For some reason this year a lot more 9/11 denialism has come across my social media feeds. I wonder if it’s because of the upcoming election.
And I just can’t…
I’d had enough a decade ago and wrote something then; I’m repurposing it here.
I was working on Wall Street the day it happened, just half a mile away. I’d only moved to the US 2 months earlier.
I spoke to people who were at WTC as it happened. I consoled a man who ran away rather than trying to help people, and thought this was a breach of his identity as a Christian.
When the towers collapsed the amount of dust caused a total black-out; you couldn’t see anything outside of the windows. Afterwards I could see a set of footprints in the dust, as if it was snow.
Eventually we were told to leave the island and I had to walk home (about 6 miles in massive hot sun). I was really impressed; on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge all the office workers had brought out their water coolers and stuff and were handing out water to us as we walked past.
I still didn’t have any furniture in my apartment; a TV sitting on a stand, but no sofa or chairs; only an office chair I was using for the computer room (no tables for the computers either; they were sitting on their boxes). No mobile phone (I bought one the following weekend!) but I did have a landline that still worked.
Not my happiest of days.
Oddly, the next week I was scheduled for DSL install. I expected this to be canceled ‘cos all telco technicians would be working to fix Manhattan… but, no! They actually installed it a day early!
And then the denialism…
Please, just shut up.
There’s enough about that day and it’s consequences to be sorry about. Deranged rantings from loons does not help.
Whenever a “9/11 truther” intrudes on my presence I get angry at that idiot, where I would rather continue being sad for the pointless and useless loss of life; those lost on that day, those of the emergency services lost on that day (or as result of dust inhalation, etc), and those lost overseas as a result of the war.
All a waste of life. All pointless. All for nothing.
I remember the heroes of the day; those office workings giving us water, those who helped bolster spirits, and those who emergency workers who rushed into peril to help those in need.
I remember crying, I remember turning off the TV because I couldn’t handle it any more.
I remember talking with my parents back in England. I remember meeting my girlfriend the next evening and taking part in the vigil at Washington Square Park.
I remember the despair at seeing hate graffiti in Manhattan the day after. I remember the anger at the idiotic US government response. I remember my girlfriend walking in marches to stop the war (I didn’t march because I didn’t think it my place to march against the US government, since I wasn’t a US citizen).
I remember Fox News. I remember Fahrenheit 9/11.
I remember the parasites. I remember the stores opening to sell ‘personal protection’ against additional attacks; “office parachutes”, plastic to seal windows against air-born infection, personal bio-suits. (There was a store 2 blocks from the office)
What I don’t need is you.
Please… shut up.