It was broadcast on every news channel, and a lot of radio stations. For a lot of people, they NEEDED to know what was happening. I know some of them didn’t want to keep kids out of the loop about what was happening. It was initially believed to be a accidental tragedy, but after the second plane, people genuinely thought it was either the beginning hours of an invasion by our near-peer adversaries, or a mass terror attack that could span the entire east coast
Oh no I totally understand why it was broadcast and why people would choose to watch it for themselves, my issue is more about making a bunch of kids watch it
The teachers wanted to watch it and they couldn’t leave us unattended in the classroom. Also, sensitivity around what kids should be exposed to was way more lax back then. Early 2000’s culture wasn’t as conscious of protecting kids psyche as we are now in 2026.
Plus, at first everyone thought it was an accident, but once more places were attacked they realized it was intentional and sent us kids home.
Tbh I don’t think they gave a fuck what the kids saw, every adult was trying to watch the news and kids were just around. They didn’t force us to watch but if you were in class the teacher wanted to watch and wasn’t trying to hide the tv from the class.
Back then they still had paddles in the principals office at my elementary school and when I was acting up he threatened to use it (he didn’t) so schools weren’t remotely like they are today.
I think consideration for kids came second to a confusing mystery emergency and for teenagers they weren’t going to hide it.
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u/Lisylis 14h ago
I am not from the USA so maybe it's something cultural but I do not understand why so many classrooms made everyone watch this on TV