Pearl Harbor Day never called twelve seven

[Resuscitated Ethics]

Why the heck is everybody still calling the anniversary of the al-quaida attack "nine eleven"? Sure, there was some defensive irony in "nine-one-one" because that was the emergency rescue number, and nobody knew if it would ever end, and what a nightmare on so many levels. But to use the Bushism "nine eleven" to describe that series of coordinated attacks strikes me as a continuation of the Bush era of endless fear and war and AD-MEN's pitches for war.

I want to re-capture the gravity of September 11, 2001 and not ever use "nine eleven" to describe that day ever again. I feel I owe it to the survivors not to trivialize the memory with a dumbed-down shorthand bit of Bushspeak. As Colbert so eloquently stated "nine eleven TM"

FTN

[NNN0LHI]

1. It was never called Ground Zero either

[Resuscitated Ethics]

6. Ground Zero was the specific A-Bomb terminology hijacked

by the "nine eleven trademark" crowd. Early on the hipster ironists used the term ground zero, it was a way of dealing with the totality of horror. I remember the Roches and their "zero church' offering, and it seemed ok. Regional and a little affected but ok.

Somewhere "nine eleven" and "ground zero" got hijacked by the cynical propagandists. I am not going to play that semantic game any longer.

[trusty elf]

10. One could call this Ground Zero.

:D

[Realityhack]

16. Which is unsurprising seeing as 'ground zero' came out of the Manhattan project. n/t

[NNN0LHI]

24. You mean the words ground and zero weren't in existence until after the Manhattan Project?

Damn I didn't know that.

:P

Don

[Realityhack]

33. Cute.

I used punctuation around the phrase for a reason.

[seemslikeadream]

2. Thank you for asking a very important, overlooked FACT

[dysfunctional press]

3. so don't use the term 9-11 if you don't like it...

most of the rest of the world, however, will continue to refer to it as 9-11.

[Nihil]

36. The "rest of the world" aren't as hung up on the event as you are ...

Many will refer to "September 11th" for that day (as 9/11 is only valid
in US date formats) but, for a lot of the time, references to "9/11" are
either scathing or sarcastic.

It's quite funny at times, seeing the total disconnect between the florid
outpourings of "emotion" about that day and the oblivious ignorance of
what has happened in the world outside the borders of the USA since then.

To me, a "9-11" sounds like a lazy "7-11" but whatever floats your boat ...
:shrug:

[dysfunctional press]

48. "...as hung up on the event as you are ..."

ummm...i'm not the one who started the thread.

but- i do admit missing the fact you pointed out, re: the rest of the world and the way dates are notated outside the u.s....however- it really wasn't the rest of the world's tragedy, in that it happened in the u.s.- we kind of own it, and we'll continue to refer to it(myself and most other in the u.s.ofa.) as 9/11.

that doesn't make me "hung up on the event", tho...i really don't know what gave you that impression- i don't know if i can ever remember even being in the 9-11 forum- and i DO know that i've never posted there...i would guess that that forum is a daily must for those that ARE hung up on the event... :shrug:

[Nihil]

50. Sorry: that was a generic American "you" not a QuestionAll-specific "you".

> i really don't know what gave you that impression

Nothing personal intended.
:pals:

[Obamanaut]

4. I have wondered that also. But what to call it? There needs to be

a name that would evoke the memory of all of the crash site casualties from that day, and I cannot offer up a single suggestion.

[sandnsea]

5. I know it as Dec 7 - and important overlooked fact

Hawaii wasn't a state when this happened. Hawaii being attacked would be more similar to the Cole or the Embassy bombings - although obviously much bigger. New York was in our country. Yes Bush exploited it. But to get pissed at the memorialization is just as sick.

[geckosfeet]

7. Good point. Twelve seven was a much more significant event in terms

of geo-politics.

[gollygee]

8. I think it's because Pearl Harbor all happened at Pearl Harbor

Tragedies like that are often named after the place where the tragedies occurred. But the 9/11 tragedies were at three locations, and so there had to be some way to collectively describe them. And they're often named before blame is placed and/or before there is a court trial to assign blame, so to name it after the person/people who did it doesn't necessarily make sense. Also, didn't Al Quaida do the first World Trade Tower attack several years before 9/11 as well? So there could be confusion there if one person/group is at blame for more than one tragic event.

[akwapez]

20. ding-ding-ding n/t

[RamboLiberal]

26. That would be my answer as well

And I don't see the problem with it.

