Was 9/11 Really That Bad?

[Lord Rahl]

Ladies and gentlemen, I now present the lowest of lows.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...ome-commentary

[size=20pt]Was 9/11 really that bad?[/size]
The attacks were a horrible act of mass murder, but history says we're overreacting.

IMAGINE THAT on 9/11, six hours after the assault on the twin towers and the Pentagon, terrorists had carried out a second wave of attacks on the United States, taking an additional 3,000 lives. Imagine that six hours after that, there had been yet another wave. Now imagine that the attacks had continued, every six hours, for another four years, until nearly 20 million Americans were dead. This is roughly what the Soviet Union suffered during World War II, and contemplating these numbers may help put in perspective what the United States has so far experienced during the war against terrorism.

Read on...

This guy is the worst society has to offer. Mark Levin brought this article up. This is atrocious. This is absurd. Oh, I guess if terrorists infiltrated our security, hijacked our airplanes, destroyed some of our most notable buildings, and killed thousands of Americans, that is isn't so bad. Please...right now I can't even give much more of an argument as this since I'm so outraged. 3,000 doesn't sound that bad? Oh, well, I'm sorry Mr. Bell. Perhaps the terrorists should have attacked while the buildings were full so that 50,000 people could be killed. I'm sorry they didn't kill enough. Maybe they should have killed more Americans. Maybe flight 93 should have hit its target. Maybe instead of the 19 the total of 27 hijackers should have made it. Maybe our acts of retaliation and liberation afterwards weren't and aren't justified enough. I never thought I'd hear anything like this but I guess the lowest of society has proven me wrong.

[General Dissaray]

I think they are trying to say it could have been a lot worse and people need to put it behind them a little more. It has been six years if memory serves, I don't think any event in American history has been invoked for this long after it is done and over with and certanly not with the frequency of 9/11. It was bad, no dout, but it could have been so much worse, that is there mesage, as I interpert it, and I can't help but agree with them.

[Mikelus Trento]

I think they are trying to say it could have been a lot worse and people need to put it behind them a little more. It has been six years if memory serves, I don't think any event in American history has been invoked for this long after it is done and over with and certanly not with the frequency of 9/11. It was bad, no dout, but it could have been so much worse, that is there mesage, as I interpert it, and I can't help but agree with them.

The repercussions from the American Civil War lasted much, much longer. At least through Reconstruction, and some could argue until the Voting Rights Act of the 1960s, ONE HUNDRED years later.

[General Dissaray]

The repercussions from the American Civil War lasted much, much longer. At least through Reconstruction, and some could argue until the Voting Rights Act of the 1960s, ONE HUNDRED years later.

While this is true, do you think they heard about it every week? I can't go a week with out some one bringing this up. Every time the president opens his mouth it is some thing about 9/11 and how we need to make "them" pay for it. The civil war may have had far reaching consiquenses but it is yet to be seen how far we can drag this out. I am personaly of the opinion that this global war on terrorisum could eather last forever or spiral out of controll and spark some thing biger, along the lines of a world war, not just some tiff in the midle east but a draged out throw down bitween most of the world leaving millions dead and millinos more in a bad way. But that is not the point I am trying to make. If we as Americans move past this some things might calm down and get better for the whole world, as an angrey and paranoid nucular armed super power dose nothing good for any one. I mean for ****s sake, one man tires to blow a shoe up and now I can't get on a plain with out having mine xrayed? Calm donw now.

[Mikelus Trento]

While this is true, do you think they heard about it every week? I can't go a week with out some one bringing this up. Every time the president opens his mouth it is some thing about 9/11 and how we need to make "them" pay for it. The civil war may have had far reaching consiquenses but it is yet to be seen how far we can drag this out. I am personaly of the opinion that this global war on terrorisum could eather last forever or spiral out of controll and spark some thing biger, along the lines of a world war, not just some tiff in the midle east but a draged out throw down bitween most of the world leaving millions dead and millinos more in a bad way. But that is not the point I am trying to make. If we as Americans move past this some things might calm down and get better for the whole world, as an angrey and paranoid nucular armed super power dose nothing good for any one. I mean for ****s sake, one man tires to blow a shoe up and now I can't get on a plain with out having mine xrayed? Calm donw now.

Altho I was obviously not alive during the Civil War's aftermath and Reconstruction, I would daresay the people in the south, and those on both sides who lost family in that war, thought about it not weekly, but daily, for the rest of their lives.

For me, I will never forget the image of people jumping from those buildings.

[Idwayreth]

Was 9/11 Really That Bad?

nah

[SickBoy13]

While 9/11 was a terrible tragedy, it does help to know that we aren't loosing 25,000 people in an earthquake.
However, for the USSR statistic, that WAS during war.

[Kscott]

Are you serious? He says:

As an instance of mass murder, the attacks were unspeakable

He says 9/11 was terrible and an act of unwanton violence.

His point is Muslim terrorists do not have the capacity to destroy Ameirca as so many fear. Nowhere close to it which is certainly a very valid point.

