…or are more people than ever trying to exploit 9/11 for personal gain? Be it the GOP or some of the most remarkably tacky 9/11-related commemorative merchandise ever.
If anyone is interested in seeing the tragedy used for keenly dramatic purposes, I refer you to the FX series “Rescue Me,” in which it’s three years later and a group of firemen are still wrestling with the aftershocks of what they witnessed that day.
PAD
• 
I had a similar observation last year. From a blog entry I wrote the 12th:
Not to be disrespectful or anything, but one of the Simpsons episodes airing that day was where Bart and Lisa start “Kidz News” and Bart becomes a shallow reporter, only putting forward sappy human-interest stories with no real informational merit. Then I went and saw news reports on 9/11 ceremonies. I was a little perturbed by how true I found the Simpsons’ parody to be. Again, I’m not trying to underplay the significance of the events of two years ago, I’m just a little saddened about how they’re being exploited by the press today.
—————–
It was a little bit of irony that that particular Simpsons episode aired that day.
It seems that those people willing to exploit the tragedies of their fellow man inevitably wind up in marketing or politics (and really, what’s the difference these days?). It’s more than a little sad, and I think “commemorative merchandise” is about as low as you can get, at least this close to the event. But, is there a gift shop at Pearl Harbor? Gettysburg? Is there anyone in Hiroshima making money on that bombing? I honestly don’t know, since I’ve never been to any of those places myself yet (waiting for the kids to get older for Gettysburg), but I won’t be surprise if I find that there are…
P.S. If this post seems at all incoherent it’s because it’s about 3:30 in the morning, and our month-old daughter thinks it’s her “awake time”.
I work at Newark NJ Ems. We (not I personally) were among the first in to aid NYC in whatever way we could.
Speaking from that perspective, I must sadly disagree. Cheesy momentos via profiteering scum are preferable to nothing at all. In today’s world of “Me first”, and “I got mine, screw the less fortunate”, I am forced to settle for the phoninesss of cheap trinkets, and cheaper political commemeratives. Whatever it takes in the world of ‘short attention span’ to NEVER FORGET.
I’ve been looking at various comic boards all night to see if any offered an observation of the anniversary without being prompted by someone like myself. There is one board in particular that I had high hopes for, as they seem to pride themselves on being somewhat superior to other boards (I decline to name them as I don’t want to start a board war with anyone, especially these guys who seem to need to be seen continually defending their point of view from all the “wrong opinions”). All I can say is I was supremely disappointed. We can recall a comic book, story, panel, or concept, from the most obscure source, but we easily forget or dismiss an act of war, an attack on our home soil that killed around 3,000 innocent people in one day! Can we not take a moment to acknowlege those who gave their lives “running in, while others were trying to run out”?
Thank you Peter for being one of the those who didn’t forget.
Tom
Tom, he’s not talking about simple memorials. He’s talking about using 9/11 for profit. EVERYONE will be memorializing today, the third anniversary of 9/11. The very thought that Giuliani can say that we’ve forgotten about it so fast appalls me, because it simply isn’t true. If you’ve forgotten it, you either have Alzheimer’s or some other type of short-term memory loss. NO ONE is shallow enough to forget.
However, there’s a difference between memorialization and sensationalization. “Rescue Me” is one way to sensationalize it; endless “Remembering 9/11” segments are another. We only need about 5-10 minutes on the national nightly news, not a 20-minute piece on how that day hit home for a local Anchorage man…
One person’s memorial is another person’s exploitation. The GOP was accused of exploitation during the convention, but the one memorial I saw was very tasteful and was comprised solely of 9/11 survivors/widows.
Where’s the line? I don’t know. I suppose it’s like the difference between art and pornography: “I know it when I see it”.
Grev said:”The very thought that Giuliani can say that we’ve forgotten about it so fast appalls me, because it simply isn’t true. If you’ve forgotten it, you either have Alzheimer’s or some other type of short-term memory loss. NO ONE is shallow enough to forget.”
Haven’t been around many “normal” people have you. They have forgotten, they don’t remember the anger, the shock, the pure sense of sadness of what happened. To them it’s more of “Yeah, they did that in New York.”
I’m still angry. I’m still, bluntly put, pìššëd. I know that it would be hard on the families of the murdered, but it needs to be shown every day. To remind those in California, here in Texas, Montana, Wisconsin and everywhere else that it’s moved away from a “personal” experience.
