prefer not to listen to any of it today. I have seen specials on HBO, A&E, the History channel, et.al. throughout the past year and probably will into the next. The glut today is too much and, frankly, irritating.

[Troy S Goodfellow]

Yep. I'm boycotting it. I'm intentionally avoiding it. The Washington Post is full of remembrance stuff, I got a "Special New York Times" today and the Newshour has been running 9/11 features for two weeks now. Call me cold-hearted and unpatriotic, but I think I'm full.

I heard something last week (either from David Brooks or Moby - I forget) that really struck home. We are honoring a single day when the real thing to remember is the national response in the days afterward. 9/11 seems like only yesterday in DC because the local news has been all over the terrorist threat. Still, it also seems like years ago because the country has only half finished a war in Central Asia and the West Nile virus has become this summer's shark attacks. And Kelly Clarkson is singing at the Lincoln Memorial.

So I'll wait for the new TV season and enjoy college football.

Troy

[Alan Au]

I'm not going to bother; it would just cut into my Icewind Dale 2 playing time.

- Alan

[Anonymous]

We are honoring a single day when the real thing to remember is the national response in the days afterward.

um, that doesn't seem right. I thought we were remembering all those people who died, not patting ourselves on the back for how well we took it.

[AIM]

I'm avoiding it...

To tell the truth... I DON'T CARE!! Yes, it was a horrible event but the world can be cruel and evil.

I DON'T CARE!!!!

Oh.. I wish Bush would get off the God kick... cause let's be real.. God doesn't exist! We are an advanced soociety but yet we put all our hopes in an imaginary figure. What's next? I guess we'll worship the easter bunny :oops:

Your born->You live->You black out->and you die :shock:

Is that to hard to understand?

[Met_K]

I'm ignoring all of America today. Bunch of fuckers. This country is being run into the ground by a group of corrupt politicians and the dumb-fuck people of America are allowing it.

I'd say 'to hell with this country,' but I'd be afraid that Bush's Secret Police Force Ultra-Super Commando-l337's would come and arrest me. Oh, wait, shit.

Edit: Since I can't say to hell with this country, I'll say to hell with New York. I'm tired of their greedy, me me me attitude. Fuck 'em. The act's getting old. Life moves on. Big deal.

[Jason McCullough]

People watch television news? People watch television?

- Uppity man

[Met_K]

People watch television news? People watch television?

- Uppity man

Hey! Your post count is 420. You the man.

[Jason McCullough]

Ouch. Fixed.

[Sean Tudor]

We have had wall-to-wall coverage of the 9/11 events this week. I am not going to form an opinion one way or the other since I am an Australian and I think it is bad form to comment on this particular incident.

Suffice to say the 9/11 terrorist act is still as shocking to me today as it was 12 months ago when I woke up and watched the TV on the morning of the 12th Sept 2001.

[Aszurom]

No Sean, go right ahead. Personally I'd LIKE to see the international take on this. I mean, if this had happened in Aus, then Americans would be pretty passe on the whole affair... "Oh, yeah, that kinda sucked. What pisses me off is that they're pre-empting the baseball game to show reruns of that jet crashing into Melbourne again..." or something like that. Basically, if it doesn't happen here then the collective herd of American sheep don't really have an attention span for it. Of course, we don't have much attention span for our own country's actions on foreign soil either - hence 99% of the populace can't tell you why we were even IN Somalia or Bosnia back when, let alone connect the dots to the events of last year.

However, since it happened here in the USA, the whole world is shocked. Well, we sit and watch the news every night and not a day goes by without mention of "x number of people killed in county x, when suicide bomber..." and all we've really got to say about THAT terrorism is "boy, glad that doesn't happen here." One day it did, on a grand scale, and we act like we're the only people with something to worry about. If the British or the Jews commemorated every terrorist attack with a moment of silence, they'd be mute nations.

Not saying that I'm not properly respectful of the lives that were lost - just that I think it's a bit typical of the self-centered stereotype that America has earned itself. But hey, we're a superpower and the most imporant country in the world... and if you don't like it, we've got a couple of aircraft carriers that will discuss your improper attitude with you.

