I was in fifth grade in Queens NY that day. I remember teachers screaming and crying. The day was over and we were told to read. Parents taking kids out one by one with names being called over the speakers. I was excited when mines was called till I say my mother covered in Tower dust crying.
Cancer that killed a good majority of the firefighters that survived. Funding that was attempted to be cut by mitch McConnell and Mike Johnson only to be defended by, of all people, the amazing Jon Stewart
The more cynical take is that they never felt shame, but Jon's advocacy as a celebrity brought unwelcome publicity to their mistreatment of universally valorized heroes.
Because they don't care. It's a great tool to stir up memories to try and win some patriotic votes. Clearly from peoples experiences in this post.
Its nothing more then a cynical tool, they could have passed a law that day. That would medically cover all the victims and first responders.
They didn't, they were to focused on the opportunity to galvanize the public for never ending wars.
I say this in good faith and from personal experience. 9/11 is nothing more then a tool to them. It can garner votes, silence political opponents and always be used for some good press with a hollow ceremony.
Trump has Howard Ludnick(how ever you spell his last name) in his cabinet.
His brother died in 9/11 as their company was in one of the towers.
He played a real good sob story, made it seem like he cared and helped setup a fund to support the families of the deceased.
The loophole, was that there wasn't a limit on the amount that could be paid out.
He took the whole think, I can't remember the exact number, but it was more then a couple million.
So that's who we have in government. People who have no problem using 9/11 for personal gain.
I remember this story, and it’s not like I’m ignorant of the state of US politics but man. It’s always the ones who are supposedly full of patriotism who over and over take action against the needs of those that fought and gave the ultimate sacrifice for this country. And their supporters don’t bat an eye.
You get it, it's just hard to accept there are demons who act like this for political points and call themselves patriots. Conservatives are very good at getting people focused on one issue while the rob you on 5 others. Just like a bunch of pick pockets, except their actions kill millions and as long as those super PAC donations keep coming, they couldn't care less.
Being a lap dog to the upper class has its perks. They get to sell out 300 million people while their masters flood the country with social media and fake news to keep us distracted in a culture war while they speed run robotics so we're not needed
At least 1% of the population has psychopathic traits so I can assure you, there are many psychopaths in the halls of power and the heads of state. But remember, not all psychopaths enact harm, especially to this degree. We are dealing with psychopaths who are gleefully harming others. We have sadists, narcissists, and machiavellian dark triad mfers on our hands.
do you not have an understanding of numbers or math?
there are tens of millions of sociopaths and psychopaths in this country, alone, based on %s and how common those conditions are. and that's IGNORING people who have little to no empathy for other reasons, which there are many
why is it so hard to believe that people flock to jobs that reward their worst attributes. it works for the cops and it sure as fuck works for republican politicians and influencers and shit.
I do, there are just those rare moments where the real weight of how broken it all is hits me in a way it usually doesn’t, and this was one of those times.
Unfortunately patriotism is often just another kind of virtue theater. Some people wanna feel like the heroes without ever actually lifting a finger to help someone.
It would be universally popular and so easy to just do the right thing here, but it just never crosses the minds of some people we elect to represent us.
Of all the celebrities, this is the one guy I respect. He fought for those that those in power decided were inconveniences to be swept aside and forgotten.
I was. Jon Stewart is probably known second most for his advocacy for 9/11 survivors and first responders.
It took me years to figure out how to properly spell both of the their names correctly. I’ve been spelling GL’s name as “John Stuart” for longer than I care to admit.
Mitch McConnell, Senator from Kentucky celebrated as coal country, took time out from trying to cut health funding for Black Lung, the most well known coal miner's disease, to also try and cut funding for 9/11 related respiratory care?
Hard to believe he took his eye off the ball screwing over coal miners just to stick it too 9/11 rescuer toos. Unless some of them were also coal miners?