This day in 2001 everyone felt the attacks as a person attack on them, now they look at it as something that happened to “those people.”
Like I mentioned above, I’m in Texas, and there are lots of folk here that just look at 9-11 as something that happened in New York. Those are the people that need to be reminded.
Wish that they didn’t have to be reminded.
jeff
(sorry about the ramble, but I’m leaving it as is, like I said, I’m still Mad.)
I remember that fateful morning very well. I got up about 10:30am because I did not have to be at work until 1pm. Instead of music over my clock radio, there was the two morning deejays talking about the tragedy of the plane crash. The couple of moments I listened to it, they just kept going on about events from an emotional perspective, no real information.
Now considering everything that was going on, you can’t blame them. Even Walter Cronkite broke down for a moment on the air when John F. Kennedy passed away.
Anyway, wanting to know what was happening, I turned off the radio and turned on the TV. You folks know the rest.
It was eerie driving to work that day. Kind of like (for want of a better analogy) the puppet master decided to take a break from pulling the strings and the puppets didn’t know what to do with themselves.
However the thing that sits in my mind the most is all afternoon and evening long, the store manager kept coming round reminding everyone that despite that day’s events, to make the most of every customer and make those sales.
The store I worked for was part of an overall chain of office supply stores, so it’s not as if they were in any kind of a position to “take advantage” of the situation, but it still makes you wonder about people.
“The GOP was accused of exploitation during the convention, but the one memorial I saw was very tasteful and was comprised solely of 9/11 survivors/widows.”
Well, I think the sheer act of having it in New York City within a week or two of 9/11 when the main thrust of your platform is American security is inherently exploitive. That’s just my perception, of course, and hardly unbiased, both as a New Yorker and a liberal. But if there was ANY doubt, it was settled when Rudy claimed in his speech that, as he huddled there in his bunker with the buildings collapsing and people screaming and dying all around him, he turned to his lieutenants and allegedly said, “Thank God Bush is President.”
Oh. My God. He actually retroactively transformed 9/11 into an endorsement for George W. Bush.
In any event, I really just wanted to acknowledge the day but try to say something other than what’s been said already. Which is why I suggested “Rescue Me.” I wouldn’t say it “exploits” 9/11, but rather is informed by it. I mean, if you’re doing a show about New York firemen, it’d have to be, wouldn’t it.
PAD
I really dont like the concept of people that would use this memory of this day for any other than to memorialize(hope that is a real word) the dead and remember to always be alert for the bášŧárdš who were behind the whole attack.
I watched RESCUE ME ,unfortunately i havent seen all the episodes but i do appreciate the show and dont think it is sensationalizing at all.In my reserve unit there are several NY firefighters and rescue workers who were working that day
and there stories are chilling and heartbreaking.
I recall listening to Howard Stern that morning as I was showering and heard something about a plane striking a building and thinking it was part of a silly morning radio gag.When i realized it was serious i turned on the TV right as the second plane hit and was stunned.I could not believe this was happening.
Back to the main point ,how any one could look at themselves in the mirror every day by exploiting this tragic day is beyond me and may they all burn in a special part of Hëll.
I think that the main problem is that with the scale of the events of what happened on that terrible day and the events since, it’s almost impossible not to have the lined blurred between rhetoric and memorialising.
I just watched Bush’s statement to America and I couldn’t help thinking in seemed like a campaign speech for his administration. But I have to admit, on a day like this most people will prefer to be listening to the words of defiance rather than wanting to be told of the bigger and more complicated picture. It’s almost impossible for any politician to comment without it being political in and of itself.
I have strong feelings about the so-called ‘war on terror’ that resulted, but I think today is the one day of the year when we simply say ‘Please, never again’. Tomorrow, we are argue on the ways to achieve that.
John M
PAD,
You know, to simply accuse the GOP of “exploiting” the 9/11 tragedy is pretty low. It would be one thing if you said “politicians”. If you are so blinded by your bias to see it in one party and not the other (I disagree with the whole “exploiting” premise, by the way) then I know a place where you can get a good seeing-eye dog.
Of course, it wasn’t 24 hours after Ronald Reagan shuffled off this mortal coil that you predicted the GOP would “exploit” his death. Well, at the GOP convention, there was a tasteful, touching tribute to a man almost all in that party truly admired, while the Democrats used his son to deliver a speech in prime time. So who did the “exploiting”? Or is the fact that he talked about an issue you agree with make the exploitation of the Reagan name and his father’s death okay?