Here... Google is your friend in the war against terror...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1550366.stm

[Derek Smart [3000AD]]

ahahahaha!!!

http://www.3000ad.com/images/911-quote.jpg

[Anonymous]

Hm. Since our government financed Al Queda in the past, I guess he's referring to some sort of Japanese suicide ritual.

[Jason McCullough]

Heh heh.

[Sean Tudor]

No Sean, go right ahead. Personally I'd LIKE to see the international take on this. I mean, if this had happened in Aus, then Americans would be pretty passe on the whole affair...

I have only watched a one hour news special on the whole 9/11 incident this week and I have avoided watching the 2-3-4 hour 9/11 specials. There are only so many times I can stomach watching the disaster.

What has surprised me is that our media made a point that they wanted to take a low-key approach to the anniversary coverage and now it seems that all the local TV stations have been staging a massive war of oneupmanship and trying to out-do each other with the amount of coverage they can fit into 24 hours.

It does become a bit too much and tends to de-sensitize the viewer to the real human tragedy that is Sept 11.

I also find it rather obvious (from a foreigners viewpoint) that the American government is programming the US population for a war. You can see this in the sudden evidence of nuclear capability in Iraq and the last minute threat to the US government and its embassies.

Of course the US should and must be vigilant during this week but I can say that America will definitely be at war and fighting on the ground in Baghdad within the next four months regardless of the United Nations windbag comments. All the indicators are there.

Our own Prime Minister and his ministers have been following the same rhetoric here in Australia as it appears our armed forces will be one of the few allies America can count on when they attack Iraq.

Cheers,
Sean.

[Toddy]

However, since it happened here in the USA, the whole world is shocked.

The whole world was shocked not because it happened in the USA--though it helped, because the USA is media central--but because it involved the citizens of 83 countries. It's yet another American myth that this was an American tragedy, and even the people that criticize the US response to September 11 don't seem to get that.

[Anonymous]

Not to nitpick but since it was on our land and we lost about 200 times as many people as the next closest runner up I don't think it's too far gone to think it's primiraly an american tragedy.

Also yes I"m staying well away from the coverage today I'm quite aware of the depth of the tragedy and I don't need to hear somber looking anchor persons droning on about it all day.

[Bub, Andrew]

Jeez, three airliners crash within 3 hours of each other in a coordinated effort and two monuments go down, while one gets dented badly. That would have been news even if it happened in Malaysia... or Canada. Terrorists have never accomplished anything half so bold and honest to god military attacks from sovereign nations have rarely been so frighteningly successful, or tragic.


It's yet another American myth that this was an American tragedy

What myth? I've been hearing about dead foreigners all day. Their names were read aloud too. "American myth" forchirsakes.

EDIT: duh, four planes. Been a long day.

[mtkafka]

What matters is that people actually do give a damn about it. Yeah some of the coverage is overly maudlin, but what else do you expect when around 3000 people die in a senseless meaningless stupid act. So people try to find some meaning. At least people want to feel some sympathy and actually take care to provide rememberance ... whats wrong with them trying?

I guess some people just want to avoid the reality of it and dont give a shit while others want to experience the remorse to get meaning out of it.

etc

[Met_K]

What matters is that people actually do give a damn about it. Yeah some of the coverage is overly maudlin, but what else do you expect when around 3000 people die in a senseless meaningless stupid act. So people try to find some meaning. At least people want to feel some sympathy and actually take care to provide rememberance ... whats wrong with them trying?

I guess some people just want to avoid the reality of it and dont give a shit while others want to experience the remorse to get meaning out of it.

etc

No, I want to avoid the overexposude, biased, ratings-inducing Happy Go Lucky news that's being produced because of it. Not reality. Reality's fine. The New Yorkers who won't let go of it aren't living in reality. The people who say that it was New York's tragedy aren't living in reality. The people who ignore those who use this as an attempt to put their own agenda forward aren't living in reality.

Life fucking sucks. People die. Bad people manipulate bad things. But you know what? Life moves on.

