Were you more traumatized on 9/11/01 or 11/03/04 ?

[undeterred]

[LisaM]

1. December 12, 2000

Worst day of all.

[librechik]

8. my answer too

I went into shock then, haven't come out

[lisa58]

9. Absolutely!

[BarbaRosa]

11. That was my first thought also.

[TahitiNut]

21. Ditto. December 12, 2000 was the worst day for America in ages.

Appalling.

[bananas]

26. agree

After seeing the way they stole 2000, I had no doubt they would steal 2004.
I had been expecting something like 911 for years, so it wasn't a shock to me at all, I was expecting worse.

[KT2000]

31. Agree!

and it keeps getting worse. The abdication of the Supreme Court to partisan politics was really the end of this country as we knew it. Nothing that has happened since has done anything but verify that fact.

[never_get_over_it]

35. Actually for me it was Dec 9, 2000

that is when Scalia stayed the vote count - I remember exactly where I wss when I heard - I had just finished doing Christmas shopping at toys r us and I heard on the car radio that the pig had stayed the count. At that moment I knew it was over. My neighbor kept trying to convince me over the next few days that it wasn't over but and I kept telling her you wait and see they are giving this thing to the freak.

[yurbud]

44. in retrospect, yes, because it made the other two possible

[StellaBlue]

60. Me, too.

[Catherine Vincent]

65. same here.

That date was the worst. But Sept. 11, 2001 was bad too.

[SW FL Dem]

73. I have to agree

As much as I mourn the deaths of innocent people on 9/11, nothing matches the disaster caused by the selection of 2000.

[Faux pas]

105. Same here. I'm suffering from Post Traumatic Stress because of it. n/t

[Township75]

2. Could you please add a BOTH or NEITHER choice?

?

[Greeby]

3. Both

I think it was said best by Henry Rollins in a interview on BBC's Hardtalk. He said he was working on a movie the day of the election. And a woman on set said "I feel like I did on September 12th" :cry:

[rzemanfl]

4. Unfair question, I always knew 9/11 possibly could happen.

11/03/04 was more unbelievable.

[babylonsister]

5. 9/11, because I was out of the country and

didn't know WHAT the hell was going on, and when I'd be able to go home.

[Plaid Adder]

6. Define "traumatized."

On 9/11 I was in shock and it took me a long time to realize how bad it really was. I was also very worried about my family members in NYC but fortunately they were all OK.

On 11/03/04, I was still in shock, but I also was clinically depressed. I know what a clinical depression is cause I went through one about 10 years ago, and that's exactly how I felt the day after election day. I wore black, and I was not the only one. In fact I was at a meeting that day with 6 of my co-workers and we were ALL wearing black.

Different traumas, different responses,

The Plaid Adder

[Adelante]

7. 9/11

Maybe you had to be there.

[Nitrogenica]

10. It is a very close call, however the Rove driven spin in the media

those first days after Katrina was very very disturbing. It made me sick to think that American tragedy was being spun by the White House for political gain. In a more fair world this would be a headline talked about for weeks.

http://www.poormojo.org/pmjadaily/archives/004455.html

[chimpymustgo]

14. November 3. Because America was officially dead.

I was deeply depressed for months.

[CrispyQ]

Me too.

In fact, it was so bad my husband talked to me about it. I've never been depressed before -- oh, maybe a day or two, but never anything lasting. Worse, was, I didn't really relate it to the election until he mentioned it.

Now, I'm just numb. Everyday, more & more travesties are revealed & the dimson & his cronies continue to survive & persist. Simply mind boggling!


:hug:

[smirkymonkey]

12. Honestly, 11/3/04 and I live in lower Manhattan.

I was shaken up after 9/11. I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown after 11/3.

[PWRinNY]

13. Very tough call

I'd have to say 9/11, because I still wonder who died in my place. I'm still traumatized over it, still can't watch the images or look at the pictures. 11/3/04 I mourned, for days, even weeks, perhaps I'm still mourning - but I have hope again. There is no hope for those lost on 9/11.

[troubleinwinter]

15. On 9/11, I thought we could overcome it. On Nov. 3, 2004...

I knew we were looking at devastating trouble that we may not overcome.

[in_cog_ni_to]

16. I cried for WEEKS after 911,

I'm STILL crying over the 2000 election thievery.:cry:

[Helga Scow Stern]

17. No contest, November 2004.

People die all the time. It's not that often that a democracy bites the dust.

