18 years ago, society really did change.

[BA Deere]

18yrs ago I can tell you exactly what I was doing, it was a beautiful day and the neighbor said I could have the last cutting of hay on about 10 acres, i was mowing with a H Farmall and no5 mower.   I had Good Morning America on before I headed off and heard a plane hit the Trade Tower, didn`t think anything about it..whatever a plane hits a building in New York.   I finished about noon, drove back and met the mailman, I hadn`t heard any news being outside all morning, but the mailman acted weird, my Wife was scared and crying "This is going to be war!" ...what a plane hits a building in New York and everyone thinks it`s the end of the world???

I caught the coverage and replays (you couldn`t miss it) I thought "OMG this is big!".  Stock market shut down, no planes flying at night over my place, like back in the 1800s.  The experts said in the days after "from now on, we will refer history as pre 9/11 and post 9/11" .   From about 2002 to 2008 I was very occupied in a personal fight for my life, we didn`t have a personal computer at home until 2008 and I didn`t have the luxury of paying attention to the news or how society changes. 

So in a way, I`m still stuck in a time capsule "pre 9/11".   The WWII generation is gone, opinions on drugs have changed, everyone got a tattoo, socialism, even communism no long has a stigma, disrespecting the Flag and America are no longer taboo and even cool in some circles.   I don`t know if 9/11 was a catalyst or just a marker laid down but  "post 9/11" is a much different world, in deed.

[Edmund55]

(18yrs ago I can tell you exactly what I was doing,...)

Good Post BA.  I also remember where I was that day.

A dismissive "Some people did Something" is applauded in some circles.  A different world indeed.

[r3020]

I was grinding feed. Went in to change out of my rubber boots into my shoes. My wife said come here and look at this, she was watching TV. Stood there and watched for a little while and suddenly while the commentators were yacking away one of the towers feel all the way to the ground. Took them a while to even announce that. Wasn't long until the other one fell. I told her we are at war and went back to grinding feed. The next day was weird with no vapor trails in the sky. First time in my life I could remember that. Was pouring concrete that day. The driver said he just hoped the Chinese didn't get involved. Sad memories.

[rsbs]

it was a sunny day, I was on my way to an auction in SE Mn, and the new Brooks and Dunn Song "Only in America" had just played on the radio, first time I heard it. When the WTC movie came out with Nic Cage, the opening is "Only in America" playing, too, which is very appropriate.....the terrorists did not have a place like America to call home, and they could not connect with American values, just like liberals today.

The auctioneers talked a little about what was going on, but the auction went well, high prices for some clean farmer retirement equipment. A very nice 7240 or 8240 magnum with low hours went for about $70000 which I thought was way too much. 

That same week I purchased a 9230 row crop with manure all over it, but lower hours, good tires for low $30,000 from a dealer that had repo-ed it , and was wondering if he was ever going to sell another piece of equipment...the week had been slow since 9-11. I put 5000 hrs on that tractor and traded it back to the same dealer for the $30000 on a 9270 with really low hrs. Still using the 9270.....cheap, basic power.

I remember driving home from that auction that day, angry and wanting revenge like most Americans, but I chilled out in the weeks that followed and wanted targeted revenge, not just endless Middle eastern wars of choice. Bush lost me when he invaded Iraq and took out Saddam Hussein.....we are still paying for that blunder.

And Bush really lost me when he did the fly boy frat scheme of landing on the ship, delaying the return home of the actual soldiers so he could do his "mission accomplished" landing.

Those that are anti-Trump should remember Bush and Obama, and see the contrast....Trump is a lot better guy to have at the helm. IMHO.

[BA Deere]

The trouble with the reaction to 9/11 was things were political...not as political as now by any means.  But the media pushed war, the Democrats pushed war and of course the Bolton crowd always was spoiling for a war.  When 99% of the nation is pounding the butts of their spears on the floor demanding "blood!" what does a cool headed leader do?    Reagan seemed to walk the line pretending to be a half-cocked cowboy that scared the world straight.  Reagan would blow up a tent in the desert for target practice, scaring the towelheads for a time and satisfying the revenge crowd, that`s why his presidency is regarded as successful, by avoiding war. 

Politicians all have a Napoleon complex of leading their nation into war from horseback which is a fun fantasy for all concerned the first few months, but as the years and bodybags pile up, the Visa card bills come, it becomes unpopular.

[rsbs]

I wonder if Trump didn't hire Bolton in the first place with the intention of firing him at some point, just to show he wasn't a neo-hawk like his predecessors Bush and Bama. 

You know, taking out wedding parties, killing scores to get one bad guy with a drone strike is just wrong, no matter how you try to justify it. Just like fire bombing Tokyo was wrong, and turning Hiroshima and Nagasaki into glass was wrong.

I don't think Truman made it to heaven.....Bush might squeak in....Bama probably doesn't believe in a Christian heaven anyways.

[sdholloway56]

I guess we're getting somewhere, anyway.

We've narrowed down that elusive Golden Age to the Clinton years?

[Packard27]

BA,

I am oftentimes struck by how little life in America has really changed since 9/11. Like the London Blitz attacks of 1940, unless you were on the block that got bombed by the Nazis, the actual mental stress and personal physical damage done to individuals was unexpectely limited. 

The same was true about having to kill either Nazis in Europe or any of the thousands of Islamic assassins living in Afghanistan or Iraq. Unless you or someone close to you was wearing a uniform and had to do the killing yourself, what real material effect did 9/11 have on you, your family, or your friends? Most Americans today do not even know anyone who might know someone who ever fought in Afghanistan or Iraq...if you get my meaning?

Following 9/11, the stock market quickly recovered, people continued to shop, go on their Disneyland vacations, drink their Friday afternoon martinis, and watch the NFL and Iowa football games on TV. No one paid (or has yet to pay) anything in regard to higher taxes, gas/meat/clothing rationing, or suffered any great pains outside of a few airline boarding inconveniences. 

So yes, losing 3ooo innocent American citizens on a single day was not insignificant. Nevertheless, it was certainly not like the epic battles of Antietam, Midway, Iwo Jima, or Normandy with each of their potential consequences for the rest of us.

Ask anyone over the age of 35 how 9/11 effected them. Unless they have worn a uniform since that day or were actually at the Pentagon or in the Twin Towers, the chances are  they will honestly say, not all that much. Life went on, as it should and as it always has.

Which, in my humble opinion, is the greatest testimony that the Islamic terrorists never won. In fact, 9/11 only proved how incapable Islam was in causing even a historical hiccup for this country. Today, we continue on unabated while dysfunctional Islam and its dark aged advocates remain what they have always been for the past 16oo years. That is something to celebrate.

[Canuck_2]

I think it is quite a stretch to compare the terrorist attacks in 2001 with the German invasion of much of Europe and it's bombing of England.

In Europe you had an army of over 13 million Germans attacking England and the terrorist attack involved less than 2 dozen who died in the attack and the country that they originated from did not even suffer the revenge invasions that your country carried out. The attacks were 1 day with limited damage while England under went bombing and the threat of invasion for a couple years.

[r3020]

There were 3,000 Americans killed for nothing more than going to work.