[Bub, Andrew]

The New Yorkers who won't let go of it aren't living in reality. The people who say that it was New York's tragedy aren't living in reality.

I don't know man. My fucking skyline is intact. Dallas' is lucky that way too. Everyone I know is still alive. 300 Milwaukee firemen didn't die trying to save 3000 Milwaukee business people. My hometown wasn't hit by two airliners.

New York can mourn however long it needs to.

[mtkafka]

"Life fucking sucks. People die. Bad people manipulate bad things. But you know what? Life moves on."

I guess your life must suck that you have to whine about 9/11 coverage and some Bush conspiracy... whatever, go ahead.

etc

[Met_K]

"Life fucking sucks. People die. Bad people manipulate bad things. But you know what? Life moves on."

I guess your life must suck that you have to whine about 9/11 coverage and some Bush conspiracy... whatever, go ahead.

etc

Don't make the mistake of saying I'm whining. Whining is perpetually going on and on and on about something. What SiNNER does is whine. What the bitch cunt on welfare who snorts coke, has crack-babies, and lives off my money does is whine.

I'm carrying on a conversation.

[Murph]

The people who say that it was New York's tragedy aren't living in reality.

I do agree with this, simply because I think it was a tragedy for all of us. Granted, some of us were affected more deeply than others. I didn't know anyone involved in the accident itself, but my wife works for one of the airlines that lost two planes that day, and was grounded for 11 days thereafter. Her paycheck has been directly affected. We know people who were laid off because of it. Does that compare to the people who lost friends? No. But it still affected us. It affected every single American. And everyone deserves to mourn in his or her own way.

But lives do have to go on. And I think reliving the event via television coverage all day long is a sucky way to "remember" the event. Light a candle, or make a contribution to the American Way. But this TV coverage was ridiculous.

And, yes, we kept the TV off all day.

[Met_K]

I don't know man. My fucking skyline is intact. Dallas' is lucky that way too. Everyone I know is still alive. 300 Milwaukee firemen didn't die trying to save 3000 Milwaukee business people. My hometown wasn't hit by two airliners.

New York can mourn however long it needs to.

You know, Bub, this brings up something interesting. Yes, Dallas skyline is intact. Yes, so is Milwaukee's. 300 firemen didn't die trying to save 3000 businessmen in either of our cities. My hometown wasn't hit by two airliners.

But everyone I know isn't still alive. A while back, my best friend's uncle killed himself. He hung himself. In the garage. His wife came home from staying over at her sister's to find him there. My uncle is his best friend. My family is basically intertwined with them, we've all known each other for years.

This is the guy who helped my pick out my first guitar to buy years ago. He gave me my first amp. Showed me my first handful of chords to play. Always invited me over to listen to his band play. Always lended a helping hand. Told me who to goto when my guitar broke. He was the man.

And he up and killed himself. I was shocked. But you know what? It's not my pain I care about, it's his wife's. They were soulmates from the very beginning. Best friends, husband and wife, and soulmates. They haven't spent any amount of time apart since high school. They had the perfect life going to everyone who looked in from the outside. But he went and killed himself.

And his wife planned the funeral. From top to bottom. She's being extremely strong throughout all of this. I'm hoping she'll be alright, I'm sure she will be. She's smart, strong, spiritual. And most of all, she's got enough common sense not to dwell on what happened. If she were to dwell on this, and why, and how, she would end up killing herself. Or dying of no less than heartbreak. So in a year down the road from when it happened, she'll cry. She'll need hugs. She'll want to sing, but because she did that so much with her husband, she probably'll never be able to again.

And you'd like to tell me that New York has a right to mourn? Like hell. Like fucking hell. Shit happens. Life moves on. A year down the road, she will not be raising a glass in toast to him. We'll all have raised our glasses every day for him. We'll remember him because there was so much good we couldn't forget. We won't wait until the exact day to mourn and pay tribute.

So, you know what? Fuck New York. Fuck all the tributes to it. Fuck all the mourners and the dwelling little bastards who think that the world ended that day. Life moves on. Get with it or jump off the ship and drown.