[durablend]

18. Going out on a limb here...

Neither of the above--I'm going with the day Scalito is officially confirmed. The end of democracy as we knew it.

[PretzelWarrior]

19. ARE YOU GUYS F'ING SERIOUS!!??

I just watched a rebroadcast of "Faith and Doubt" on Frontline. That was a powerful reminder of 9/11 and how I felt back then. I was transported to another world of shock and grief I have never known either before or since.

This is politics--that was regular people who showed up to work one day...forced to jump from their fiery offices thousands of feet below to certain death.

I cannot imagine why you guys can even compare the 2.

[JanMichael]

25. Because the Nazi's maintained control through a stolen election, dear

I am sorry that you see the horror of 3,000 or more folks dying in a disgusting tragedy worse than the tens of thousands killed by us ON PURPOSE as something that cannot be compared.

Would you rather be in a collapsing building, or listen to the bombs dropping a block away in your city because of "politics."

[undeterred]

28. I think it is arguable that the re-election of those who

either allowed 9/11 to happen through their incompetence or facilitated the events of that day (as well as many other crimes against humanity) could be more traumatizing than 9/11 itself.

September 11 has been used as a blank check for all manner of evil for more than four years now.

[Balbus]

30. Sadly, I believe some of them are serious.

[NYCGirl]

32. And that's the saddest thing of all. NT

[AZBlue]

86. It's very sad and very scary. (nt)

[yurbud]

47. It's like the difference between being beat up and raped.

You could be raped without being physically harmed, but the psychological damage would last a lot longer than the bruises and broken bones of the beating.

9/11 hurt far more emotionally, but what happened in the last two presidential elections will cause more long term damage to our country.

[SharonRB]

85. That's an excellent way to put it.

[KnowerOfLogic]

36. OMG. 50k people die on US roads every year. 911 was nothing compared to

the 5th column attack on democracy itself, from right here within our own country, by our own fellow citizens. Not only that, they have succeeded with election theft several times, and with each passing 'election,' american democracy slips that much closer to death. You have allowed yourself to be whippped into a frenzy of fear against the Foreign Enemy, while you disregard much greater threats to the health of america and its citizens which are present around you every day.

[PWRinNY]

37. Guess you had to be there

Your point is well taken though.

[nomatrix]

103. "Guess you had to be there" is the same answer for 2000.

For some members of D.U., the political and information junkies, we saw what was coming. Watched the GOP machine tear up Clinton.

Picking a oil based "war cabinet" told us, it was back to Iraq, but how would they convince America? Watch "Control Room" because the Iraqis didn't believe the "good" American people would let them do it.

I lost friends before 9/11.
My closest friends. I explained what I knew about the BFEE from books, Salon's forum, tabletalk, Mike Malloy from Atlanta, etc.
I asked, "if you knew he was going to start an unjust and endless war, one that would take your grandchildren to fight (they are the right age) would you still vote for him?"
I told her to think about it.

This person is a liberal on almost every count, but clenis.

When Limbaugh was on T.V., the koolaid was drunk.

Yes, she would still vote for him.
I told her I was sorry.
It was the last thing I ever said to her.

I followed that race. I watched every Bush V. Gore hearing/trial, followed the protests, and could not believe the SCOTUS decision. I cried hard for my country, knowing SCOTUS was the beginning of the end.

I tried hard to convince myself I was over reacting. I have not been the same since.
On 9/11
I was between NY and D.C.
Baltimore had that toxic under-city train fire the week before. Never did hear if that was terror.
I agree 9/11 was tragic in every way.
I am grateful so many made it out.

I hope our country makes it out of this horror, but I don't see it. I fear our collapse, and in the rubble there will be nothing left. Our reputation, our economy, our military, our democracy.
Read Sorrow of Empire. Noam Chomsky.

[bananas]

107. yes

For some members of D.U., the political and information junkies, we saw what was coming.
:(

[yurbud]

96. 9/11 hurt in precisely the way it was supposed to--to make those other

abuses possible.

[bananas]

41. "politics" has real consequences for regular people

[StellaBlue]

62. I voted for 9/11, but...

that's because 2004 was the other option. I would've picked 2000 over 9/11. If I had been in NYC or had relatives there, then obviously 9/11 would have been more 'traumatic', but, as it was, I think the reason I fell this way, and that other posters do, is because 2000 is still MORE unbelievable than 9/11. It's not totally inconceivable to me that people might want to attack the US or Americans as a payback to our shitty government. And it finally happened. It IS still inconceivable to me that there are enough idiots in this country, which is supposedly the 'best in the world' and calls itself 'civilized', to even come CLOSE to giving W 50% of the vote. In any year. Inconceivable. That's not my America.