And it was just last week that Senator Clinton used her husband’s major surgery to make a political point about health care.
So, please.
And as a previous poster stated, we never should forget 9/11, though it seems many of us have. It’s become, to many, another amorphous event or “issue”.
But we must talk about it, remember how angry we were and work toward making sure it doesn’t happen again.
That’s not exploitation. It’s common sense. Joe Lieberman and others get that. It’s a shame so many Democrats don’t.
I wrote about my remembrances of that day in my blog today. You can read it by clicking on the sidebar on Peter’s blog that leads to mine (No Strings Attached). I find myself thinking about what happened 3 years ago more than I did last year. Part of it may be that I am in Atlanta right now so I didn’t have the papers or local news blasting me with the fact that it would be Sept. 11th on Saturday. I didn’t feel like I had been over staturated with memorial which gave me some quiet time to reflect on that day.
Peter David: But if there was ANY doubt, it was settled when Rudy claimed in his speech that, as he huddled there in his bunker with the buildings collapsing and people screaming and dying all around him, he turned to his lieutenants and allegedly said, “Thank God Bush is President.” Oh. My God. He actually retroactively transformed 9/11 into an endorsement for George W. Bush.
Luigi Novi: Yeah, I read about that in the current issue of the Village Voice, which illustrated how he’s told three different versions of that story.
I thought at first PAD was talking about people selling things, like bad, cheap tee shirts or something at first. I knew the anniversary was coming but kept my TV off except for hurricane coverage (I live 13 miles outside of Tampa). Welp, all I know is that I sure don’t care about Rudi’s story, but that is how I felt after the oarless oafs of the Clinton admin. didn’t pursue terrorists and we didn’t need clueless Algore doing the same thing: nothing. You can tell me how upset you are about things and gnash at the GOP but I go with results, no terrorist attacks for the last 3 years, in spite of Dimocrats acting like this is 9/10/2001…
Carl,
And how many attacks were there before? It happened on this administrations watch, so instead of using this to run down Clinton and Gore, perhaps you can stop exploiting this tragedy, too? Neither party should use this as propaganda for their campaign.
Welp, if you don’t want to count the first WTC bombing, the attack on our peacekeeper troops in Somalia (just delivering food), the Khobar Towers and the USS Cole which all happened on Clinton’s watch…… Welp, more power to you then. Need I say more? I thought that was the point I was making, no attacks on US soil, this admin has taken to the war to *them*, while the other did nothing. Oops, but don’t let me disillusion your illusion. TTFN…
The 1st WTC bombing occurred during Clinton’s first term in office. Almost 10 years went by before another incident involving international terrorists occurred. With these as our only previous attacks in country, there haven’t been enough acts to come to any conclusions as to a pattern. One could say that it has been luck, Bush or simply a 9 year terrorist timeline with no real data to back it up. To imply that Bush’s actions have prevented another from happening will be premature to say until well after he is out.
I agree, we will find out after 2008 and his 2nd term on how well he did, thanks for the back-up Fred…
Peter,
I absolutely agree. RESCUE ME is a terrific examination of the effect 9/11 had on the men who responded to the catastrophe…
I wonder, is anyone (other than you and I) watching the show? The quality is ever bit as good as THE SOPRANOS or THE WIRE.
Of course, Dennis Leary of “Rescue Me” infamously ripped off material from the late great Bill Hicks in his stand-up act and comedy albums.
Exploiting dead people is his SOP.
Denis did start his career using Hicks’ material, and for a long time I sort of ignored his work because of that. He appears to have gone beyond that for quite some time though, becoming his own angry young man (not quite so anti-corporate/anti-system, Hicks never would have shilled for Delphi)
However, Rescue Me is quite a good, show which seems very personal and very worthwhile and original work. The intensity of emotion cut with the gutter humor of the show’s firemen (the last ep had pëņìš size as a major plot point) just works.
That I have a major crush on Callie Thorne dating from Homicide has nothing to do with my admiration for the show. Nope. Nothing at all.
Now call me cynical, but isn’t “Rescue Me” an exploitation? I mean no matter how well it’s done, or dressed up, they’re still using it to attract viewers and sell commercials.
If I’m missing something, will someone please explain the difference?