People survived Hiroshima, people survived Pearl Harbor, people survive death everyday, people survive suicide, people survive the many horrors of death, and most of all, these fucking little pricks will survive New York.

So fuck them. Fuck them all. I'll raise my glass to those on the flight in Penn and D.C., and to those who died on the planes and in the buildings in New York. I'll even raise my glass to those still alive in D.C. and to those who had relatives on the planes.

But to fucking hell if I'll ever raise my glass of sympathy to those who lost someone in New York. More specifically, the World Trade Centers. Your boat's sailed. Get over it. Life. Moves. On.

[Sean Tudor]

Life fucking sucks. People die. Bad people manipulate bad things. But you know what? Life moves on.

Heck I am not even an American and I find that to be a rather callous statement. Let's not belittle this terrorist incident for the sake of this thread.

Changing subject - yes this was truly an international disaster. Ten Australians died in the incident - two on the aircraft and eight in the towers.

There is no closure (god I hate that word) for any of the families who lost people in this. They will live with this for the rest of their lives.

[Murph]

The part of this conversation I don't get is this: Can you not "get on with your life" and still mourn your loss? I'm sure someone that lost their loved ones -- husbands and wives -- will deal with it and mourn every day for a long time. But I also think that they can continue to live their lives is a semi-normal way at the same time.

Regardless, I wish the media would back way off. I don't think it's necessary to have "a day to remember" on the one-year anniversary, because, bottom line, I don't think anyone's forgotten.

[Met_K]

Heck I am not even an American and I find that to be a rather callous statement. Let's not belittle this terrorist incident for the sake of this thread.

If you think I'm belittling this 'incident', you're wrong. The people who are using it as attention-hounds are the ones belittling it. The ones using it as a way to grab power are belittling it. The ones who are using it for ratings are belittling it.

That's what I'm tired of and angry at.

[Brad Grenz]

Yeah, the World Trade Center was by definition an international target. The final tally shows people from like 80 nations died in the attack. I'll say this, what very little 9/11 coverage I saw today was of a memorial outside the American embassy in London England. Not the big ceremony at the cathedral, this was a smaller event where a NYC police officer delivered a Union Jack discovered in the rubble of ground zero to a representative of the British government. I thought It was quite tasteful and restrained. The gentleman from the British government gave a short speech where he quoted FDR (whose statue they were standing in front of). Great Britain lost the most citizens, after the United States, in the attack.

But I couldn't stand to watch much, and I had to work today. One thing that bothered me was all the god damn screen clutter, the crawls and logos, on the 24 hour news networks. The tasteful thing would have been to get rid of that obscene crap for one day...

[Sean Tudor]

Regardless, I wish the media would back way off. I don't think it's necessary to have "a day to remember" on the one-year anniversary, because, bottom line, I don't think anyone's forgotten.

Agreed. The media is having a feeding frenzy at this time. Not good. That's why I am not watching any television at this time.

[Dirt]

Whether or not 9/11 can be considered the biggest terrorist act is, to me, questionable. It depends on definition (as always). Back in the early 1900's when Japan and China were fighting, Japan took control of Nanking; the city had surrendered to the Japanese army. Of the approximately 1,000,000 residents of Nanking, approximately 500,000 people fled from the city. Of the 500,000 that were left, approximately 250,000 people were under the protection of a Nazi officer (I believe he was a religious man) within the city's center, he kept them from harm. Leaving 250,000 people under the rule of the Japanese. During the 3-5 months that the Japanese controlled Nanking, the Japanese soldiers had contests to see how many civilian women they could rape, how many civilian men they could shoot, and yes, how many civilian children they could murder all in one day. There were more Chinese lives lost in the 3-5 months than American soldiers who died during the USA's involvement in WWII. That, was a tragedy.