[sleipnir]

69. 9-11 happened to other people, 11-3 happened to me directly.

I worked so hard and had so much hope and joy that night only to be devastated beyond belief.

I've since recovered long ago from the shock of 9-11, I still haven't fully recovered from the last major election.

This time it happened to me, my friends and family, not to other people in planes and buildings.

That is my honest answer to the question asked as to which has traumatized me more. I'm not judging what is the greater tragedy in the scope of humanity, but I have been far more traumatized by the election results. Mostly because the election losses were highly personal. And that's QUITE valid. Ask a question, get an honest answer. Being in Indiana at the time of 9-11 also caused me to have less of a reaction, if you will.

Please don't take this as a dismissal of the 9-11 horrors, but the truth is for me the greater shock to my emotional and mental system was from the last Presidential Election.

[Common Sense Party]

83. I agree with you. I'm no fan of Bush & Co.

...but the horror and vulnerability unleashed on 9/11, then in Bali, Madrid, Beslan, etc., was infinitely more traumatizing for me, and for the nation as a whole.

We won't win elections by minimizing the psychological impact of 9/11.

[laruemtt]

20. i haven't been able to look at

crowds of people in the same way since 11/3/04. couldn't believe they could STILL be that brain dead..........

[baldguy]

22. 9/11 - Doubly so because Bush was president.

I desperately hoped & prayed that he would be able to grow out of his childish fratboy mentality and become the Great President we need in times of crisis.

In order to get through the aftermath of the attack with our dignity & freedom intact we needed a hero - an FDR, a Churchill - someone bigger than the world and better than our enemies.

Instead we got Zippy, the Wonder Chimp. (The wonder is that he doesn't throw his shit in mixed company.)

:sigh:

[LSK]

23. 9/11 only because of shock value

I had people telling me all along that it would be fixed in 2004. And it was.

[ikojo]

24. I was far more traumatized by 11/3/04

After four years of utter failure I thought the American people would have had enough and whomever the Dems put up would win in a landslide. It didn't happen and people fell for the swiftboaters (for which the response was too long in coming on the Democratic side).

I became REALLY depressed. I so looked forward to that election, hoping that Bush would be like his daddy, a one termer.

I have no hopes the American people will choose differently in 2006 or 2008.

So what if we do...working class people do not control the voting machines.

[Seen the light]

27. Like it or not, fair or not, threads like this are what lets people spread

lies and propaganda about this site. JMO.

[KnowerOfLogic]

38. You are correct; but the truth must be told, whether it is popular or not,

and whether it provides ammunition for Orwellian demagogues (sp?) or not.

[MrSlayer]

29. I wasn't traumatized by either.

I was very pissed off by the former and greatly disheartened by the latter. But neither event was traumatic to me.

[Nikia]

33. I was traumatized by 9/11 for a couple of reasons

The first was that I did not hear about it firsthand. I was at work. A man in the warehouse heard it on the radio and told someone else who told me who incorrectly said that that a lot more buildings had blown up than just the damage by the planes to the Pentagon and the World Trade. This made me think that we were in serious crap.
My sister also was a flight attendent for one of the affected airlines at the time and I was concerned that she may have been on one of the flights.
As for 11/3/04, even though it majorly sucked, I was aware that it could have happened ahead of time and was awware of what really happened.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

34. Two entirely different emotions for me

I was truly traumatized by 911 and couldn't sleep, worried about friends and family who worked there, had a headache for a week, was glued to the TV and eventually had to disengage and spend a couple of days with the chickens on the farm.

Election Day I was personally not surprised, so that helped. I was disappointed. I was very concerned for young folks I know who were so very disillusioned. But I basically don't trust government anyway, so I wasn't really traumatized. I think they are ALL stinkers.

[Geek_Girl]

39. Katrina

Seeing all those Americans left in desperate straits for days without any help from the federal government broke my spirit and I don't want to be an American anymore. I didn't feel that way after 9/11 and I didn't feel that way after the 2004 election, but I feel that way now.

[Marie26]

61. Agree

9/11 was traumatic, but at least we could be proud of how our country responded. In contrast to Katrina, where the country just abandoned people. I was proud to be an American on 9/11; but I was ashamed during Katrina and it hasn't really faded yet.

