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God
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
Typical coastal elitists. I gotta tell you, Real Americans in the trailer parks of Idaho and the suburbs of South Carolina truly feel the pain of 9/11 unlike you guys. Remember kids: No one is a patriot until you want to hurt the Indian guy sitting next to you on a plane. So, sorry New Yorkers, but your savvy pragmatism, geographical knowledge and cultural sensitivity won't get you into the Kingdom of Heaven. Rejoice in hating a muslin or two (just about any random brown-skinned person will do, really) for Freedom (but really mostly for funsies), and I'll personally welcome you in.
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Paul_Is_Drunk promoted this comment God was starred God was unstarred

Paul_Is_Drunk
09/11/09

@God: Wait... God lost his star?

That's a metaphor for something right there, but I don't know what.
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Grim Reaper of the Forest
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
I'm glad I don't have TV. That was a bad 13 months living in DC. 9/11, local postal workers dying of anthrax, co-workers on Cipro. Oh, and then the sniper attacks when everyone was crouching behind their cars whenever they went to fill up their gas tanks. I'm surprised all my hair didn't go white. I wish there was a more tasteful remembrance.
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SerleBird
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
One thing I've learned about grieving is that you cannot tell anyone how they should or should not go about it. I think it's unfair to surmise that airing this is a stunt or wrong to watch. Everyone needs different ways to process those horrific events (though that day, clearly, is not something that can ever be fully processed). If someone wants to talk, not talk, cry, laugh, throw things, shut down, reflect, or celebrate, then they need to do that. That being said, this is not your way to do it. Fine. I get that. But some people, like myself, need to watch the coverage. Others might think that my watching is unhealthy or morbid or disrespectful. I find it cathartic. I'm glad it's accessible and I will continue to watch it every year.
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Steverino Begins
09/11/09

@SerleBird: You have a point, and this sounds like a genuine form of grieving for you--and that's what 9/11 should be about, people discussing their genuine reactions and not just their poser I'm-sadder-than-you sentiments or exploitative slogans and flag-waving (but I digress).

I just wish newscasters in general would show the footage more responsibly and not just slip it in between the weather report on 9/11. It's very loaded footage and captures the deaths of thousands of people, even if from afar. There are many well-made documentaries about 9/11. Maybe the footage should be relegated there.
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Rhymenocerous
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
I find the requisite facebook status updates more offensive. Actual update: "8:46 AM -8 years exactly- :("

What, exactly, is the point? To let the rest of us know that you didn't forget? To remind us? Sad face.
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nozer
09/11/09

@Rhymenocerous: I think they're just sad knowing they're eight years older, and their youth is slowly slipping away.

9/11 is kind of like having a baby. Always there to remind you how much time has passed.
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The One
09/11/09

@Rhymenocerous: Thank for reminding why I'm glad to not be on FB.
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PrissyCatheadBiscuit
09/11/09

@Rhymenocerous: Days like this really bring out the biggest douches of my FB "friends" list. If I see one more "Let's Roll" I am cancelling my account.
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Rhymenocerous promoted this comment

Rhymenocerous
09/11/09

@The One: Eh, the fun parts outweigh the once-a-year annoyances.
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Rhymenocerous
09/11/09

@PrissyCatheadBiscuit: Oh man, I didn't get a single "Let's roll"! Your friends are cooler than mine. Although, there is one I found particularly annoying, from the mother of a six-year-old:

can't believe its been 8 years. My smart little man is starting to understand the significance of what happened. He said this morning with a solemn tone "It's a sad sad day, isn't it mama?"

Way to undermine your sorrow by bragging about your stupid kid.
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BabyJewn
09/11/09

@Rhymenocerous:
Because some of us LOST PEOPLE. Whom we loved. Deeply. And so that is my "status".
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Rhymenocerous
09/11/09

@BabyJewn: OMG you did? I had no idea.

Seriously, though, find a better way to honor people than a fucking facebook status.
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NowAvailableinExtraStrength
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
Is there at last one thing left here that we don't make fun of? Wow! I guess everyone that mocked me for not having a sense of humor didn't lose a gf, or a wife or a friend that day. Or didn't live 3 blocks away as I did. Fuck you! Seriously! Go! Fuck! Yourselves!
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Richard Petty Bourgeoisie promoted this comment

Richard Petty Bourgeoisie
09/11/09

@NowAvailableinExtraStrength: Or, perhaps, some people commenting here worked in 7 World Trade and lost a friend in the South Tower that day and choose to try to make innocuous jokes rather than revisit the exact emotions felt on that day.

