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‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

politico.com

11–20 of 211 posts

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#11
post #3

I remember working that day (a cool and sunny Tuesday) and each place I went to I asked them to turn on the TV. Nobody was interested in turning on the TV or even changing the channel to any news channel. What I thought had happened was a large aircraft accidentally ran into the Empire State building again like had happened many years ago.

Where I was it was on every TV for 24 hours straight.

In school, on radio in car, at home.

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#12
post #9
post #3

I remember working that day (a cool and sunny Tuesday) and each place I went to I asked them to turn on the TV. Nobody was interested in turning on the TV or even changing the channel to any news channel. What I thought had happened was a large aircraft accidentally ran into the Empire State building again like had happened many years ago.

I was in the 7th grade, and in my Texas History class in the morning when the news hit. We had a television system that would play news broadcasts for the whole school to start off each morning, and as soon as the news broke, the administration turned those on and had all the classrooms tune in. At first we thought it was a freak accident... and then we saw the second plane hit. "Shaken" is the word. It was all anyon…

“...rest of the day” seems like an understatement. I was living in Australia at the time, never having lived in the U.S, and everyone was pretty shaken and lost for words for a few days (at least in my circle and workplace).

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#13
post #4

Nearly every American above a certain age remembers precisely where they were on September 11, 2001 False: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/911-memory-accura...

Actually the article says that little details like the order of events or where the president was where the parts that folks get wrong. It’s not like I’m going to forget or incorrectly remember that I was in a class at school when it happened and we tuned in live to a TV in a classroom next door that happened to have cable. And how everyone assumed for the first hour or so that it was just this tragic, tragic accident. Now if you asked me, who was I with, or what did I do later that day, or who was the first person I spoke to... well, that’s where I might have false memories. I “know” I called my parents and was emotionally shaken for weeks after, scared (sometimes even now) of working in really tall buildings or those that might be a target, and that even now, I’m less likely to suggest or hold meetings on Sept 11, as conversationally I know it will distract folks. Whether my memories are 56% accurate or 86% accurate doesn’t matter that much, I know how I felt and that’s what counts. :)

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#14
I could hardly imagine taking flight in a jet to potentially intercept one of the suspect planes knowing that your only options were to aim for the tail or the cockpit. Knowing that you were acting as a type of kamikaze. Chilling. That thought was barely on my mind during the day on 9/11 as a 6th grader. I still get chills thinking about it.

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#15
post #4

Nearly every American above a certain age remembers precisely where they were on September 11, 2001 False: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/911-memory-accura...

Yes, there's a conflict in my friends over the timeline when it was happening. Someone is obviously wrong. False memories.

But you'll be downvoted, not cool to contradict people these days, everyone not only tells the truth they also all know the truth. False memories are against ideologies, they are fake news.

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#17

This is a phenomenal oral history of the events, learning of, and response to the events of 9/11. If an emergency is a circumstance in which ongoing realities are emergent and aren't predictable based on previous experience or world-models, this is a phenomenal example of those dynamics. Commander Anthony Barnes: That first hour was mass confusion because there was so much erroneous information. It was hard to tell w…

If an emergency is a circumstance in which ongoing realities are emergent and aren't predictable based on previous experience or world-models, this is a phenomenal example of those dynamics

I like this characterization somewhat, though I think there needs to be a [perceived danger] variable not accounted for.

Perhaps:

An emergency is a circumstance in which realities are perceived as existentially dangerous and aren't predictable based on previous experience or world-models

Especially acute is the widespread confusion part. That fits well with my personal (more than I'd like) experiences with true existential emergencies.

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#18
> "A hijacker's passport was found blocks from the WTC crash site if you can believe that. No other details were given but the discovery prompted the FBI and police to expand the search ..." - CNN reporter before buildings collapsed, 9/11 [0]

That is some quick detective work. So did the hijacker toss his passport out the cockpit window before impact?

0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ySaAP6Vm44

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#19
post #4

Nearly every American above a certain age remembers precisely where they were on September 11, 2001 False: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/911-memory-accura...

Actually, the article you linked proves that it is true.

In recalling where they were when they learned of the attack, people were 89 percent accurate at survey two and 83 percent accurate at survey three.

So the statement nearly every American remembers where they were is TRUE.

The survey shows that more minute details get lost over time, such as who they were with/ how they learned about it. But I'm pretty sure thats the case with human memory in general.

Re: ‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

#20
post #3

I remember working that day (a cool and sunny Tuesday) and each place I went to I asked them to turn on the TV. Nobody was interested in turning on the TV or even changing the channel to any news channel. What I thought had happened was a large aircraft accidentally ran into the Empire State building again like had happened many years ago.

I was 20 years old and at my internship. We had TVs along the hallway in the center of the building. I remember looking up (I could see the TVs from my cube), seeing a number of older coworkers watching the news after the first plane had hit, I got up to join them. Shortly after I joined them, the second plane hit, and I remember muttering "well, we're at war...". A colleague roughly 3 times my age and close to retirement looked at me and asked, "what do you mean?" Response was something along the likes of "well, one could be an accident, but two? No accident, that's intentional." Of course, we later heard about the other 2 planes.

I was supposed to go through downtown Chicago that day to turn in a project at my college campus, but I politely emailed my instructor, telling him in no uncertain terms that there was no way in hell I was getting anywhere near downtown that day. I emailed him my project and told him I'd turn in the physical copy when things were safe. At the time, I was living near Ohare. It was eerie how quite it was without all of the jets taking off and landing. When you did see planes, it was a pair of either F-15s or F-16s running combat air patrols. Very surreal experience.

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