[Peace Patriot]

40. March 20, 2003. The "shock and awe" invasion of Iraq. Slaughter of

tens of thousands of innocent people (100,000 according to the British doctors' report, from the initial bombing alone), for nothing, gratuitously. For war profiteers, for oil. That the Bush junta could do that, and nothing and no one could stop them, was the profoundest shock I have ever suffered, aside from the JFK assassination.

Millions and millions of people all over the world, and here at home, marching against it, to deaf ears. 58% of the American people against it, before the invasion, before all the lies were exposed and the full horror and cost of it were known. Across the board in all polls. 58%! To deaf ears. The refusal of France, Germany and most of the UN to participate. To deaf ears. The UN weapons inspectors pleas for more time. To deaf ears.

9/11 was awful. But awful things sometimes happen. Pearl Harbor happened. Hitler happened. The Civil War happened. Vietnam happened (upwards of 2 million Vietnamese and Southeast Asians slaughtered for nothing--for war profiteers). The key to the worst shocks--for me anyway--is in how you feel in terms of action. 9/11 could have been prevented, in any number of ways. That is an action item--finding out why it wasn't prevented. And the main questions afterward were, who did it, why, and how to catch them? I don't think any of those questions have been answered yet, but they are answerable, and justice is possible. You can take action on it.

This is not to say I wasn't shocked by 9/11. And (somewhat less so) by Nov. 2, 2004. I was. But the shock that is hardest to recover from is the one that you can do nothing about. And that, for me, was the invasion of Iraq. And a related shock was Guantanamo Bay and US government torture of prisoners. Deep shock. Helplessness. Irreparable damage has been done to our character, to our ethics, to our moral fiber as a people--as well as irreparable harm to our government, our country and our democracy--by these actions, the Iraq war and torture.

9/11 itself didn't harm our character, or ethics, our moral fiber as a people, nor did it harm our government, our country or our democracy, in any essential way.

Let me put this another way. When you are attacked, no matter how bad it is, it is certainly shocking, but the shock is not permanent. You can RESPOND. You can fight back in some way. You can act to defend yourself and others. You can commit to working for a better world. Shock, anger, response, action!

But when someone attacks others IN YOUR NAME--and does them untold harm--and you can do nothing to stop it, you are left with a feeling of paralysis and permanent, undislodgeable sorrow. Shock, anger...and there is no response and no action that can undo it.

You can crawl out of your bed of sorrow and protest the NEXT deaths, the on-going deaths, and so on. But you never can quite get over how utterly helpless you were to prevent this awful thing done by YOUR government, in YOUR name.

I still feel that way about Vietnam, which did not come upon us as one initial shock, but a growing realization of the wrongness of US policy, brought home by the increasing death toll. And I did protest it--and can say that the least that we accomplished was to prevent a nuking of Vietnam. We weren't able to stop the war. The Vietnamese won it, is how it came to an end. But it could have been worse. And I think Nixon's hand was stayed, as to nukes, by the protests. But those were different times. We were just then learning "the lessons of Vietnam." We should have been, in 2003, all grown up by now.

That the Bush junta could just, by fiat, wipe out all our progress toward peace and justice, and especially toward just and lawful use of our military might, was the profoundest shock I have felt in the current era.

I think the key to attempting to repair our democracy--and ALL the harm from Bush policy--is election reform. We now have in place an election system that is inherently non-transparent and fraudulent, and that will keep fascists in power forevermore, if we do not change it.

That is the way of healing for me. I was less shocked by Nov. 2, 2004, because I knew something about electronic voting, and pretty much figured out what they'd done by the end of that night. Nov. 3 made me angry, but I can't say I was terribly shocked. I have since realized that the election was stolen long before election day, during the 2001-2004 period, when Bushite corporations were permitted to get control of our election system. Permitted by the Democratic Party leadership. I'm not shocked by that either (although at first I was amazed at their silence, and thought maybe they'd all gone insane with fear of the Bushites or something. What could explain it?) But when you look at the whole situation--the complicity of much of the Dem leadership in the war--and the corrupting boondoggle that was unleashed upon the states, with the HAVA billions--it's saddening and infuriating, but not shocking.

So I'm going to mark "other"--for March 20, 2003, the day America began blowing all those babies and grandmothers and other innocents to smithereens, at the order of the psychotic puppet whom we could not stop, whom we were not permitted to remove from power, and who is still running this sick, sick country.

[undeterred]

42. thanks for your thoughtful answer

[boobooday]

45. For sure

I was listening to Mike Malloy when the war started, and he just played the SOUND of "shock and awe" with no commentary for five minutes straight.