You'd look like less of an asshole if you were i-screaming at someone who wrote "hahaha, people died and it was funny!" but I've not seen that comment here. In fact, the worst comments I've seen on this post wished cancer and rape on children. Now that guy/gal, total fuckface if you ask me.
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Rhymenocerous
09/11/09

@NowAvailableinExtraStrength: Are you new here or something? You are free to be offended, but you're overdoing it a touch.
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bytememehard
09/11/09

@Richard Petty Bourgeoisie: Agreed. Dude needs to dial it back to regular strength. Maybe instead of honoring his 9/11 memories by reading snarky ol' Gawker, should stay tuned to MSNBC or go for some PTSD counseling.

Didn't the Columbine killers express these kind of violent wishes upon others in their writings, too?
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Edited by bytememehard at 09/11/09 1:11 PM bytememehard was starred bytememehard was unstarred

If_I_Had_a_Poodle
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
honor them with peace
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Trai_Dep
09/11/09

@if_i_only_had_a_heart: Aww. In this long train of comments, your simple, elegant four words struck my heart.
(I apologize in advance for an uncharacteristic lack of snark)
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Spirit Fingers
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
My "Wow, that's tasteless" remembrance from 9/11:

Worked in lower midtown, company had a large window that captured it all, formerly "just strange" coworker was oddly jubilant during the whole thing (And I know that shock can garner a strange reaction in some people), but he ticked off the event like the scoring of a baseball game "And now this happened! And so did this! The Pentagon! The Capital evacuated!" he then grabbed a camera and took play-by-play pictures of the towers burning, smoldering, collapsing and proceeded to put out a sign up sheet for those of us who wanted copies for our uh, families, who were out of town. As if they were going to miss it.

No one spoke to him much after that.
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skahammer
09/11/09

@Spirit Fingers: Now there's a story I'd like to hear the rest of.
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A Message To Rudy
09/11/09

@skahammer: I'm surprised the story ended with "no one spoke to him" rather than "no one regretted beating the shit out of him"
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Spirit Fingers
09/11/09

It was one of those things that happened that you didn't really understand the gravity of until you thought about it later at home, once you had a chance to digest and review it. Meaning, "Wow, John was being such a weird assface today! He's no longer welcome to the doughnuts in the break room. Everyone take two." Like that, but more awkward and unforgiving.
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TheBusinessGuy
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
What exactly is the problem with watching history as it happened and feeling the sadness? No, no--much better to distance ourselves from tragedy and get on with really important stuff--like Project Runway and Conde Nast. I mean, you can never have too much Anna Wintour.
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Gabriel Snyder approved this comment TheBusinessGuy was starred TheBusinessGuy was unstarred

Gabriel Snyder
09/11/09

@TheBusinessGuy: No, actually, repeatedly reliving an event, over and over, is the definition of PTSD. It is what happens when we cannot process that sadness, shock, that drop in my stomach that happens whenever I see video of the burning towers, and so instead sink into confused numbness and agitation, unable to get on with life. No one is saying forget, but that is not the same as relive. Again. And again. And again.
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TheBusinessGuy
09/11/09

@Gabriel Snyder: But there is an element of choice here about reliving it via the video that isn't there when someone spontaneously and involuntarily relives, say, a firefight in 'Nam. And there is nothing wrong with that choice being available to those of us who haven't been able to process the horror, or, in years to come, never witnessed it in the first place and ought to know about it. You have a remote control. Watch it, don't watch it, but let's not tuck it away in the back of the history closet, never to be brought out again.
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Gabriel Snyder approved this comment TheBusinessGuy was starred TheBusinessGuy was unstarred

Gabriel Snyder
09/11/09

@TheBusinessGuy: Hand out free DVDs. Put the footage online somewhere. But the ritual reliving of the morning, minute by minute, doesn't help anyone "process" anything. And, yeah, you can change the channel (I did) but as long as MSNBC thinks of themselves as a broadcasting outfit, they should end this stunt.
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skahammer
09/11/09

@Gabriel Snyder: repeatedly reliving an event, over and over, is the definition of PTSD

But the ritual reliving of the morning, minute by minute, doesn't help anyone "process" anything.