Now a couple of names from the Bush Admin I'd love to see retired is "Homeland", "Homeland Security" and "Patriot Act". Those give me shivers of shades of Nazi Germany.

[Realityhack]

9. It may be because...

you can easily say "Oklahoma city bombing" or "Pearle Harbor" (note that this is just the name of a place) but accurately describing the attacks of September 11th using location would be hard.

Even in your post you don't seem to have an alternative than referring to "the gravity of September 11, 2001". Calling them the al-quaida attacks would be like calling the attack on Pearle Harbor 'the Japanese attack'. Al-quaida has made all kinds of attacks. A specific set of attacks occurred on September 11th. How is referring to these attacks as September 11th or 9-11 different than referring to other attacks by location?

What term would you use?

[Resuscitated Ethics]

11. So far I struggle with the whole date

when I need too. Colberts heartfelt slam on the republicans smarmy use of the attack imagery affected me, and I justdon't know. But I don't trust "nine eleven TM"

I am hoping the new era of White House eloquence will help answer that.

On that note I wish my hero Obama wouldn't say "two wars" when it is one war on two fronts.

I am glad to finally be able to trust what a leader says. 64 days can't pass quickly enough.

[zipplewrath]

13. Which "one war"?

{div class="excerpt"]On that note I wish my hero Obama wouldn't say "two wars" when it is one war on two fronts.

[Resuscitated Ethics]

17. That's just too much war

I was under the impression, without studying it too much, that the war to 'liberate Iraq' and the war to punish the Taliban were all part of what I have seen officially called "The War on Terror" which I think is cynical, dumb and designed to be endless.

But has any war even been declared? Really, we have to say 'the Korean Conflict' and 'the War in (on) Vietnam' is suspect terminology.

[Realityhack]

21. The issue of declaring war is a partial truth

It is clearly a war regardless of the official status within the US.

[Terran]

41. Iraq is actually an occupation, not a war

if you want to be technical about it.

Actually, calling the situation 'two wars' tends to undercut the bullshit argument that Iraq is part of the 'War on Terror', so I think it's better that Obama refers to two wars. That may in fact be on of the very reasons why he does it.

[Realityhack]

14. But it IS two wars.

One was about the Taliban and September 11th the other was an outright attack on Iraq.

And how else would you refer to the attacks of September 11th?

Sure I am pissed people abused our anger over the attacks to invade Iraq but seriously... how is using the date significantly different than using the location to reference an incident?

[OwnedByFerrets]

38. Twin Tower attacks.

[gollygee]

40. That's not all that happened on 9/11

There was also the Pentagon, and the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. Which is why people don't refer to it by a location.

[Realityhack]

43. So... how do you talk about all the incidents together?

That only refers to one of three locations. How would you indicate you were talking about the entire incident?

[OwnedByFerrets]

39. dupe

[LanternWaste]

42. When I lived in MX, it was commonly referred to as...

When I lived in MX, it was commonly referred to as the "Twin Towers Attack". Stuck with me, and that's how I refer to it... :shrug:

[Realityhack]

44. So what about the pentagon?

Is that how you refer to the entire day or just the NY portion?

[LanternWaste]

45. The entire day...

The entire day... as the one obviously implies the other.

Much like Pearl Harbor Day also refers to the Hickam Field, Wheeler Field, Bellows Firld, NAS Ford Island, NAS Kanehoe attacks.

[Realityhack]

46. Fair enough...

I think September 11th is probably more accurate. The twin towers attacks could be misunderstood to refer to only those two attacks. Just my opinion.

[LanternWaste]

47. No more, nor no less than...

"The twin towers attacks could be misunderstood to refer to only those two attacks..."

No more, nor no less than Sept. 11 could itself be misunderstood to refer to only the anniversary of Hank and Sally Fender.


I imagine it depends upon the intelligence of one's target audience in conjunction with their ability to understand context, rather than the inferred accuracy of a diaphanous label.

Just my opinion, you see.

[The_Casual_Observer]

12. Because this is a stupid jingo-driven country easily led by the nose

using the latest slogan.

[Realityhack]

15. So what term do *you* use to refer to the attacks of September 11th? n/t

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. You beat me to it

Americans are hooked on catch phrases, snappy abbreviations, etc. Just look around this forum; it's packed with 'em.



OMG!!! WTF!!!