You know, to simply accuse the GOP of “exploiting” the 9/11 tragedy is pretty low.
Yeah, I mean it’s not like someone in the administration implied that if they didn’t get re-elected it would happen again…
Well, at the GOP convention, there was a tasteful, touching tribute to a man almost all in that party truly admired, while the Democrats used his son to deliver a speech in prime time.
So you think that so little attention and respect was paid to Reagan at the time of his death that another memorial was absolutely demanded? There’s nothing wrong with taking the opportunity to have a memorial but if there had been no political tactic there it wouldn’t have been in prime time.
As far as his son speaking, I think he’s old enough that he’s not being exploited, he’s taking an action to get attention on issues he cares about. No doubt nobody would care about his opinion if not for his last name but then if Zell Miller had been a (registered) Republican he wouldn’t have been speaking in prime time either. Both men were put on display because they were divergences from expectation as to their party loyalties.
And it was just last week that Senator Clinton used her husband’s major surgery to make a political point about health care.
So, please.
Are you really comparing using a national tragedy to argue a point with citing an actual family incident?
Hey, if preview is never gonna work again could the button be taken off so it quits teasing me? I thought at first maybe it was a Mozilla thing but it’s not working in IE either.
On Septemer 11th, President Bush was visiting a class in Florida. As he walked into the room, Andrew Card told the President about the first plane hitting the WTC. During his visit, Card whispered again into the President’s ear about the second plane. The President nodded and stayed a good half hour at the class for photo opportunities. By the time NORAD could be scrambled to intercept any more planes (a decision to be done by VP Cheney) two other planes would attack, one of which was stopped by efforts of the passengers.
When it comes to that day, I think of the victims that died because of a religious group’s hatred for the American culture and of its presence in the middle East. I also think of the firemen, cops, and other rescue workers that sacrificed themselves to rescue the people they could from the Towers.
I also think of how eventually, we would learn more about the name Osama Bin Laden, and that he would take credit for the attacks. I tyhink of how the troops were sent to Afganistan to liberate the country from the Taliban and to seek out Osama. The country was liberated, but Osama wasn’t found. He still hasn’t been.
I think of how we needed a leader to stand there and to lead us into chaotic times. A man who would eventually convince us that a war to Iraq would ensure that we would stop one man’s ties to al-Queda, which haven’t been proven as well as tales of active WMD production.
I think of a mayor changed and needed after tragic events. He was going through time times before the attack. He had been cheating on his wife, and had even moved his mistress into the mayor’s mansion as he kicked his wife away.
I also think of the days following 9/11 and its effects. i think of how for those few weeks afterwards people actually seemed to care about others tha themselves. People were nicer to others and wanted to make a difference. People strove to emulate the heroism of those that sacrificed themselves just because they were doing their jobs.
Finally, I think of nearly ten days ago as the leader of this country accepted the nomination of his party towards getting re-elected. Of how the only thing pushed was of how he was there to lead the country out of the rubble that was at Ground Zero. Not of what he had done to better this country, but of how his actions bettered Afganistan and hopefully Iraq. Days after, his vice president would advise the voters that they were the best guys for the job, for if he voted for the opposition, more 9/11s could occur.
Personally, I’d rather watch Rescue Me over all the events that will be done about 9/11 as well as the politics using it as a way to promote a candidate.
Also, for those that are making comments about Denis Leary should take a moment and look at what he’s done in Massachusetts to help out the families of the firefighters killed in Worcester. He doesn’t do it because its the celebrity thing to do, he does it because as a celebrity he can bring more light to it as well showing the other side to the guys that he calls friends, including one that he calls brother.
Oh, and for those making Reagan comments, MSNBC asked ron Reagan why he wasn’t doing a speech at the RNC, and he said, “I asn’t asked.” Ron Reagan has stated in articles with Esquire magazine and on Slaon.com of his distaste to the second President Bush, as well as an alluded comment during his eulogy for his father at the end of the memorial service held that week.
I am in now way defending anyone that cashes in on September eleventh but there is an age old formula that goes tragedy plus time equals commercial opportunity. Think about it. Titanic was the highest grossing film of all time despite the fact everyone went in knowing that a goodly number of the cast was going to expire by the end of the film. I
“I am in now way defending anyone that cashes in on September eleventh but there is an age old formula that goes tragedy plus time equals commercial opportunity.”
