I think the title basically gets the point across. I realize that 7 years ago a lot of Soap Boxers were fairly young and probably didn't have nuanced ideas about the world, but it still interests me to see the changes people went through from the moment of their initial gut reaction to now, most of a decade and possible a college education later.

For example, I went from:

9/11/01: "Nuke the bastards"

to

9/11/08: "Let's talk to some people so we can shoot the bastards, and if that doesn't work, then let's nuke the bastards."

I suppose really there's a bit more to it than that, but you get the idea. Let's see if my first Soap Box thread in eleventy months fails as catastrophically as I expect.

9/11/2008 1:18:40 AM

<----waiting for the first "it was an inside job" posting

9/11/2008 2:49:54 AM

Possibly, though on that particular day I didn't hear any of that. The conspiracy theories seemed to come later.

9/11/2008 2:52:16 AM

I will say that it was the one day where news coverage from all the major networks seemed to be saying the same thing. Granted I might have missed something because it was seven years ago and I think everyone was in a state of shock. Also, I really didn't follow the news to the degree that I do now so I was not privy to any sort of media bias and I certainly didn't get any such vibe that day.

If we are attacked again though it's going to be mudslinging from the start.

9/11/2008 3:15:29 AM

9/11/01
I was in middle school then but my thought process was let's go own some country NOW. Let's find the biggest and baddest bombs we have and drop them. If we accidentally annilate a country from the face of the earth, that be okay too.



9/11/08
Why is there still a war?

9/11/2008 4:45:10 AM

9/11/2001: "I pray this doesn't lead to a war."

9/11/2008: "I wish this hadn't lead to multiple wars."

Back then, I honestly didn't believe we would invade a country and directly kill tens of thousands. I naively thought we had gotten past such crimes. I opposed war, but didn't think it could as horrific as it turned out.

9/11/2008 9:46:18 AM

9/11/01: Nuke the bastards.

9/11/08: This war is a giant lie fueled by propaganda and I am ashamed at the direction my country has gone.

9/11/2008 9:46:59 AM

9/11/01: Well, we've finally got our reason to get our new war on.

9/11/08: More like Osama Bin Hidin

9/11/2008 9:49:35 AM

9/11/01 - We need to find the guy who did this.

9/11/08 - We need to find the guy who did this.

Talk about a complete and utter failure.

9/11/2008 9:49:53 AM

Quote :

"9/11/2001: "I pray this doesn't lead to a war." 9/11/2008: "I wish this hadn't lead to multiple wars."

My sentiments exactly.

9/11/2008 9:50:42 AM

Quote :

"9/11/01: Nuke the bastards!!! 9/11/02: Saddam didn't do it and we know it! Who really did? 9/11/08: This war is a giant lie fueled by propaganda and I am ashamed at the direction my country has gone. We should have been more engaged with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia from the onset based on the evidence, but we weren't. Now, seven years later, we are finally opening our eyes and can clearly see that we have taken steps backwards and even sideways."

9/11/2008 10:00:56 AM

9/11/01: "We need to take out the country that backed these guys."

to

9/11/08: "Err... we started in the right place (Afghanistan), but how did we end up in Iraq?!"

9/11/2008 10:06:47 AM

09/11/01:

09/11/08:

[Edited on September 11, 2008 at 10:28 AM. Reason : :]

9/11/2008 10:26:57 AM

9/11/08: "Whoever did this needs to get fucked by the full power of America."

9/11/08: "Remember when we were chasing that Osama guy? Yeah, we should get back on that."

9/11/2008 10:29:07 AM

Quote :

"9/11/01 - We need to find the guys who did this. 9/11/08 - We need to find the guys who did this."

9/11/2008 10:58:04 AM

Quote :

"Q: But Osama bin Laden is the one that — you keep talking about his lieutenants, and, yes, they are very important, but Osama bin Laden was the mastermind of 9/11 – PERINO: No, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind of 9/11, and he’s sitting in jail right now."

O shit, apparently we don't even need to catch bin Laden because he wasn't in charge of 9/11. Mission accomplished!!!

9/11/2008 11:18:02 AM

9/11/01- Nuke them fuckers

9/11/08- If we had of just nuked them fuckers in the first damn place.......

9/11/2008 11:37:49 AM

9/11/01 - I felt great saddness for the families of the people who did nothing but go to work that day. I felt profound pride and sadness for the NYC fire and police dept who ran into the buildings and to thier deaths. The same with the americans aboard the plane that sacrificed themselves to save others. I felt great outrage that such evil exists and would do such a thing. And soon after, like others, got into the revenge aspect of it. I was awakened to a new world, what was once someone else problem in the world now became ours. I was shocked to see how some of my friends didnt seem to care about it. As in "you didnt know anyone in there."

9/11/08 - I still feel great sadness for the families and pride for the sacrifices of so many heroes that day that gave thier lives trying to save others. Im happy that we havent been attacked again and that Al queda seems to be in shambles. I hate the fact that the memories of so many have been used as political ammo by both parties. Its still hard to watch the videos of 9/11. Im proud of how our country can get kicked in the teeth and come together.