[Met_K]

Whether or not 9/11 can be considered the biggest terrorist act is, to me, questionable. It depends on definition (as always). Back in the early 1900's when Japan and China were fighting, Japan took control of Nanking; the city had surrendered to the Japanese army. Of the approximately 1,000,000 residents of Nanking, approximately 500,000 people fled from the city. Of the 500,000 that were left, approximately 250,000 people were under the protection of a Nazi officer (I believe he was a religious man) within the city's center, he kept them from harm. Leaving 250,000 people under the rule of the Japanese. During the 3-5 months that the Japanese controlled Nanking, the Japanese soldiers had contests to see how many civilian women they could rape, how many civilian men they could shoot, and yes, how many civilian children they could murder all in one day. There were more Chinese lives lost in the 3-5 months than American soldiers who died during the USA's involvement in WWII. That, was a tragedy.

You're forgetting the fact that the Japanese skinned some men and children alive. Same with the Koreans and Vietnamese at some points in their history, as well.

And let's not forget the 100,000 or so Chinese killed during the big "revolution" when empires still existed. Yeah, that's smart. Run up to the fort with a bunch of fucking pitch-forks while the British inside have nearly-as-fast-as-machine guns.

Or how about the cyanide bombing? The war-crimes committed in Serbia? How about the never-ending string of suicide bombers in Israel? How about Sherman burning down the entire South? How about Russia shooting it's own men if they didn't fight?

Sorry, but you know what, terrorism is just another word for ignorance. There are no innocents in war, let alone life. The only innocents are the ones too stupid to open their eyes and step off the tracks lest they be killed. And killed they be.

[Dirt]

Yeah, a religious sect that taught them that they could learn to be invulnerable to bullets. That was stupidity born of desperation.

[Jason McCullough]

Acts committed by armies of a state definitely aren't terrorism, they're war crimes; the Rape of Nanking, for example.

How far the definition can be pushed otherwise depends on the politics of the speaker.

[graller]

I could care less about the coverage....But when the hell are we all going to tell Bush and his lackeys that we are not really in the mood to piss off another couple million arabs by playing cowboy in Iraq? Does anyone else see this as the DUMBEST...MOVE....EVARRRR!! Lets see we have the support of the world over the tragedy in New York, we have people around the world agreeing we need to crack down on terrorist acts...so what can we do to fuck it up? I don't know...let's see....we can ignore the opinions and advice of every other nation in the world and declare war on a country we bombed into the Stone Age 10 years ago, triggering the hatred the spawned the attack on New York, and decide to attack another sovereign nation that has NOT at this time committed an act of war.

DUH!

[Casper]

Well, I can tell you that here in Prague there was definately coverage. I could see pictures in the newspapers and my girlfriend told me that there was a TON of coverage on CNN world tv station. So it's not just the american media that's mentioning it.

At the same time, whether or not you think people should be greiving in New York, or whether or not you yourself were affected by what happened, the frenzy seems like it's unwarranted. I went to a kind of open mic last night at a friend's cafe and was going to sing something semi in rememberance of the day. That didn't end up working out and I sang something else that had nothing to do with what happened last year. But the guys who went up and read poetry after me (there was one Czech guy and then three americans) seemed to be a little over the top with their pro-american fervor. One of them read something like "I HATE YOU OSAMA. I HATE YOU, and yet, I don't hate you because if I hate you, you win. So I can't hate you, and yet I do. So the only thing I can wish for you is...peace. Because that's what I wish for myself" Granted, this poem is just plain bad, but it was AGONY to sit through in a room full of Czechs. The worst part is that you don't know how to react. Obviously the guy feels very deeply about the subject, but...I mean, come on! It's like Robert De Niro reading the poem about his mother in Meet the Parents. At a certain point, you have to say, enough is enough. If you want to greive, fine, but do it in private!

Brian

[Aszurom]

http://www.detnews.com/2002/nation/0207/14/nation-536187.htm

Basically, the UN has granted the US troops immunity from prosecution for "war crimes" that occur in the context of "peacekeeping".

Hey, that's nice. Why do we need that? Nothing is ever granted without a real reason to back up the request.

[Tyjenks]

Basically, the UN has granted the US troops immunity from prosecution for "war crimes" that occur in the context of "peacekeeping".

Is that the same thing that James Bond has?