I went to Pearl Harbor that same year dec 7th for the 60 anniversary and of course it was discussed if 9/11 was the second Pearl Harbor. There was military in full gear at the gates in the airports and you could not mail a postcard as all mailboxes were closed. And many were afraid of flying, but I thought that if we stop flying, then we have lost.
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I was looking through BTV’s archive (the channel I watched at the time) and the only available archive is from January 2003. It’s a shame they don’t consider it a big enough deal to post. They clearly have the footage in their archive, as I saw a video of theirs that played 10 seconds from it:
‘The name Osama Bin Laden is being suggested by the American news channel Fox.’
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Quite the different scene and mood you described compared to my 50th anniversary visit 10 years earlier 
One user in Newgrounds wrote this on that fateful day:
I don’t know if y’all heard what happened. The two WTC building were hit by two kamikazee TERRORIST planes. They got tooken out bad - smoking like two roman candles. Also A BOMB went off in Washington DC - in I believe the PENTAGON building. The damage to the WTC was so bad that ONE tower has COMPLETELY COLLAPSED and is COMPLETELY destroyed. I have been watching this ALL MORNING.
I live right across the HUDSON RIVER and see the WTC buildings like they were a few blocks away. I was home when the first explosion happened (like 8 years ago?). I heard that EXPLOSION and I looked out my window. I was also home when a blimp crashed into the WTC and I looked outside and saw that crazy image.
A whole F*CKING World Trade Center Tower is tore down. It looks like the end of the world - if you could see TV. If you are lucky you have CNN. The weird shit is all the TV communications are in the WTC and when the tower went out - so do all the TV channels.
When shit like this happens - I think what will happen? Who is our president? What will he do? This shit is crazy. I am going to go outside and take in some more of the mayhem. Right now it’s crazy.
I am sure of that, it was a very somber mood, but I think it made it much easier to understand the confusion and disbelief that the nation must have felt after dec 7th. Like the frase from the movie: i didnt even know the japs was sour at os.
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And now you know what inspired me to create my America at war! thread.
I don’t think the two are comparable at all. 9/11 changed the whole world, Pearl Harbor just brought America into WW2. Plus it happened on a fairly sparsely populated military base in the Pacific, not in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world.
For Europe that saved our world
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No, it did change the world. America’s status as a world power, apparent for decades, has been fully affirmed.
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The Pacific and Asia too, though China and Korea have either continued to be or have become ugly scars.
And also, it wasn’t just Pearl. The Japanese had made simultaneous attacks nearly everywhere in the Pacific – Malaya, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam, Wake, Singapore and so on. FDR even mentioned these actions in his famous speech to Congress.
Western Europe. The East was left to eat poop.
I’ve always been under the impression that America would’ve likely joined the war eventually anyway. Wasn’t that the point of the attack anyway.
PLus, here is the big difference. There was a World War going on. Millions had already been killed. Meanwhile, there weren’t that many significant armed conflicts going on during September 2001, so it had a larger impact due to it happening during peace time.
The point of the attack was to destroy or at least severely damage the Pacific Fleet so as to weaken America’s response in case of a war. Remember, we were at the same time negotiating with them as well, so war was a possibility. Yes, it was inevitable, but so was a deadly terrorist attack on the United States. That too was inevitable.
That morning, one of the big stories in the CBC was the conflict between Israel and Palestine. And of course, we were keeping a close eye on Middle Eastern and Central Asian affairs.
But yes, this didn’t happen during a world war, so I see what you’re getting at.
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Correct for the first decades, but now we have moved on with new EU members in eastern Europe (the one member we lost was in the west😉)
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There was still some poop to eat for the first decade after Socialism went away. Difficulties of traveling, empty store shelves, economic hardships as a result of a lost market. I’m sure our former member will do just fine… Oh. 
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Here’s the poll again, only better. Make sure to vote before Sept. 11:
Which news network shall I go with for the inevitable 20th anniversary stream on Kosmi?
- American Broadcasting Co. (ABC)
- British Broadcasting Co. (BBC)
- Canadian Broadcasting Co. (CBC)
- Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
- Cable News Network (CNN)
- Fox News Channel (FOX)
- National Broadcasting Co. (NBC)
- Other news network (please specify)
0 voters
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One month to go for the poll to close!
Updates on BBC: I only have the archive.org videos for BBC, so it would be a little difficult to stream. And it’s BBC World, not BBC proper (which I’ve heard covered the event quite different from BBC World).
Vote, folks!
@JackPekoyama @Chewbacca Update on BBC: Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a way to stream BBC World for 9/11, so you might have to consider changing your vote.
BBC is out of bounds.
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Why isn’t “none of the above” an option?
As if anyone forgot what happened in 2001, why should we need to remind ourselves how painful it was that a group of people who hate the US would murder Americans in that way?
What’s the fascination of reliving such horrible pain?
I admit that I’ve watched the odd 9/11 show over the last 20 years, but the last one I will ever watch was the one about the jumpers. No more. I have enough empathy that I don’t need to make myself sick knowing that people around the world hate us so much that they will do that to my fellow citizens.
Don’t tell me “never forget” when this is “constantly remind”. I remember when I first heard about it (in a lab), I remember seeing more info, I remember watching on of the towers collapse, and I remember the department picnic that we should not have had as every single person in the area was going home. I also remember tearing up when I heard the Queen’s band play the Nation Anthem.
And at the same time, I don’t remember the Marine Band playing “God Save the Queen” when there have been terrorist attacks on London later in the decade.
So I’m not sure the intention of what reminding us in such great detail what happened that horrible day when remembering it in great detail is so easy for most.
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It’s been 20 years. I’d do the same stream if it were about Pearl Harbor (80 this December).
It’s more a personal thing from my end. I have made a habit of covering and discussing anniversaries. I’ve done a similar thing with the 50th anniversary of the war we’re covering right now.
That, I agree. However, that was never my intention. My intention was primarily for analysis of news coverage of the day and what they got right and wrong in retrospect (similar to my America at war! thread here in the forum, only with analysis). Relating experience of the day is more a secondary intention. Basically, the same thing I did when I went to Hawaii in 1991 for the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, only with TV videotape.
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I remember all of that as well. I saw the second plane crash live, in the middle of a discussion with my sister on it being a terrorist attack.
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