9/11/2008 11:50:55 AM

So what I'm seeing is that a lot of you view the event through the Iraq-colored glasses. That about sum it up?

Were there any other "peace-at-any-price" pacifists like GoldenViper and spookyjon whose initial reaction was not, essentially, a call for violence?

9/11/2008 12:18:20 PM

9/11/01. This is fucked.

9/11/08. This is still fucked but now we're a bunch of global assholes with a rapidly declining world esteem, power, and economy in a time where globalization is essentially everything.

*Oh, and a special fuck you to the GOP for wielding the footage of this awful event like a big stick for political gain.

[Edited on September 11, 2008 at 12:20 PM. Reason : - ]

9/11/2008 12:19:40 PM

Quote :

"Were there any other "peace-at-any-price" pacifists like GoldenViper and spookyjon whose initial reaction was not, essentially, a call for violence?"

I am not a "peace-at-any-price pacifist", although I do lean towards pacifism in a lot of ways. What I'm saying is that my biggest fear in the days that followed was that it would lead to something far, far worse, and it did. I just don't have as big a hard-on for vengeance as a lot of you folks.

9/11/2008 12:32:47 PM

9/11/2001 - Get the Taliban to turn him over
9/11/2008 - How have we still not found the bastard and what the fuck are we doing in Iraq?

9/11/2008 2:09:31 PM

9/11/01 - "Holy shit, wake up call. Why do we send this region trillions of dollars every year?"

9/11/07 - "aaaaaaannd we continue to pay for these thugs mansions and refuse to drill our own oil. ugh, at least build a nuclear reactor or 2"

9/11/2008 2:21:59 PM

^ most sensible thing you've ever said on here

9/11/2008 2:27:00 PM

your memories are probably wrong. I read a study where psychologists interviewed people Sept 12, 2001. Then they asked the same questions a year later and people's accounts of the event and their feelings were considerably different. For example, a lot of people reported that on Sept 11 they were angry at Afghanistan. But it wasn't until a few days later news came out that the masterminds were from Afghanistan.

9/11/2008 2:37:55 PM

Quote :

"For example, a lot of people reported that on Sept 11 they were angry at Afghanistan. But it wasn't until a few days later news came out that the masterminds were from Afghanistan."

I gathered that the spirit of this thread was asking for our feelings surrounding the events of 9/11/01. I had no idea it could have been a terrorist attack while I was watching it happen... I just felt a little hopeless, a little depressed, and a little amazed. But in the week(s) following, when we learned that it was very likely an act of terrorism, I felt pissed at whoever had done it.

I decided to post my general thoughts during that time period, not what I was specifically thinking on that day.

9/11/2008 2:41:34 PM

we should have just rebuilt the twin towers exactly how they had been. how about that as a big fuck you to the attackers?

9/11/2008 2:45:21 PM

9/11/01: HOL-Y-SHIT... how are we going to solve this issue

9/11/08: goddamnit....

9/11/2008 4:46:39 PM

9/11/2008 5:04:47 PM

Then: I was a senior in college and I didn't really have a visceral reaction. Maybe it was the environment I was in, or the fact that I had some exceptional professors, but I took a wait and see attitude. I mean, sure I was pissed, but you can't be the drunk guy in a bar-fight swinging at everyone just because one guy hit you. I remember hearing a speech from former CENTCOM Commander General Anthony Zinni a few months later basically outlining why Iraq was a bad idea. I believed him then and I believe him now.

Now: I think we've done a really good job of accomplishing Bin Laden's goals for him. Not only did we invade Iraq on a questionable premise, but we abandoned every lesson from Vietnam and the Gulf War in our invasion. Sometimes I wonder if Gore would have done better. I doubt Kerry would've.

9/11/2008 5:10:57 PM

^^lol omg (no disrespect to those that died and their families)

the only thing that would make it better is if it was Hogan's son!

9/11/2008 5:21:54 PM

Quote :

"Holy shit, wake up call. Why do we send this region trillions of dollars every year?"

O rly? You someone divined that it was related to oil and the middle east, even though, as Nerdchick pointed out, there was no evidence at the time linking the crashes to that region?

The degree to which it is linked in people's minds with Iraq is interesting to me. This thread seems to express more antipathy to the administration than to al Qaeda. I mean, I get that nobody likes Bush & co. anymore, and very few on here ever did. I dunno...I guess there's something morbidly ironic about how, as much as people scream about how there wasn't a connection between Iraq and 9/11, now when you ask a question about 9/11 you get mostly stuff about Iraq. Sort of came full circle in a morbid, depressing way.

[Edited on September 11, 2008 at 6:10 PM. Reason : ]

9/11/2008 6:10:26 PM

01 - shocked, sad, mad, and thinking "We're probably going to fuck this up."

08 - just thinking "Man, we've really fucked this up."


I'd give my left one for this country to get Manhattan Project-level serious about energy efficiency, nukes/solar/wind/whatever, and be able to tell the Middle East to piss off. And on that day, pigs will fly out of my arse.