Well, no. The axiom, attributed to Steve Allen, is “Tragedy plus time equals comedy.” I never heard “comedy” replaced with “commercial opportunity” before.
PAD
Right or wrong it is no coincidence that most churches have gift shops.
They do? I have to admit, I’ve never been in a church that’s had a gift shop. Ever. EVER. I’ve never even known a church that was affiliated with a book or gift store. There may be, and I’ve wondered if certain churches were affiliated with some bookstores, but I’ve never seen it overtly done. And I live in North Carolina, part of the Bible Belt. As the quaint old saying goes “you can’t sling a dead cat down here without hitting a (church, in this case).”
You can second me as someone who has never seen a gift shop in a church. Mostly been in Catholic churches though, so my results may be skewed?
What do they sell?
Granted, I’ve only been in one church, but it was a biggie. The Vatican has a gift shop. Of course, you normally don’t tour regular churches either.
Faith Chapel, in La Mesa, CA, has a gift shop – also a television studio used to record the sermons, a coffee bar, and a rather sizeable physical plant. However, in many ways, I find their theology a bit dodgy (tacitly endorsing, for instance, the idea that God’s love for you is shown best by how much money you have)…
Peter I did not state that tragedy plus time equals commercial opportunity was an axiom. I said it was an age old formula and I think history proves me correct on that score. That being said you personally responding to my post, even if it was to correct me, is an honor I will NEVER forget. My first adult book that hooked me on reading and on science fiction was A Rock and a Hard Place which I only picked up because, based on the cover, I thought I was getting a choose your own adventure book.
Excluding the church I go to I have been to five churches. Four of which were very big and had a gift shop that sold mostly Christian books. I probably shouldn
Granted, I’ve only been in one church, but it was a biggie. The Vatican has a gift shop. Of course, you normally don’t tour regular churches either.
Only one church, eh? Hmm… that answers a lot of questions for me. But I digress… (that sounds familiar)
Technically, I don’t know if the Vatican can be called a church, per se. It seems to be recognized more as a government and sovereign nation. I would probably liken it more to Washington, DC than a church.
What I’d like to know, honestly, is what people actually thought and felt on and after 9/11 the further away from NYC you lived. Lots of people like to say that everyone was shocked and no one will forget, but I honestly wonder about that. Unfortunately ( and maybe I’m just a pessimist) I think there was probably a lot more of the “wow, that happened to those people in NY” sentiment than we’d all like to realize or think about.
I know I was completely baffled, as it took me a while to figure out what was going on. I had just left my girlfriend’s (now wife) house late in the morning ( I think well after the second plane hit, and maybe even after the first tower came down), not stopping to turn on the tv (mostly cuz we didn’t have one then) and walked down the road to pick up my car at the local repair shop. While I was waiting, I heard something going on on the shop radio, and thought it was something serious, but couldn’t really hear it. I got my car and headed from NH down to MA, about a two hour drive, to see my folks and discovered that my usual heavy metal/rock station out of Boston was doing something different, namely covering what was going on and taking calls from people who needed to vent. I finally got to my parents’ and sat glued to the tv for about 5 days straight.
Two years later, I found myself driving my wife to the hospital for a planned induction (inducement?) of our first and two week over due child. I thought it was odd when the doctor scheduled it for September 11th instead of a day before or a day after, but in the end, he gave my wife some trouble and was finally forcibly removed from my wife (yes, that’s intentionally crude in a poor attempt at comedy) early on the 12th.
I don’t personally know anyone who was affected by 9/11, which I find amazing. I don’t know anyone who was on the planes or in the towers or Pentagon, nor do I know anyone who knew anyone. I suppose that makes me lucky, but it doesn’t change the feeling in the pit of my stomach everytime I see footage of that day.
monkeys
Right or wrong it is no coincidence that most churches have gift shops.
Been in over 30 churches in my life and have yet to see a gift shop. Only thing I can figure is, like Karen, your impression of churches is from limited experience.
I do know someone that was in the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. He works there. I spend a good deal of the morning trying to call him on his cell phone, finally realizing all cells were tied up with emergency personnel. I called his mother and she wasn’t able to get up with him on his cell, or even get a call thru to his Virginia home either. Eventually I had to go to work and watch the non-stop coverage of the attacks, not knowing if one of my best friends (I was the best man at his wedding) was alive or dead.
