After standing in my office and watching out the window as the Towers became two smoke stacks, then became engulfed in smoke/dust as they fell, then became smoldering piles of rubble and twisted metal; after gathering with my neighbors as we waited and prayed for everyone to return safely; after crying for the next door neighbor who left behind his wife, pregnant with their first child; after all the repeated media coverage and emails of pix of people jumping to their deaths - after all that I cannot watch ANY footage without reliving it all over again. I certainly will not PAY MONEY for the experience!! Will another 5 years make all that much of a difference? I don't think so. I'm not sure I want to be "over it" enough to view that nightmare as "entertainment."

I'm sorry, but if the 11 of September needs to be compared to anything is should be to the OKC bombing, which until NYC was the largest, deadliest terrorist attack on the US.

I'm honestly surprised that they waited this long to make a movie.

Your obviously welcome to your opinion, but I'm not sure I see the comparision.

I personally see OKC as a completely different event than 9-11 and PH. The only similarity between the three events is that they were all surprises.

Remember, we are going to look at things different (which is totally fine, different people), but I'm also looking at it historically. I mean I have my BA in History. I plan to start my MA History in Fall 07. I know that I'm looking at things differently because I'd like to do my thesis on 9-11 and PH (whether I can or not is a whole other issue :D).

I really hope I'm making sense but considering it is 11:22 at night I don't think I am

Okay- Pearl Harbor, militiary target by a nation's military force.

NYC & OKC- mass casuality terrorist attacks on civilian targets.

Yes, Pearl Harbor is SO much more like a terrorist attack on civilians than another terrorist attack on civilians.

I have a BS in PoliSci among others, I'm looking at this from a governmental perspective, but according to my (PhD in History) father, you're stretching to compare for your thesis.

I'm just a little uncomfortable with it, mainly because we're still fighting the "war" that it touched off. Movies about stuff that's over with (WWII, Vietnam, etc) is fine...but 9/11 is still directly affecting our world.

Also, I'm just sick of the hype. I swear, if I see one more trailer for this movie...

kstar- the best thing I can say is how about we agree to disagree. :D

I mean the point of this thread isn't whether OKC, 9-11 and PH are the same or not. It's about United 93, what those people did and the movie. :)

Did you ever feel like you were getting desensitized to it? Sometimes that's how I felt afterwords. I mean for weeks after, all the news stations could show, over and over, were the planes hitting and the towers falling. I hate to say this, but eventually I was yelling at the TV because I couldn't stand watching it anymore.

I know you weren't specifically asking me, but I'm replying anyway, sis. ;)

No. If I see pix or footage, I still well up or cry over it. I did when I posted last night. I get a lump in my throat when I'm on the GSP in Cranford, where I live, and look to the East and no longer see the WTC. When I had to take the PATH into the WTC station the first time, I was a mess by the time I reached Chase Plaza. (I still tear up when I have to go to that station.)

I think blueangel said it well:
I believe those who lived near the Pentagon and the PA crash site may have similar feelings.

No, the feelings I have now are just as strong as they were right after it happened. I will never be desensitized to it. The pain will never go away. I don't want to have to relive it all over again in a movie theater.

See I kind of think it is harder for us on the west coast to really understand (unless of course you lost someone). I mean, we couldn't do anything. I felt so incredibly useless on the west coast.

I think I got a little desensitized just during that time frame. The news just kept showing the same images over and over and over again. (The problem is that the AZ news channels tend to do this over everything, just last week we had an illegal immigration march and that was ALL they could talk about).

Don't get me wrong though, I still cry. I bought the CNN Tribute DVD (my dad thought I was nuts, but I explained that as someone who wants to teach History, this would eventually be something I have to teach and I might have a resource, what better than CNN). I remember the first time I watched it. My brother had just gotten home from boot camp 2 months prior. He hadn't seen anything regarding the towers (9-11 happened while he was in boot and all the Army would let them know is what happened, they had no access to the news reports or papers). He watched it with me. He was in shock. And of course I was crying (kind of like I am now). It was a very numbing experience because I told him "that's how we were last year".

I know I'll cry at this movie but I still want to see it (along with the Oliver Stone one). Whether I pay 10 bucks to see it is a whole other issues (that's one of the reasons I really don't go see movies anyways, the cost).

I guess I might have to go see the move now. I found out my step brother plays himself in this movie. He is the air traffic controller for NEADS with the military “Is this real-world or exercise?”. When the military first learns about the hijackings on 9/11. I knew he was in a movie relating to his invovlment in 9/11 but didn't realize it was this movie until I talked to him. They offered him a walk on the red carpet at the premiere in NYC but he would have to pay his own way there and pay for his own lodging so he said no thanks.

That is interesting. I would be interested in reading about, or perhaps seeing a documentary on, the experiences of air traffic controllers - and probably others I've not considered - on that day. I would like to hear how they kept cool, handled the situation, grounded planes across the country, etc. Maybe I'm cynical, but I doubt anyone would make such a film without scenes of the Towers burning/falling, and I think y'all know I won't watch that.

I think you're right.

I went to NYC in 96 and I went to the towers. When I went to NYC in 04, I met my parents there (we were in NJ to see my brother, who was at Dix for Thanksgiving). My parents had already been to ground zero when I got in to town. But we went back. I just stood there. Hands on the fence, crying. Because I had been there. I'd seen these towers.

Not that my parents weren't in awe.

It's really hard to explain the, I don't know, "air" around ground zero. No one talked, at least not loudly. I mean in the grand scheme of things ground zero was eerily quiet compared to rest of the city, and that's with the subway running. It was almost like it didn't become real until I went there.

I'm not sure I'm making sense, but since I'm getting teary eyed I think I need to stop typing :D