I wish someone with the same convictions, charisma, moral compass, and ferocity for justice as Jon would run for president. I realize Jon would never do it. We also don’t need more celebs doing it but damn I’d be lying if I hadn’t thought about it
The moral failure of the entire political class is so absolute when a fucking comedian is the one that finally gets things done for firefighters that gave up their health to help others.
So many toxic things. Asbestos, lead, PCBs, fine particle dust, and so much more. Anyone who got hit with dust in NYC that day is basically at high risk for dozens of terrible conditions and diseases.
Doesn't really matter in such a case. Carcinogenic materials are usually not toxic (stuff like lead aside) but simply so small that they can get into your lungs and such. And in such an event, the air is filled with extremely fine particle dust of concrete, glass and other normal building materials. Not that concrete dust is much more healthy.
I am aware, just wanted to add that in case someone thinks that it is possible to make such an event not incredibly unhealthy. And even a log cabin will be, at least when it goes up in smoke.
Even the modern stuff that we think (for now) isn’t tooooo toxic when used properly is generally still toxic when burned or smashed into airborne dust.
Don’t hang around on construction sites or near burning building materials for fun, yeah.
Asbestos was used in buildings back then plus all the damage to the building left the dust in the air extremely toxic. It’s been linked to multiple cancer cases, like exceeding the death toll of 9/11 itself! Our gov didn’t provide any healthcare to these ppl.
If you look up “The Dust Lady” you’ll find more/better info on the subject. 🩷
omg that’s terrible. I remember my high school still had asbestos on the roof (and I graduated in 2021) and there were tons of protests by teachers and parents about it in my school and other old schools but the government did nothing about it.
Asbestos in old buildings is incredibly common and so long as it’s not deteriorating or being broken apart and drilled into (making the fibres airborne and breathable) it’s generally fine.
Two gigantic towers collapsing containing asbestos is a public health disaster. And it’s sad that America spent way more money fighting overseas than helping heal its own citizens.
Unfortunately every commercial or government or healthcare building constructed before the 80s, even 90s had asbestos in it. Vinyl composite tiles? Asbestos. Insulation? Asbestos. Pipe wrap? Asbestos. Void fill? Asbestos. Acoustic tiles? Asbestos.
And as far as I am aware, it is still, to this day, the best material for that we have. We just accept a faster fire spread in the event so that we do not have to deal with asbestos as much.
As others have said it caused cancer but another not so fun fact is that the cities administrations got the past 25 years have covered up the fact that the area was still toxic to be in for months after the attack. So if just the air was toxic for months after, just imagine what being there at ground zero would’ve done to someone
Because it was basically a vaporized mix of skyscraper materials, it was very bad for you to breathe in. Lots of rescue workers got cancer or respiratory issues
As other people said, cancer causing shit. I do want to add that comedian and Daily Show host Jon Stewart has been a huge supporter of the first responders. He’s talked to congress (I think it was congress) about improving the health care they receive.
There was a lot of dangerous chemicals/materials in that dust (asbestos, mercury, and lead - just to name a few of many bad things). It caused cancer and early deaths in a lot of people that breathed it in.
In addition to what everyone else has said, the government hid information about it from the people, until the current mayor of NYC released over 100k documents about it 25 years later. They knew and didn't tell anyone.
Iirc it was at the time where Asbestos was all the rage, and if not Legally Asbestos, then the materials that are legally not asbestos but are asbestos like enough to have the same effect on your body. And also just breathing in concrete dust is not good. And even if you couldn't see the dust in the air, the concentration of particulates was still high enough to cause problems for a long time after. Afaik, more people died not during the direct attacks on the towers, but from the dust and debris that took a long time to clean up and/or get under control.
Asbestos plus lots of burning plastic (for weeks) plus finely ground glass, plastics and concrete is the perfect mix of carcinogens and mechanical damage causing agents to cause lots of problems. Fine particolate gets through the lungs into the blood to cause inflammation. Also not American but it's a no brainer that stuff was going to be bad bad.