Fortunately, I eventually heard from his mother that he was OK. He works on the far side of the Pentagon from the impact site, but I didn’t know that at the time.
In 10 or 20 years, I’ll be glad to take time every 9/11 to remember this, the way people remember Pearl Harbor Day. Right now…I don’t need a special holiday to commemmorate it. I think about it every stinking day anyway. It just feels too much like taking the dressing off wounds that haven’t had enough time to heal yet.
You know, go right ahead and tar & feather me, but I’d be happy to forget about the whole mess for a while. Maybe if I forgot about it, I could get in the car or walk to work or do anything without thinking, “I might die today. Some accident or something might come along and wipe me out.” I don’t have much emotional connection between 9/11 and Bush, or 9/11 and the fake Hussein connection, or any of the other things that seem to inflame people to spittle-slinging proportions whenever you bring it up. All it means to me is that you can die anytime, whenever somebody feels like making a point or isn’t paying attention to what they’re doing.
I think people sometimes feel like they have to tear their hair over this every year just to prove to themselves that they’re not heartless bášŧárdš. The media’s done an excellent job of convincing people that only a heartless bášŧárd would be going on with his life instead of stopping and remembering, stopping and remembering, stopping and remembering. [And the scummy-memorabilia people are capitalizing on people’s fear that they might not be reverent enough towards the memory of the victims.] So when do we get to go on with our lives without worrying about whether we’re heartless bášŧárdš? 5 years? 10 years? Until everybody that was alive when it happened is either dead or senile?
That doesn’t mean we should strike it from the records or never talk about it, and it doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t write about it in their blogs if they want [though if somebody doesn’t feel like sharing their feelings about 9/11 on a public website, there’s no rule saying they have to write about it just because it’s 9/11; it’s not an essay assignment]. Remembrance is good, and a certain amount of it is necessary, I think, for perspective. But too much of it delays healing. I suppose what’s too much differs for everybody. I know it’s been too much for me.
“You can second me as someone who has never seen a gift shop in a church.”
Well SOMEone here hasn’t been to Notre Dame. Bought Kathleen a small reproduction of a statue of the Virgin Mary that sits on a shelf in Caroline’s room.
PAD
September 11, 2001. I was living with my fiancee and infant daughter in my brother’s house in Orting, WA. I had just left for work, for the second day of a five-day training period at a cell-phone provider’s customer service department, up in Issaquah. As I was pulling out of the driveway, the news station I was listening to began running their first confused reports of a twin-engine plane striking the first tower. (Like the newscaster on the radio, I assumed they meant some 18-passenger prop-driven puddlejumper.) Anyone who knows the area knows I had quite a drive (considering that the shortest route involved taking Hwy 18 ove Tiger Mountain, and hitting I-90 east of Issaquah). By the time I got to work, the second plane had struck. I don’t think I heard about the Pentagon until we got our first break that day…
9/11 is quite thoroughly seared into my memory, even though I didn’t personally know anyone involved. It didn’t happen to “those people in New York”; it happened to my country.
If, someday, I should think I need reminding, I’ll just pull out “Revelations”, the TPB of Straczynski’s “Amazing Spider-Man” – you know, the one that opens up with his famed 9/11 issue. Currently, I reread that every so often to see if I can finish it without tears in my eyes (no luck yet – dámņ you, Joe!).
What I’d like to know, honestly, is what people actually thought and felt on and after 9/11 the further away from NYC you lived.
I had moved to Denver about 10 days before 9/11.
My wife, in fact, had just start a job in downtown Denver on 9/11. I went down there to pick her up that afternoon. And I recall how empty the streets were, how quiet everything was.
And then I looked down the 16th Street Mall to see Denver’s own “Twin Towers” – the pair of World Trade Center buildings at the southern end of the mall.
This pair, obviously, doesn’t compare to the size and scale of the NYC ones. But having been at the foot of the Sears Tower, one can imagine.
And I stopped and thought, what if Denver is next?
I think, like Pearl Harbor, it didn’t matter how far away you were, or whether you were directly affected by the loss of a family member, friend, etc. It still happened.
I wanted to add, in a separate post, probably the worst explotation I’ve seen so far of 9/11.
And it’s that new commercial for coins “commemorating” the Twin Towers and I suppose the new building they’re putting in it’s place.
The commercial claims that the coin is government authorized (US Mint says otherwise), and that it’s made from silver that was stored beneath the Twin Towers (something else I think is utter bs).