And all I could think about were the people on the other end of those bombs.

[Peace Patriot]

I will say it's a hard choice, though. And maybe it's a bad question, in

that sense. It's been one big shock after the another.

11/00
9/11/01
3/20/03
5/04 (Abu Ghraib)
11/2/04
11/3/04

And that may be the truth I'm trying to get at. The sum total of major shocks is tremendous, almost unbelievable that these things could happen, so many of them, so quickly--and some of them sunk to the depths of depravity. I've thought of several more, just now--Paul Wellstone's death (and, in my opinion, probable assassination), the doctoring of the exit polls by the war profiteering corporate news monopolies on election night, the failure of AF/NORAD standard procedure on 9/11 and failure to properly investigate it, the anthrax attacks and failure to properly investigate it, the president caught breaking the law on spying, and being proud of it, and vowing to continue it, and his not being immediately impeached...

So many major shocks. The important thing, I guess, is NOT to go numb. To keep democracy alive. To face the role that history has given us--to somehow pass this democracy along to the future, or at least plant the seeds of its recovery--and fight back, and never, never, never give up.

[bananas]

56. you left out a few

the space shuttle disaster, the invasion of Haiti, the attempted coup of Venezuela, Medicare Part D, the skyrocketing deficit and national debt.

[Rich Hunt]

43. are you insane?

Do you know what some people have gone through because of 9/11??

As someone who was directly affected by it, I take offense to the comparison.
I was traumatized, and my life never recovered from it. I'm still dealing
with the fall-out.

I'd rather have a Republican president than another 9/11 any day.

Jeez-us.

[undeterred]

46. 11/03/04 was not the election of a Republican president

and if thats all you think it was, then I don't even know where to begin...

[Name removed]

48. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

51. Deleted message

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[robbedvoter]

49. 12/12/04 as well. but 11.03 more than 911 - and I was THERE!

Saw the towers fall with my own eyes - but didn't cry the way I did those other occasions.

[nedbal]

67. 11/03/2004 & I responded to 9/11 that afternoon in lower Manhattan

[CornField]

50. I think you are comparing apples to oranges

[ScreamingMeemie]

52. ABSOLUTELY no comparison. 9/11/2001...fearing for our nation

as we looked to be under something HUGE. Worried about my children, my husband, our families in major cities around the country. 11/3 I was disgusted, but 9/11 is something else altogether.

[Initech]

53. Neither. Two words: Mission accomplished.

Ugh, every time I see that picture, it gets me so pissed off to the point where I want to start destroying things. Now that's traumatized! :nuke:

[MANative]

54. I worked in Manhattan for 7 years and was

in my office in mid-town on 9/11. Saw things that day that will haunt me till the day I die. My brother works at the Pentagon, and was scheduled to go to CA that morning. He got called to a last minute meeting at Pax River, but 2 of his direct reports got on the plane - the one that crashed into the Pentagon. 2 other people from his dept were in their offices in the Naval section and were among those killed. We didn't know where he was until 7:30 that night. I think I'll count 9/11 as my most traumatic, but 12/12/00 is a real close second.

[fujiyama]

55. After 9/11

I felt enraged and then deeply distressed over what had happened and what might happen after that. I felt greif for those that died. Having this dumbfuck in office didn't make me any more confident in the future either. I'll admit though that I did try to give him the benefit of the doubt in the initial weeks after 9/11...so when Gore made that speech about feeling deceived by Bush, I could truly identify with it. I also worried about my family's safety because we might be mistaken for Arabs...

As for 11/03, I had always seen the possibility of it going either way but it was difficult to still accept the outcome. Fortunately I had found this forum by then so this was great support for me at the time. In a way though, I'd say that 11/03 was really the end of all hope. It would be difficult to describe the feelings. I lost confidence in the country that day - much of which will likely never be restored. What really shocked me was how great the loss was - not only the presidency, but all those senate seats as well. Looking back though, I suppose December 12th was the day democracy died. After that all these other events (9/11, Katrina, spygate, 11/03) have all been several nails to the coffin.

[tlsmith1963]

57. '04 Was Worse

9/11 was awful, but other countries were sympathizing with us & the country was united. Now, this is all gone. This is why Bush's re-election was worse for me. I have never really recovered from it. I just want Bush & the others gone from office. I hate what they have done to my country. What a difference four years makes...sigh.

Tammy

[KatieM]

58. I'm totally shocked...

that so many people would choose his re-election of what happened on 9-11...What is wrong with you People?