Pretty declarative stuff, there. And especially risky since you could be shown to be wrong on the second claim by just one person -- one -- who thinks that an occasional review of the footage is a good way of being reminded of what actually happened that day on a public scale...as distinct from all the other things that people talk about when they use the term "9/11."
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Edited by skahammer at 09/11/09 1:55 PM skahammer was starred skahammer was unstarred

crunkjuice
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
I watch it every year. It's important to remember exactly what you felt on that day in 2001 - the confusion, the horror, the uncertainty. The best thing we can do to honor the fallen on that day is to remember EXACTLY what happen.

Never forget...
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NowAvailableinExtraStrength
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
Let's all wish horrible things on Richard Petty whose tasteless comment makes me personally wanna find him, put a loaded gun in his mouth and pull the trigger twice!
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Richard Petty Bourgeoisie promoted this comment

Richard Petty Bourgeoisie
09/11/09

@NowAvailableinExtraStrength: I'm all for that, but I don't want to be "over-the-top." I respect the restraint you showed below when wishing (a) a slow, painful death for him, (b) cancer for his children and (c) rape for his daughter.

Again, I'm with you in terms of wishing horrible things on him, but I don't want to offend you. How far is too far?
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Richard Petty Bourgeoisie
09/11/09

@NowAvailableinExtraStrength: Also, you'll need more than two shots through the mouth. I walked away from this motherfucker with nary a scratch.
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Thomas Paladino
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
Yeah, lets all forget. Sorry, don't watch it if you don't want to, but they're doing the country a great service by running this footage exactly as it was on 9/11 and giving people a chance to remember exactly what they saw and felt that day.

If you want to forget, then change the channel or bury your head in the sand or whatever, but calling it 'dumb' is fallacious and intellectually lazy.
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son of spam
09/11/09

@Thomas Paladino: While we're at it, let's replay the Daniel Pearl beheading too. Never forget.
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snugbug
09/11/09

@Thomas Paladino: It's not dumb and fallacious as much as exploitative and sensationalist. MSNBC is not re-running the footage in the context of some pertinent, added-value analysis about what 9/11 meant; merely angling for ratings. Gross.
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snugbug
09/11/09

@son of spam: Did any news channels actually run that video when it happened? I've seen it online, but I somehow doubt they showed it on television.
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son of spam
09/11/09

@snugbug: CBS aired the part preceding the murder, but that really wasn't my point.
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thisiswhatweknow
09/11/09

@son of spam: I echo SnugBug, it is exploitative and sensationalist.
It would seem the sentiment among supporters of MSNBC's actions is that this is the best way to honor those who perished, however I can't imagine someone who actually knew someone who died wanting to relive the fear, horror, disbelief and every range of emotions surely felt that day. It would seem the only people this is serving are those with a lust for blood and spectacle.
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Thomas Paladino
09/11/09

@snugbug: I doubt that it's about ratings at this point, as it's run commercial-free with only one sponsor. And in the context of what 9/11 actually was on that day, there was no 'pertinent, value-added analysis'... it was just chaos and everyone was left searching for their own meaning. Through that lens I think there is indeed intrinsic value in just replaying the footage as it happened, unfiltered.
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snugbug
09/11/09

@Thomas Paladino: If I may: You're viewing the gesture primarily from the POV of the audience; I'm looking at it from the POV of the news networks. What is the point of re-running 8-year-old footage in raw form, unless you embed it in thoughtful commentary that provides additional context, etc.?

It's a cynical gesture on the part of MSNBC--they want to ensure maximum number of eyeballs glued to the TV sets. I don't care if they don't run ads during it--these things are long-term strategic decisions. If they can show to their advertisers a significant bump in viewership during 9/11/09l, they can profit from it.

I don't dispute that revisiting the footage might provide some sort of therapeutic benefit to SOME people--although in a backwards and non-life-affirming way, in my opinion. I'm just revolted at the cynicism and opportunism of the so-called journalists in charge at MSNBC. I believe this was the thrust of the blog post we're commenting about.
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Edited by snugbug at 09/11/09 1:35 PM snugbug was starred snugbug was unstarred

skahammer
09/11/09

@snugbug: I enjoy your comments, here and elsewhere, but may I gently note that if your critique of television programming is that it's "exploitative and sensationalist," you might need to raise the bar on your critical efforts?
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Aaron Altman
09/11/09

@snugbug: Did MSNBC promote the fact that they were doing this? Just curious.
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okneil
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
As a non-american these images are burned into my head, I will never forget them nor do I have any want to see them again. The WORLD knows what happened that morning, we dont need to be constantly reminded.
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The One
09/11/09

@okneil: Once a year is hardly "constant."
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misslinda
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
You don't have to watch it if you don't want to see it.
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bytememehard
09/11/09