The commercial also says that the coins come from the Mariana Islands or something… obviously, they don’t have the authority to mint coins either.
“Advance release” my ášš. It’s a shame, and I hope the feds go after this company.
Craig:
>I wanted to add, in a separate post, probably the worst explotation I’ve seen so far of 9/11.
>And it’s that new commercial for coins “commemorating” the Twin Towers and I suppose the new building they’re putting in it’s place.
I’m right there with you. The first time that I saw that commercial, my jaw dropped. Anyone knowing New Yorkers or the typical NYC frame of mind would know that sending a financial support to those directly eeffected would be more appreciated than remembering lives lost by purchasing a silver coin.
For those of you attacking Denis Leary, try hearing his side of things. He says he did not steal Bill Hick’s material; he simply also had similar jokes. Only one comedian has the rights to cigarette jokes? Bill and he were friends, and had some similar jokes. Don’t you and your friends make similar jokes? Then when Denis got more popularity, that made Bill jealous. So the rumors starting coming out that Denis swiped Bill’s material. Denis isn’t sure who started those rumors; it could have been Bill himself. Unfortunately, Bill is no longer alive to refute Denis’s perspective on all this.
Denis is a great man for all his charity work with the firefighters, so at least hear his side of the story!
Um. No. Bill Hicks did speak out about Denis Leary using his material. A reporter once asked Hicks why he’d stopped smoking. His reply: “I wanted to see if Denis Leary would.”
Check out this interview with Hicks’ longtime friend and collaborator, Kevin Booth.
http://www.fadetoblack.com/interviews/billhicks/2.html
I’ve been to maybe 15 to 20 churches in my life, all Roman Catholic Churches and I have never seen one before WIHTOUT some sort of gift shop. Sometimes it’s been a huge full out gift shop and occasionally it’s been just something apart of the Churches’ office, however most of the time it’s somewhere between those two examples and is just a small room that is only staffed (usually volunteer) between Church services.
S.Mo:
>Um. No. Bill Hicks did speak out about Denis Leary using his material. A reporter once asked Hicks why he’d stopped smoking. His reply: “I wanted to see if Denis Leary would.”
LOL, accept no substitute. Hicks was brilliant in both his thought and execution. I never get tired of hearing his material. Particularly poignant, were his thoughts on the first U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Did anyone catch 800-Flowers selling all types of “Patriot Day” chotskies (sic)? They were selling 9/11 cheesecake and cookies for crying out loud. They had a whole selection of floral arrangements and other gimmicks to “commemorate the occasion” (my words, not theirs). I wrote them an e-mail about. To their credit, they replied quickly with a real response. They said that they did not mean to offend anyone and they would send it on to the right people. Of course, I never heard back after that and I doubt they took the page down. Just sad and really tacky.
On a different topic, I’ve decided to stop collecting comics again, at least for now. It’s just becoming too expensive (even though I pre-order for 35% at g-mart.com) and too unweildy. My interest has waned greatly especially in light of what they did to the Avengers. The only two books I will pick up regularly are Amazing Spider-Man and….Fallen Angel.
Welp, I like both, Leary and Hicks and the show “Rescue Me”. I believe that that “Rescue Me” is a tribute, not explotation. And as for churches with a gift shop. Well, would you rather put money in a plate and not be sure where it actually goes or purchase something like PAD mentioned that raises money for said church. And I also see no problem in an honest company selling 9/11 items if it says it provides most of it’s money to 9/11 charities. Anything else, they wouldn’t get a dime from me…
Particularly poignant, were his thoughts on the first U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Uh, The U. S. has only invaded Iraq once. We did not invade Iraq during the first Gulf War, because, as Bush Sr noted in his memoirs, it would involve us in a long-term occupation of the country with no viable exit strategy and cause widespread hostility towards the US in the world.
Hmmmm.
As for the whole 9/11 remembrance issue, my biggest fear is that this will eventually morph into a movement to declare 9/11 a national holiday. I can’t think of anything more disrespectful than turning the murder of 3,000 people into an excuse for a white sale at JCPenny’s.
I think most people in the US remembered 9/11 in their own way. My wife watched the retrospectives on cable TV news. I spent a few moments in silent reflection, which of course, ended with me getting pìššëd øff at how much the politicians have exploited the tragedy for their political gain.