A Decade Ago
A decade ago I was excited about an upcoming 19-day vacation with a friend. Our itinerary would begin in Washington D.C., with a drive through the Pennsylvania countryside to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water, on to NYC for a few days and then back to D.C. before flying home. Our flights, car rental and hotel were all booked. We would fly into Dulles Airport on October 19, 2001.
For both os us it would be our first trip to Manhattan, iconic buildings like the Empire State and World Trade Center were on our must-see list. Â Then it happened.
The morning of September 11, 2001 I was driving to a client’s house in St. Louis County when I heard the report on the radio of the first plane hitting the first tower. When I arrived they had their television on, we watched the reports…and the second plane hitting the second tower. Like the rest of the world, we were stunned. It seemed unreal, so unimaginable. Â Death & destruction like we’d never seen before.
For a while it looked like we would cancel our vacation, but then it became clear these areas needed tourists dollars. We went, and had a great time. Returning to D.C. after New York the Pentagon, still damaged, at least had most of the debris  removed.
Remember the Post 9/11 anthrax scare? A person on NYC’s upper east side died of anthrax poisoning the day we were walking through the area. We visited a friend on the upper west side, a week earlier he could see hazmat crews in the offices of ABC just across the alley cleaning after an anthrax scare. Â It was a surreal vacation.
The families of all who died that day, and of first responders who are ill, it was more than surreal. I can’t begin to imagine what they felt then, or now.
On Sundays I introduce a new poll for the week:
The number of Americans who say the government should do whatever it takes to protect its citizens against terrorism —even if it means violating civil liberties — has dropped almost in half since the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. (Source)
This seems like a good topic, the poll is in the right sidebar. Â Those on mobile devices will need to switch to the full site to vote in the poll.
– Steve Patterson
I voted no opinion. It would depend on what event(s) happen. If it was another 9-11 type event they were trying to protect, absolutly. How soon everyone forgets what actually went into that day and the months after. There are many instances where one could say too much big brother…such as cameras in Soulard comes to mind, but then I think….if you aren’t doing anything wrong or illegal, then why worry?
Or for instance, some of those fanatics out there today. As much as I dislike any fanatics, where does it cross the line between their constitutional rights and treason? There is a line to be sure, but I would not want to make that decision and I don’t think I would trust some of those at any level to make it either. Where does that leave us?
I voted no opinion. It would depend on what event(s) happen. If it was another 9-11 type event they were trying to protect, absolutly. How soon everyone forgets what actually went into that day and the months after. There are many instances where one could say too much big brother…such as cameras in Soulard comes to mind, but then I think….if you aren’t doing anything wrong or illegal, then why worry?
Or for instance, some of those fanatics out there today. As much as I dislike any fanatics, where does it cross the line between their constitutional rights and treason? There is a line to be sure, but I would not want to make that decision and I don’t think I would trust some of those at any level to make it either. Where does that leave us?
As I thought about this further, the critical unknown to this question is what we don’t know. Would we vote the same way if we knew/know how many plots have been prevented and/or interrupted since then? I truely believe that there are way too many that the gov. has stopped that we know nothing about, making it all too easy to say don’t curtail rights.
As I thought about this further, the critical unknown to this question is what we don’t know. Would we vote the same way if we knew/know how many plots have been prevented and/or interrupted since then? I truely believe that there are way too many that the gov. has stopped that we know nothing about, making it all too easy to say don’t curtail rights.
That was such an emotional trip — fun and surreal at the same time. I remember being torn about visiting the WTC thinking it irreverent to be a lookey-loo but ultimately deciding it more poignant to witness history. I’ll never forget the hundreds of missing posters and impromptu memorials. It was so overwhelming I had to walk away after a short time. Â
That was such an emotional trip — fun and surreal at the same time. I remember being torn about visiting the WTC thinking it irreverent to be a lookey-loo but ultimately deciding it more poignant to witness history. I’ll never forget the hundreds of missing posters and impromptu memorials. It was so overwhelming I had to walk away after a short time.