Unfortunately asbestos cancer takes about 25-35 years after exposure, so more people will die in the next decade of mesothelioma as with this huge number of people exposed some will inevitably get it.
I was in fifth grade in Queens NY that day. My teacher brought us into the auditorium and played star wars to distract us. We didnt hear the news til our parents came to get us
I was in fourth grade at the time in long island. I remember watching in class. My teachers father and brother worked as firefighters in the city. They had to put my class with another teacher since she was distraught. Being a kid I don't know what happened but I think of her pretty often.
It's always interesting hearing the experiences of others. I was in 11th grade in PA and walked into Spanish class with the TV on, which was odd. I thought it was a movie at first. My teacher said it was a really terrible accident. At this point only the first plane had hit.
Then the bell rang, he turned off the TV and wheeled the little cart into the corner, and we had an otherwise completely normal day. I've read of people in the Midwest that had school canceled, parents all over the country that rushing to pick up their kids from school. Maybe one or two people left early but if they did I never heard about it. Other people online have often said classes were essentially canceled and they watched the developments all day.
We just had classes like normal. We even had to go to the auditorium for a chocolate bar fundraiser during third period.
Midwesterner here! We weren't cancelled but most teachers and students didn't have the mental energy to do normal classes. We spent most of the day in the auditorium watching the news. My last class of the day I just remember the teacher saying that she couldn't watch any more news so we were having a study period. The thing I'll never forget were the kids that had already signed on with the military. Some of them went from jingo to oh no really quick.
It's been so long that I don't remember any specific "moods" the teachers were in, but really I just remember a normal day. I didn't see another tv on until I got home from school, and that's when I learned that more happened than a single plane of an unknown size hit one tower.
The staff must have known what was happening and maybe they had instructions to just "keep it together" for the students? I have no idea. In the end it's always strange to think on because most other people share experiences like yours.
Canadian here - we still had classes, but our teacher had a very serious talk with us about what happened, and told us to stay alert (iirc, there was chatter at the time that Ottawa may have prepping for an attack on Parliament).
The thing that sticks in my brain from that day was some kid on the school bus complaining that this happened on his birthday. Dickhead.
I was substitute teaching at a jr. high school in TX.
Roofers had knocked the tv cable loose during the summer so we were listening to the news on the radio.
A teacher went home on her lunch break and recorded about 30 minutes of the news on a VHS tape and brought it back to the school.
We hooked the tape into the school’s tv system and played it for the entire school.
My son was in 6th grade at that school. I remember going to sit with him in the cafeteria at lunch and the rumors rampant.
My daughter was 4th grade. Her school was watching it on TV as well.
Was a 4th grade kid in Texas as well. Cart got rolled in, and it played until my Mom picked me up from school. We had one kid running around convinced Houston was getting hit next.
That’s crazy. I’m from nowhere near NYC, and all we did in school that day was watch the news. In every class, just watched the news. I couldn’t imagine my teachers just shrugging and getting on with the day.
In NC in 3rd grade at the time and we were supposed to be going about our normal routine of switching classes between math and English and instead we walked into a class room and the teacher wasn’t there and neither was her daughter. Instead it was all of the 3rd graders and the other teacher. They tried explaining it to us but were pretty vague. All I knew was a plane crashed.
The teacher and her daughter missed because the Husband/dad was in New York on a business trip and had to be at the WTC. He couldn’t call out to tell them he was fine and they both were understandably very upset not knowing. Another girl found out the next day her dad had not made it out. So it had impact even here.
We didn’t have any classes for the rest of the day and we all went to the gym and they just had out all the basketballs and jump ropes etc. and let us play until our parents picked us up. Mine didn’t leave work so I just rode the bus home like normal.
I have a terrible memory but it's crazy how much I remember that day. I know that's how memory works but still...
I was in a suburb outside nyc. Everyone's parents worked in the city. The teacher rolling in the TV, the teachers crying, kids slowly leaving the class room being picked up by parents. I remember a few kids who weren't picked up...their parents worked in fidi. The realization of why has always sat with me.