[Libertine]

Basically, what his article is driving at is that in the spirit of it all, 3000 people is tiny, insignificant in the cosmos - 3,000 people is a miniscule amount when compared to everything in the universe.

There have been worse things in the world, Hitlers Holocaust, The Russian Purges, The Armenian Genocide, The Crusades... etc etc

Your God should teach you that.

[The Good]

3000 people is actually still a lot of people, and besides, the attack of 9/11 was a great threat to American security.

There is only one good ( not that it makes up for the attrocity ) thing about the attack, America has improved it's National Security policies.

[Scar Face]

In the grand scheme of things, the amount of deaths and destruction, were honestly very minimal, and unimportant. 9/11 was symbolic of the danger the Terrorists posed. Terrorists can hurt America, on its own soil. It was a horrifying prospect, thats why America re-acted the way it did, and it was a completely reasonable reaction.

[bdh]

Ladies and gentlemen, I now present the lowest of lows.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...ome-commentary


Read on...

This guy is the worst society has to offer. Mark Levin brought this article up. This is atrocious. This is absurd. Oh, I guess if terrorists infiltrated our security, hijacked our airplanes, destroyed some of our most notable buildings, and killed thousands of Americans, that is isn't so bad. Please...right now I can't even give much more of an argument as this since I'm so outraged. 3,000 doesn't sound that bad? Oh, well, I'm sorry Mr. Bell. Perhaps the terrorists should have attacked while the buildings were full so that 50,000 people could be killed. I'm sorry they didn't kill enough. Maybe they should have killed more Americans. Maybe flight 93 should have hit its target. Maybe instead of the 19 the total of 27 hijackers should have made it. Maybe our acts of retaliation and liberation afterwards weren't and aren't justified enough. I never thought I'd hear anything like this but I guess the lowest of society has proven me wrong.

If you're going to downplay numbers, you could just as easily downplay the real costs of the war in Iraq in comparison to other major wars like Korea and WW2.
The whole point though is that our society has progressed such that we have a lower and lower tolerance for casualties. To put things into historical perspective really calls into question our progress in terms of what is an acceptable loss, something I believe to be a mistake. As a society, we should probably place more value on human life rather than less.

[Kscott]

If you're going to downplay numbers, you could just as easily downplay the real costs of the war in Iraq in comparison to other major wars like Korea and WW2.
The whole point though is that our society has progressed such that we have a lower and lower tolerance for casualties. To put things into historical perspective really calls into question our progress in terms of what is an acceptable loss, something I believe to be a mistake. As a society, we should probably place more value on human life rather than less.

Well I agree with you, we value life more which IS a good thing. He was merely pointing out the historical oddity that such value is. Perhaps I missed some undertones that this is a bad thing that we value life, however this article still is a good observation. Not an incredibly in depth one, but then again newpapers arent made to cater to in depth people.

[Count of Montesano]

I think 9/11 is historically significant because it is the first time so few have inflicted so many casualties. The only other time I can think of this much havoc being waged by less than 20 people was the crew that dropped the atomic bomb. It should also be pointed out that America has never suffered these kinds of civilian casualties in such a short time.






As an aside - you can point to Russia's losses in WW2 but they were the result of a warfront involving millions of fighting men on both side. And let's not forget that Stalin helped maximize casualties rather than doing anything to protect the populace.

A. British reaction during WW-II - Right, we're getting bombed to hell here lads. Get the women and pensioners to the air raid shelters and the children into the countryside where they'll be safer.

B. Russian reaction - Yah comrade, distribute the molitav cocktails to the little patriots. You old man - go walk into that minefield till you step on something.

[John I Tzimisces]

B. Russian reaction - Yah comrade, distribute the molitav cocktails to the little patriots. You old man - go walk into that minefield till you step on something.

Well, if you replace "old man" with "convicted criminal" then yes.

[Ó Cathasaigh]

The Results of such attacks are not only costing lives, it costs americas economic welfare. Not to put a price on life, but killing everyone in america doesn't equate to destroying it, when you can just destroy it's economy easier.

[Erik]

That article was an obvious troll, and Lord Rahl took the bate.

Whatever sells your newspaper I suppose.

[ssfsx17]

To me, 9/11 was the turning point at which I decided that I ought to get off my butt and learn about modern European history, which was a very enlightening experience. I now understand that if the exact same thing had happened to, say, a Spanish subway or a German office building, the response of the people would be much less shocked and much more well-prepared.

[Richard]

To put things in perspective:

Statistically speaking, if a bus crashes in New Zealand and kills half the occupants, that would be a smiliar percentage of the populace killed to 9/11.

Just as bus crashes can kill New Zealanders, terrorists can kill Americans. Yet one seems a much more terryfying and disrupting prospect. Perhaps New Zealand could declare war on the nation the bus was made in.

[Clibby]

What made 9/11 so historic was not so much the deaths, as bad as they were, but it was the effect it had on American society. It ushered in a new way of life in which America had a new global enemy which strikes fear into Americans in the same way Communism once did. Its not the deaths that scare people, but the realization of terrorism and the fact that terrorists can stirke anyone at any time anywhere even in America.