@misslinda: I did not know that. I thought viewing was compulsory. Thanks for clearing this up. Now I can walk my dog and get my sorry ass to work before I get fired. You're the best!
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misslinda
09/11/09

@bytememehard: Any time, toots.
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If_I_Had_a_Poodle
09/11/09

@misslinda: hearted
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The One
09/11/09

@misslinda: hearted, too
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Maxichamp
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
I actually watched it this morning. I was on the West Coast on 9/11 so I missed the original coverage. I've been avoiding watching it all these years and finally got to see it "live" this morning on MSNBC. It's still shocking to watch.
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Gabriel Snyder
09/11/09

@Maxichamp: Perhaps there should be a DVD for this. If it's something you want to seek out and experience, be my guest. But it's still a tasteless stunt to put it on every year on a cable network.
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misslinda
09/11/09

@Gabriel Snyder: So is the yule log, but I never heard anyone railing against that.
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gabrielsong
09/11/09

@Gabriel Snyder: Everyday I take PATH and now am subjected to the "preview" WTC memorial store...with $18 T shirts. I'm sure the DVD with introduction by Mayor-For-Life Rudy G. will be available soon, as well.
Yours for $100 on Vesey Street.
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WackoJacko
09/11/09

@Gabriel Snyder: I think the pertinent question is where were YOU the first time you rewatched the MSNBC rerun of the September 11th, 2001 attacks? I woke up early that day. I remember because I had sent my laundry out and had to pick it up before I ran down to my temp job, which coincidentally was in the financial district, at an insurance company, which coincidentally, would end up being an industry at the center of a huge debate in 2009. Anyway, I went to the Korean laundromat down the street from me. He was wearing a flag pin and I picked up my laundry which I think came to about $17. I went back home and was folding my laundry when I decided to turn on the TV. I flipped to MSNBC and a talking head announced that they were about to start replaying the events of 9/11/01 in honor of the anniversary. Music swelled, there were some graphics, and suddenly I heard Katie Couric and Matt Lauer talking about something, I forget what, because I wasn't paying really paying attention, I was folding my underwear. But then Katie and Matt got word that a plane was flying into the WTC, which got me thinking about where I actually was when the planes hit in 2001. I overslept. I woke up, running late for my NYU gender studies class. I hurriedly got dressed. I ran downstairs and saw that people were dashing about Third North, my dorm, and something seemed amiss. My gaze fell upon the flat screen TVs in the lobbies and they were showing one of the planes hitting, I forget which one, as I was still consciously thinking about whether I should hurry and get to Gender Studies. But I saw people dashing for the cafeteria so I followed. More flat screens. More planes hitting. Oh! There's one near the Pentagon! For about 20 minutes I thought the entire United States was being attacked and that a new world order was coming and that money would be worthless and I wouldn't have to pay my student loans but that I would have to learn how to kill people in the streets to survive. But then I realized I was an idiot and it was just a garden variety terrorist attack. So I watched TV all day and watched the WTC get hit and fall over and over and over on every network, which coincidentally would happen on MSNBC every year hence, when they celebrated the attack, but I couldn't have known that then. But on September 12th, overwhelmed by both the event and the reptitive funhouse mirror of the events on TV all day, I journeyed uptown past Asian girls in gas masks to Washington Heights, where coincidentally, I would end up living with my friend Aaron three years later. Anyway, me, Aaron and his then-girlfriend decided to talk, eat, have fun, and watch You've Got Mail, which I had never seen. We mercilessly made fun of it. It was set in NY, where coincidentaly there had been a terrorist attack, but the characters didn't know that because the movie was set in 1998. I don't remember where I was or what I was doing on September 13th. Where were YOU when they first replayed the events on September 11th on MSNBC? Hmm? WHERE WERE YOU? 9/11/02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09. NEVER. FORGET.
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thisiswhatweknow
09/11/09

@Gabriel Snyder: I'd be highly surprised if it wasn't on youtube in its entirety. They have the news coverage from the deaths of JFK and Diana, Princess of Wales so this must be there.
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quatrevingtquatre
09/11/09

In reply to MSNBC's Continues Tradition of Airing PTSD-Inducing 9/11 Footage
Is this going to happen for forever? Granted, I'm not a New Yorker and I wasn't when it happened, but I remember watching every moment of the footage in my high school cafeteria. Or at least until our Principal decided the...escapes were too much for our fragile minds. I haven't been able to watch any footage since. I mean, I cried during the "What a Wonderful World" montage in whichever Michael Moore movie that was. It's going to be a long day.
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The One promoted this comment Edited by quatrevingtquatre at 09/11/09 9:59 AM quatrevingtquatre was starred