Didn't you see the planes crash into the towers?

Didn't you see the pictures of Pentagon and the debris field in Pennsylvania?

Those poor Pilots/ Flight Crews that were most likely sliced to death..

This poor innocent people who woke up thinking it was a beautiful day only to witness the end of their lives in a fire-ball?

Did you look at all the faces of the Police and Firemen who rushed into the towers saving as many Americans only to be pulverize embedded into the concrete dust forever lost?

Sickening that so many here feel the re-election was such a dark day in American history...

Sad...sad...sad...

[StellaBlue]

63. see my post above

Which was more 'traumatic' to you: The 2000 'election' or the hundreds of Iraqis that have been killed in the past week?

Hmm?

The reason people are saying the election was more traumatic is because they see it as more far-reaching AND they didn't have any loved ones actually involved in 9/11 (my guess). And if you don't have any relatives that are innocent Iraqi civilians being slaughtered by our troops and the terrorists now flowing into Iraq, then those numbers on the crawler at the bottom of the screen, while they make make you pause or make you angry, do not have the same IMPACT with you, on an emotional level, as the night of the election.

[KatieM]

80. But....

You're moving the goalposts StellaBlue...

The topic centers around 9-11 and Bush's re-election..

Now you infer the reason many people choose 11/04 is that the re-election of Bush as more far reaching..

Well, would things in Iraq be much different today had Sen. Kerry been elected? Prolly not, so your position is weak..at best.

Now you ask me if those hundreds of Iraqis that have been killed in the past week was traumatic to me.

Yes..it sucks...but as I mother I will say that those 50,000 Iraqis mainly children under the age of five that died each year under the UN sanctions was far more traumatic...wouldn't you agree?

[StellaBlue]

81. for them but not for us

Most people in America didn't even realize thousands of Iraqi children were dying because of our policies.

[Name removed]

66. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AZBlue]

88. What a nice way to welcome new people to the site!

So everyone has to believe the way you believe or they aren't welcome??

[Catherine Vincent]

102. I don't welcome all new people that way.

Only the ones that I know won't make it. And it appears I was right.

[AZBlue]

110. Welcome to DU!

Don't worry - most people on the site aren't as rude as some people have been to you here in this thread!!!

[Marie26]

59. 9/11

So many people died on 9/11, and we didn't know what was coming next, or even if the country would survive. It was shocking, sad, & chaotic. The 2004 election was just an election - I was bummed for a while, but not really surprised. Nobody died on Election Day, no one was attacked. It's hard for me to try to compare those two events. 9/11 was a complete shock; Bush's re-election was not.

[undeterred]

64. The man who allowed our country to be attacked on 9/11

was re-elected as president. People did not and still do not apparently understand that he was complicit in this event - instead of holding the Bush regime accountable for it, we the people gave them a license to carry out murderous acts all around the world, holding this event up as a blank check.

But nevertheless, I only asked which was more traumatic to people.

[Swamp Rat]

68. Other: August 29th, 2005

:(

[incapsulated]

70. What happened to you in NO, should have been listed with 9/11

9/11 in New York (where I live) and what happened in New Orleans were 100 times more tramatic to me than the fucking election, which didn't really surprise me all that much.

[chalky]

101. Yes, indeed.

n/t

[Ladyhawk]

71. Had I been a New Yorker, my answer might be different.

I was very upset by the collapse of the WTC yet had no clue what it would do to the country. I feel badly for those who lost loved ones, but I also feel badly for our nation that has been led down the wrong path. Ever single excuse has been "9-11, 9-11, 9-11...9-11 changed everything." Yes, it did, but only because we let it change everything. :(

So, I was more upset by the "election" last year. I cried every single day for months.

In a way, one tragedy led to the other. 9-11 was an ingredient in losing the election, whether it was stolen or not.

[Nutmegger]

72. 11/03/04

Here we had a chance to evict the evil Bush Inc and what happened? Ugh, it makes me sick just thinking about it. Then we hear the reports on Diebold and voter intimidation. Needless to say, I couldn't think straight for weeks.

[bling bling]

74. 9/11 definitely more traumatic. But 11/3 was more depressing.

I felt shocked and disgusted and sad on 9/11, but also felt united to my fellow citizens and to our friends throughout the world.

I felt shocked and disgusted and sad on 11/3, but felt completed divided from my fellow citizens, embarrassed, and completely disappointed in and let down by my country. That's why it was more depressing.