Regarding both the poll and the tenth anniversary – 9/11 was both a tragedy and a wake-up call for all of us. However, in the bigger scheme of things, there have been many other equally tragic events (weighed by the direct impacts on their respective communities) that we seem to have been able to move beyond without the draconian changes that came out of 9/11. Whether it was Pearl Harbor, the Oklahoma Federal Building bombing, the Hollywood Supper Club and the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fires or the shootings at Virginia Tech, Columbine or Fort Hood, each event directly impacted large numbers of people, yet none of these places seem to want be defined by the events in the same way that NYC, the media and many politicians want to “remember 9/11”. Yes, each tragedy should be remembered with memorials, and yes, we should continue to be vigilent, but our be-afraid-be-very-afraid embrace of the TSA’s visible tactics is having way more impact on our individual, daily lives than anything some terrorist is doing or trying to do directly to us.
We haven’t outlawed or even really limited access to rental trucks, handguns, assault rifles, fertilizer or propane, yet we seem more than willing to accept intrusive seraches of our persons and our property for the “privilege” of boarding a commercial airliner. We are all much more at risk of dying or being injured from a robbery / assault by a non-terrorist criminal, from a motor vehicle incident or even being hit by lightning than we will ever be of encountering a terrorist, yet we’ve created a whole Federal Agency charged primarily with keeping them off of airplanes. We have a massive surface public transit infrastructure that carries way more people than the airlines do every day, yet they receive only a tiny fraction of the TSA’s budget and attention. We admit that we don’t want to “profile”, since that treats certain people with suspicion, yet profiling is key to focussing on true risks – if you want to get impaired drivers off the road, you focus on vehicles that are weaving – duh! And, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the transit bombings in Europe have proved, multiple roadside IED’s are just as, and probably more, effective at disrupting life and scaring the citizenry as trying to take over a plane in today’s world. (Before 9/11, being hijacked usually meant a trip to Cuba and a delay in your travel plans; these days NOBODY is getting in the cockpit.) Part of what makes our country great are our individual freedoms. The more we’re willing to cede them back to the government, the less free and the less great we become . . . .
Regarding both the poll and the tenth anniversary – 9/11 was both a tragedy and a wake-up call for all of us. However, in the bigger scheme of things, there have been many other equally tragic events (weighed by the direct impacts on their respective communities) that we seem to have been able to move beyond without the draconian changes that came out of 9/11. Whether it was Pearl Harbor, the Oklahoma Federal Building bombing, the Hollywood Supper Club and the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fires or the shootings at Virginia Tech, Columbine or Fort Hood, each event directly impacted large numbers of people, yet none of these places seem to want be defined by the events in the same way that NYC, the media and many politicians want to “remember 9/11”. Yes, each tragedy should be remembered with memorials, and yes, we should continue to be vigilent, but our be-afraid-be-very-afraid embrace of the TSA’s visible tactics is having way more impact on our individual, daily lives than anything some terrorist is doing or trying to do directly to us.
We haven’t outlawed or even really limited access to rental trucks, handguns, assault rifles, fertilizer or propane, yet we seem more than willing to accept intrusive seraches of our persons and our property for the “privilege” of boarding a commercial airliner. We are all much more at risk of dying or being injured from a robbery / assault by a non-terrorist criminal, from a motor vehicle incident or even being hit by lightning than we will ever be of encountering a terrorist, yet we’ve created a whole Federal Agency charged primarily with keeping them off of airplanes. We have a massive surface public transit infrastructure that carries way more people than the airlines do every day, yet they receive only a tiny fraction of the TSA’s budget and attention. We admit that we don’t want to “profile”, since that treats certain people with suspicion, yet profiling is key to focussing on true risks. And, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the transit bombings in Europe have proved, multiple roadside IED’s are just as, and probably more, effective at disrupting life and scaring the citizenry as trying to take over a plane in today’s world. Part of what makes our country great are our individual freedoms. The more we’re willing to cede them back to the government, the less free and the less great we become . . . .