The One
09/11/09

@quatrevingtquatre: Boo hoo. Some of us lived through it and don't need footage to remind us. Be grateful that you're not one of them.
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Pesti-Esti
09/11/09

@The One: Is this where we have the pissing contest over whose 9/11 was worse? Good to know.
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misslinda
09/11/09

@The One: I think it's important for those who were not there to see the day as it unfolded. It was confusing, frightening, and overwhelming, and the news footage captures that.
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The One
09/11/09

@Pesti-Esti: Huh? Good job on totally missing the point, which was that thousands of people had no choice in witnessing (and experiencing) it that morning. I have no sympathy for crybabies who whine about being traumatized because some footage is on TV once a year, when they have the choice to change the channel (or turn off the TV) and pretend it doesn't exist.
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The One
09/11/09

@misslinda: Exactly.
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thisiswhatweknow
09/11/09

@misslinda: Who hasn't seen it, is the question? Who has never heard a timeline of what happened minute by minute? Who has never seen the freeze frame image of a Boeing entering a tower? You would need to be living under a rock or actively avoiding any news organization for the past 8 years. I do not live in the United States and I was 13 years old at the time, however it was replayed on television for weeks on end during the recovery efforts, heavily featured in a blockbuster documentary, as well as predictably reviewed annually for the past 8 years. I could never undersell the importance of remembering those who died tragically and those who gave their efforts but an ESPN style play-by-play of planes crashing into buildings and poor people falling to their deaths does nothing to protect the esteem of their memories, or MOST IMPORTANTLY the well-being of their loved ones who are still here to look upon this sad circus act.
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misslinda
09/11/09

@thisiswhatweknow: My 8-year-old niece and nephew don't know the first thing about it, but when they are old enough, I hope that they will watch the full news coverage. There are also a great deal of people who, like I think I said earlier, were too preoccupied with either trying to find a way home, or find out if their loved ones were okay, etc. to have seen the news footage. Yes, all adults have seen clips here and there, but clips don't show you the chaos, the confusion, the horror, the emotion, etc. like the full real-time broadcast. If you don't want to watch, don't watch. But for those who do, it's helpful that it's there.
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Pesti-Esti
09/11/09

@The One: Sorry, it's just that so many conversations this time of year turn into debates over who was more traumatized or who has what right to remember what in what ways. See NowAvailableinExtraStrength and Richard Petty Bourgeoisie above. That's descended into a debate about who was closer.
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BoKnowsMagic
09/11/09

@The One: The crying over the footage seems to me to be the flip-side, more or less, of the desire to show/see the footage/remember the day ("never forget!"), or, worse, foist it upon those who weren't there to share in the horror of those who "had no no choice": sanctimonious parasitism all of it. I don't see any purpose in being demonstrative about what goes without saying other than for self-importance. Keeping tragedy alive serves only those who can't drop their personal narratives of survival and witness or their guilt at not having been proximate enough to have a personal narrative of survival or witness, which is what this day of remembrance trades in, not the tragedy itself. Our loss is not theirs. If the dead are in any position to be dishonored by anything, and if they actually give a shit in the better place they're alleged to be, I can think of few things more disrespectful.
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The One
09/11/09

@Pesti-Esti: Wow. I didn't know that pissing match had descended into that, but I think I'll pass. Thank you anyway.

But for me, it's not a matter of who has more trauma from it, but that everyone knows it's going to be on TV the morning of the anniversary, so people who don't wish to see it can avoid it. Some people didn't have the choice to avoid watching it that morning, and are still suffering, to various degrees. For some, it does help to avoid it and for others daily life is (as some survivors have said) like reliving it in their heads on a regular basis -- sort of like "9/11 all the time" in their minds.

For a few years, I was on the email list of the official(?) survivors' group and the range of opinions was at least as varied as what we find here on Gawker. I just think that the footage replay should be there for those who want or need it.
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The One
09/11/09

@Bulkington: I don't presume to speak for the deceased, nor do I tell others how to deal with their traumas.
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The One was starred The One was unstarred

quatrevingtquatre
09/11/09

@The One:
I wasn't trying to say my experience as a 17 year old was so much worse than yours as a New Yorker, nor am I throwing myself a pity party? I'm saying it will be a long day because of just how emotional today is for so many people...whether you were in New York or not.
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