[AZBlue]

87. Well said! (nt)

[mikelewis]

75. I wasn't expecting 9/11 - a hit you see hurts 10 times worse...

[FreedomAngel82]

76. 11/03/04 for sure

Funny thing is 9/11 didn't really phase me. I didn't cry or anything. :shrug: It was like my subconscious was waiting for it to happen or something. But November 2nd, 2004 I stayed in bed most of the day crying and still crying now. :(

[WernhamHogg]

77. I picked 9/11

I voted 9/11. Before 9/11 I was much less cynical in my beliefs regarding politics. I have always voted Dem and I had serious doubts about the 2000 election, but I was pretty naive when it comes to politics. 9/11 was a huge bucket of cold water for me which made me wake up and pay more attention to politics. I was disappointed in the 2004 election results, but by that time, I was expecting them to cheat so it wasn't a huge shocker for me when they "won".

[britpopper]

78. 11-03-04

After the horror of Bush's fault in 9/11, I thought we had the chance to make it right, but the shock of election night now impacts generations to come...

[LittleClarkie]

79. Gotta be 2004

For those who can't believe those of us voting that way, someone else had a good point. If you were anywhere near New York, it was happening to you. But most of us worked our asses off to get John Kerry elected, so the experience for us is more universal.

Plus, I was still a sheeple in 2000 and 2001. I often get sad about 9/11, but I just don't get the same ache in my gut looking at where the Twin Towers used to be vs. looking at either the Shrub and/or Kerry and wishing things were different.

And, if you want to play a numbers game about dead folks and such, give it a minute. The war in Iraq will equal or surpass the dead from 9/11 pretty soon.

The thing I regret most about 9/11 is how much damn power it gave Bush, how much he relies on it as a shield, how much the country went along with it for a while there. I live for the day when we are far enough away from it that it doesn't play such a role in our psyche in this country. Because of it, we fight a war against a concept. Like watching someone trying to fight air.

[DistressedAmerican]

82. 9/11 Traumatized Me. The Other Just Pissed Me The Fuck Off!

[SharonRB]

84. This is a tough question

I was traumatized on 9/11, but got over it. The trauma of 11/03/04 just keeps on giving, like the Energizer bunny. It never lets up.

[AntiCoup2K4]

89. Definitely 12/12/2000

Because there never would have been a 9-11-01 without it.

[mmonk]

90. Hard question. More scared on 11/03/04.

When you know what's going on, it makes things even more frightening.

[annabanana]

91. 9/11 cut like a knife. . .11/03 is more like cancer

9/11 bled a lot.. but it is possible for me to heal (not having lost someone personally)

11/3 is a painful, lingering, corrosive, debilitating illness that can corrupt and kill me if we don't get some chemo and good doctors..

[Greyhound]

92. 9/11, not even close.

Maybe because I knew we would lose when Kerry got the nod.

[foreverdem]

93. 11/3/2004

And I watched both towers fall from the window of my office building. 2004 was just a confirmation that the next 4 years would be just as hellish as the previous 4. And we'd be left with a country we no longer recognized and a government still out of control.

[Gemini Cat]

94. 12.12.00 started it all.

After that came 29.08.05. then 11.09.01.
29 August was much much worse than 11 September.

[IChing]

95. FREE DVD "CONFRONTING THE EVIDENCE " 911- I voted this choice.

I was traumatized and manipulated because of 911, the election didn't traumatized me, just deeply sadden me.
To be traumatized by definition is to be:

subject to lasting shock as a result of an emotionally disturbing experience or physical injury
this opened up national manipulation by the junta .


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[smb]

97. A Show Of Class

DECEMBER 13, 2000

SPEAKER: ALBERT GORE JR., VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, DEMOCRATIC PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

Good evening. Just moments ago, I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the 43rd president of the United States, and I promised him that I wouldn't call him back this time. I offered to meet with him as soon as possible so that we can start to heal the divisions of the campaign and the contest through which we just passed.

Almost a century and a half ago, Senator Stephen Douglas told Abraham Lincoln, who had just defeated him for the presidency, "Partisan feeling must yield to patriotism. I'm with you, Mr. President, and God bless you." Well, in that same spirit, I say to President-elect Bush that what remains of partisan rancor must now be put aside, and may God bless his stewardship of this country.

Neither he nor I anticipated this long and difficult road. Certainly neither of us wanted it to happen. Yet it came, and now it has ended, resolved, as it must be resolved, through the honored institutions of our democracy. . . . Now the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken. Let there be no doubt, while I strongly disagree with the court's decision, I accept it. I accept the finality of this outcome which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College. And tonight, for the sake of our unity of the people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession. I also accept my responsibility, which I will discharge unconditionally, to honor the new president elect and do everything possible to help him bring Americans together. . . .