I was estranged from my dad at the time but I knew he worked in downtown manhattan. It was another year before I knew he was still alive.
What a surreal day. I remember getting home and sitting in front of the TV for hours watching what just happened over and over. Multiple families just on our block lost a parent that day.
Interestingly, I have a great memory, but my memories of around this time are nearly non-existent.
I was living in a college dorm just a few blocks away, and we weren’t allowed to go back for a few weeks while they tested the air quality. I can’t remember how I got to my roommates’ parents’ house in White Plains, where I stayed the first few days. I don’t remember her home whatsoever. Not an inkling. I can’t remember arriving to the hotel they eventually put us up in, nor commuting from the hotel (midtown) to classes (Village). I have only a handful of vivid, disjointed flashes.
NYC native here. I (11 yo) was in Brooklyn, but my sis (6yo) was in Manhattan for a field trip.
Her and her class had to traverse through the subway tunnel to get into Brooklyn just to get home. Mom got me as soon as possible. The skyline had a sickening tint that day which I'll never forget. My sis didn't get home until late, but thankfully got home with no injuries.
I honestly don't think any of us living through this event (whether living in NYC at the time or watching the horror on TV as we witnessed a catastrophe) has gotten the therapy we need to process this properly.
I'm from a town close to Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. When it happened, the students somehow knew first and kept telling my social studies teacher about it. He didn't believe them because it seemed so preposterous to him that a plane it the twin towers, until he gave in and turned on the news and saw it. Nothing else happened that day.
5th Grade and Queens as well. I didn't know something was really wrong until my mom took me to Duane Reade after school and hearing the employees talk about the other attacks.
Life damn near stopped for the next week or two. People still went to school and work in most cities, but it dominated every media outlet. Didn’t matter if it was sports talk radio or some other corner of the internet dedicated to a specific hobby, or whatever.
All NCAA and NFL football games were cancelled the following weekend. Everyone had their TV trained on the 24-hour news cycle at all times. Restaurants and bars were mostly empty. Patriotic songs were played on the radio, people stuck US flag magnets on their cars.
Same-ish. 6th Grade in Queens, all of my classmates were pulled out of class one by one. The teachers were crying, and my parents never pulled me out of class.
I didn't know what happened until I got home after school and saw it on TV. My brother was going to Stuy and had to walk back to Queens since all transit was stopped.
Honestly NYC felt more friendly after 9/11, except towards brown people which sucked. 2001-2008 were pretty nice years. The financial collapse is what felt like the start of the end, and covid lockdown really killed any sense of community I felt from post 9/11
It just accelerated your move towards autocracy. It was already started long time before when USA citizens lets Reagan militarize the cops and built more private prison instead of improving social programs.
I was in Brooklyn, I was 9 years old. I didn't really understand the situation, I just remembered the desperation in my teachers voices and the fear that struck them. I dont think any of the children really understood either. They wheeled in the tvs and switched to the news. I still recall the images of the poor souls jumping from the towers, better to fall to their deaths than to burn alive it seemed.
I could still see the smoke coming from the towers for days after the event. Whenever I would look towards Manhattan all I saw was black smoke steadily rising. Continuously for days. I wasn't exactly sure what happened, I just knew something terrible had gone down.
I was in my second week of middle school in Arlington, Virginia. My mom worked for a congressman in the capital building. I called her from the phone in my classroom because I was afraid that DC might get hit. After my sister and I got picked up from school, we went up on a hilltop overlooking the Pentagon and watched all the fire trucks trying to put out the fire. I remember walking to my friend's house the next day (school was canceled) and the whole neighborhood was full of the smoke.
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u/Milestailsprowe 15h ago
I was in fifth grade in Queens NY that day. I remember teachers screaming and crying. The day was over and we were told to read. Parents taking kids out one by one with names being called over the speakers. I was excited when mines was called till I say my mother covered in Tower dust crying.
This country was never the same after