9/11/2008 8:03:27 PM

Then: Lets sock it to the people that did this.

Now: Lets sock it to the foreign policy ideology that caused this.

Somewhere between then I went from the immature "they hate our freedom and #1domness" to "lets figure out why they did this". No action goes unpunished. No attack comes unprovoked. Cut the head off the snake. Remove the fuel source of the fire instead of aimlessly throwing water on it. Fix the root of the problem instead of constantly solving it.

9/11/2008 8:16:09 PM

Then: Anger at the terrorists

Now: Anger at the retards who still think that it was not terrorists.

9/11/2008 10:06:23 PM

^so what if the root of the problem is that in the Islamic Extremist eyes we are not Muslim. Therefore we are infidels and not living the way the Qu'ran teaches. We are seen as a Godless selfish wealthy nation that spends it money unwisely.

My intial reaction was shock, sadness, rage

My reaction today is pretty much the same, because lets face it the extremists haven't changed there feelings on us.

All you people trying to sound holier than thou are full of shit.

9/11/2008 10:07:00 PM

9/11/2001: Oh my god.


9/11/2008: Why haven't we nuked them yet?

9/11/2008 10:09:30 PM

My views haven't changed.

I still say we need to completely destroy them.

9/11/2008 10:15:13 PM

^ Who's them?

9/11/2008 10:30:52 PM

It was amazing to become aware of the many breakdowns in our gov't that helped this attack happen. You had Clinton refusing to take Bin Laden on a silver platter. You had the Jamie Gorelick wall built to hamper information passing between the FBI and the CIA. You had piss-poor border control. You had the FBI ignoring its own field agent's reports that young mid-east men were taking flying lessons- but didn't want any training on landing or taking off!

Today, I hope the country realizes that these islamic terrorists still want to kill as many Americans as they can. Which candidate would Bin Laden prefer to win the presidency: McCain or Obama?

9/11/2008 11:08:03 PM

i agree earthdogg

9/11/2008 11:11:43 PM

holy shit im done here. this is my initial reaction to the stupidity in this thread but i doubt it will change in 7 years from now.

Quote :

"so what if the root of the problem is that in the Islamic Extremist eyes we are not Muslim. Therefore we are infidels and not living the way the Qu'ran teaches. We are seen as a Godless selfish wealthy nation that spends it money unwisely."

Hilarious and Sad part is this guy is probably on the reasonable end of the spectrum and all the time traveling hrough Europe i wondered why people think americans are dumb

Quote :

"Why haven't we nuked them yet?"

Quote :

"Today, I hope the country realizes that these islamic terrorists still want to kill as many Americans as they can. Which candidate would Bin Laden prefer to win the presidency: McCain or Obama? "

So you WANT them to want to kill us?

9/11/2008 11:20:39 PM

they are replaying the initial broadcast when 9/11 happened....its really tough to watch. it's really....well..depressing.

9/11/2008 11:24:38 PM

Quote :

"Who's them?"

This is my response to several of the posts I've seen in this thread. It worries me anyone says "nuke them," as if there's a particular them that you could actually nuke, even if nuking was a good idea, which it obviously is NOT.

me:

Quote :

"9/11/2001: "I pray this doesn't lead to a war." 9/11/2008: "I wish this hadn't lead to multiple wars.""

Quote :

"Were there any other "peace-at-any-price" pacifists like GoldenViper and spookyjon whose initial reaction was not, essentially, a call for violence?"

Me

9/11/2008 11:29:50 PM

9/11/01: Kill that Osama bin ladin bastard
9/11/08: We got him! Saddam Hussein will never be a threat again!

9/11/2008 11:38:45 PM

9/11/01 - This is horrible, but I am in mourning and realize it was a relatively isolated terrorist cell that caused this event to occur.

9/11/08 - The deaths of the people on 9/11/01 have been made into a disgrace that will continue to haunt this nation for much longer than another seven years.

9/11/2008 11:49:50 PM

9/11/01 - What the world trade center? Oh my god people are jumping out, jesus christ, thousands of people just died and I can do nothing but sit there w/ my jaw wide open.


9/11/08 - Army Ranger...I can't wait to find your ass Osama, the search never ends. Fucking period, justice will be served. If not by me damn well be sure someone else will get the job done.

9/12/2008 5:38:58 AM

9/11/01 - Why is this happening?

9/11/08 - Oh.

Quote :

"Were there any other "peace-at-any-price" pacifists like GoldenViper and spookyjon whose initial reaction was not, essentially, a call for violence?"

<--------

[Edited on September 12, 2008 at 12:35 PM. Reason : ...]

9/12/2008 12:34:02 PM

Can I say difinitely here in this thread, that I called it being bin Laden the day of? I just remember stating that and people looking at me with blank stares as to who the hell is al Qaeda and who is Osama bin Laden.

9/12/2008 1:24:47 PM

^ you were the only one who thought that.

gg to you. NOBODY had a clue it was a middle east terrorist.

9/12/2008 5:33:34 PM