Other disputes have dragged on for weeks before reaching resolution. And each time, both the victor and the vanquished have accepted the result peacefully and in the spirit of reconciliation. So let it be with us. I know that many of my supporters are disappointed. I am too. But our disappointment must be overcome by our love of country. . . .

Some have expressed concern that the unusual nature of this election might hamper the next president in the conduct of his office. I do not believe it need be so. President-elect Bush inherits a nation whose citizens will be ready to assist him in the conduct of his large responsibilities. I personally will be at his disposal, and I call on all Americans -- I particularly urge all who stood with us to unite behind our next president. . . . This is America and we put country before party. We will stand together behind our new president.

Thank you and good night, and God bless America.

[Freedom_Aflaim]

98. We all die sometime

Democracy didnt have to.

Now the honest answer to the question is that 9/11 was far more traumitizing for me and most of America.

But Im temporal and I'll be gone by the end of this century.

Only an extremely small handful of people who witnessed 9/11/2001 will still be alive on 9/11/2101

But the devasting effect of 11/3/04 will be this country long after.

[fortyfeetunder]

99. Sometime back in 1999

When I read that * had amassed almost 100 million dollars for his Presidential campaign, and I just about crapped on myself. I thought, geez this guy is trying to buy the election!

[davekriss]

100. September 11, 2001

I lived in NY metro back then. I never expected anything like what we witnessed that day.

After December 12, 2000, 2004 was easily predictable. No surprise nor trauma there. However, I do mourn for our old illusions of democracy and fear our current, fascist state.

On edit: Actually, even the 2000 election was predictable after the laughingly obvious impeachment in 1998.

[Fleshdancer]

104. by far, 9/11

politics angers me, but a the biggest terror attack in history traumatized me. Speaking of 9/11, NPR had an extremely sad story about one of the fire fighters who responded at the WTC that day...he died recently in his 30's. Doctors found glass and human bones dust lodged in his lungs. I couldn't stop the tears from falling.

[BlueIris]

106. For me, the trauma I endured on 11/4/04 was worse than 9/11 or 11/3.

11/4 was when it sunk in--how much we had lost--right after I heard about EE's health situation. That day was probably one of the three worst of my entire life.

Another one of those three would probably have to be 1/7/05--another day upon which what had been my fairly optimistic hopes for a long-shot victory were officially crushed. The despair I felt on that day was overwhelming and oppressive. The despair of both of those days went beyond what I felt after my beloved grandfather's death, the day I was told I won't be able to have children, or the day a former boyfriend left me for that reason. There's only one thing worse than the death of a love or loved one and it's the death of a hope.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

108. 9/11 was like someone shooting me in the leg...

Hell, yes it hurt. It hurt for a long time. (still hurts a bit, in fact)

11/3/04 was 59 million people willingly giving them permission to do it again. 59 million people essentially saying "shoot me again, but this time, aim for the center mass." 59 million people willingly giving permission to the man personally responsible through sheer negligence, (or deliberate malevolence, if you believe in MIHOP) to do it again.

Ignoring the fact that the man was the son of the man whose policies put the attackers in power in the first place, Election day was 59 million people believing that this man who had the largest attack on American soil happen on his watch is the only one who can "protect us" from those that wish us harm. Am I foolish enough to believe that nobody would vote for him? Hell no. He's always going to have sycophants who will gaze into his eyes like adoring puppies (which is why Barney seems to want to get away from him all the time. The dog realizes that he has enough pets already.) But I seriously didn't think the American populace was that damn stupid.

The fact that 59 million people were that fucking stupid made me lose a lot of faith in the American people that day.

I wish it didn't hurt more than 9/11. I really do.

[HughBeaumont]

109. 11/3/2004.

I lost hope in humanity. People who are smart enough to know better in regards to what these shitheads are/were capable of gave them the keys to do it all over again . . . and again . . .and again. It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the biggest mistake ever made by anyone in the 80s-90s was allowing reich wing-run corporations to buy media companies. Because no one called them on this, you now have a country full of easily-led fucking sheepshit that will defend the broadcast Repuke ideology of fear, hatred and non-factoid talking points, courtesy of your local cable news channel. Might makes right. The Idiot has won.

9/11 shocked me, but didn't traumatize. 11/3 hurt me, pissed me off and made me depressed for months.