[Realityhack]

22. Same question for you. What term do you use to refer to the attacks? n/t

[Oeditpus Rex]

23. 'Nine-One-One,' usually

[The_Casual_Observer]

27. World trade center attack.

[onenote]

28. which was completely separate and independent of the Pentagon attack?

:shrug:

[The_Casual_Observer]

30. What's it to you anyway?

[onenote]

31. nothing more than it is to you. that's the wonder of a board like this

there is no rule that you have to care more than someone else in order to post.

[Realityhack]

32. As pointed out above...

that was one of three locations. Why call it the world trade center attack? Wouldn't it be more precise to use a term that included all of the attacks? How is the date trivialize the attacks more than singling out one location?

[ContraBass Black]

18. At Virginia Tech, the infamous shooting incident is still called "4/16,"

And done so with the utmost gravity.

The more vulgar and sensationalist "VT Massacre" that quickly became popular with the national media never caught on there. To murder or be murdered is not part of the school's essential character, and the incident is not one that the people there choose to identify themselves with. Thus, Virginia Tech does not call it the "Virginia Tech Massacre."

For the first couple of weeks afterward, it seemed to be without a name, and didn't need one. It was almost the default topic of conversation, referred to simply as "what happened," officially as "the tragedy," or bluntly as "the shooting," with the location most of it occurred in, Norris Hall, added to clarify where necessary. As academic operation life surrounding it slowly resumed, "4/16" came into common use.

There are too many victims to be listed inside the space of a sentence, and each of them were as dear to their friends, family, and colleages as the others were to theirs. Thus, it is not named specifically for one or more of the victims. The people there choose not to honor the perpetrator with further infamy, so it is not named for him either.

Beyond the hours and minutes the the killings themselves, the people present remember a full day of terror: the conflicting, confused news reports, the escalating security response, the frantic flight from the campus or the tense huddling in pockets of safety late into the night. So, Hokies refer to that ugly day in memory simply by the date that that brought us so much terror and loss, April 16, 2007.

[RamboLiberal]

25. But outside the campus the rest of us would call it the Virginia Tech Shootings

Most of us know it occurred in April, but probably forget the exact day.

Now I expect 9-11 is the name by which the attacks that day will always be known in the U.S. and probably world-wide.

[unhappycamper]

29. Does anybody remember six twenty five?

You know, like when the Korean War started.

[Thothmes]

37. How about 6/6/44

[deaniac21]

34. Intelligent post.

[Hekate]

35. It was automatic and nearly universal because of its Emergency Call associations

As with so much else, what BushCo did with it afterwards was a travesty. It became "9-11 TM" through no fault of the public, as far as I am concerned.

Hekate

[Iggo]

49. "Pearl Harbor Day"?

I've never heard of anything so crass.

[Resuscitated Ethics]

51. "National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day"

Sorry that the commonly used phrase "Pearl Harbor Day" tripped your umbrage meter mister long-term poster Iggo.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/blpearlharbor.htm
http://www.ccdemo.info/PearlHarbor/PearlHarborDayRemembered.html
http://www.lovetolearnplace.com/SpecialDays/PearlHarbor/index.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/12/20061201-6.html

I wonder what the next generation will make of nine eleven when the direct sting has evaporated from memory? Right now we leave them with Patriot Day:
U.S. House of Representatives Joint Resolution 71 was approved by a vote of 407-0 on October 25, 2001. It requested that the President designate September 11 of each year as "Patriot Day." President George W. Bush signed the resolution into law on December 18, 2001 (as Public Law 107-89). It is a discretionary day of remembrance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Day


Not to be confused with Patriot's Day
"Traditionally it was designated as April 19 in observance of the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. Since 1969, however, the holiday has been observed on the third Monday in April, providing a three-day long weekend. It is also a school holiday for many local colleges and universities, both public and private."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot%27s_Day

[Iggo]

52. On second thought...

:hi:

[Resuscitated Ethics]

53. Thanks everybody for the insight

What I like about this series of forums is everybody can weigh in without prickly gauntlet throwing. What stirred me up originally is the Ayers interview over at Salon, and the two minutes fear, and the continual sloughing off of paranoid ill will I hold towards the liar-in-chief. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/11/17/ayers/

GWB did not invent cynical manipulative government. The neocons may have taken the robbery to a new level but it is by no means an original governmental bent.

Like good jargon should, nine eleven does convey a sense of totality. My generation is doomed to use it as it is. The next generation may make plans around Patriot Day without the numbing crunch of sorrow and cynical mistrust. nine eleven. Damn. Bad day for a lot of people.