9/11 Controversies
 

What are your thoughts on:

*9/11 as a national holiday ("second" memorial day).
*Reparations for victims families.
*What should be built on the site, if anything.

Not to sound totally insensative.. BUT..

1. No it shouldn't be a national holiday. It's probably the first of many attacks of its kind. Most likely not even the worst.

2. Most of them are getting fairly good sized checks? Where's the Red Cross money?

3. They should try to bring the land back to productivity. Here in Oklahoma City I wasn't happy when they turned the whole site into a memorial. This isn't Oklahoma City though. The possible productivity of this strip of land is (and has been) huge. New York and the US need this land. I wouldn't be opposed to a memorial park... But the whole site is just a little overboard.

We can't go around enshrining every national terrorism incedent. I think it shows weakness when we can't rebuild and continue.

The original reasons for most (dare I say all) of our national holidays have become forgotten and meaningless, and I don't think we need yet another reason to party and kill ourselves on the highways. We have enough.

Who would the reparations come from? I beleive that I heard on NPR that most of the families have received a lot in terms of cash and other donations. If the proceeds come from the terrorist cells involved, I'd certainly have no problem with that. However, I also wouldn't mind seeing some of that cash put back into the US Treasury to pay for the additional costs of security and the "war" on terrorism that we taxpayers have been shouldering.

I think that there should be some kind of reasonably sized memorial, surrounded by a new World Trade Center.

I don't know about a national holiday. It seems that most national holidays have been reduced to a day for department store sales. That would be disgraceful.

There is a September 11th fund which is supposed to go to the families of the victims and the survivors of the attacks. I'm not sure how it will be distributed. Last I heard in New York only a few people have received any money. I know that many children have lost at least one parent and will need financial support.

There will be a business structure build there, but probably not the same height as the Twin Towers.

On a personal note: Yesterday, I drove through Brooklyn which is across the East River from the site. The skyline looked so empty. I could see the Statue of Liberty, but I miss the Twin Towers. I hope that whatever they build there will be beautiful and dignified.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Cream
I don't know about a national holiday. It seems that most national holidays have been reduced to a day for department store sales. That would be disgraceful.[QUOTE]

That, too.

I used to make it to New York a lot in a previous job. I haven't been there in a year. I really wonder about my reaction when next I take a cab in from LaGuardia.

I agree with KTSnake. It should be rebuilt, because that is showing the terrorists that we aren't afraid to continue our normal lives.

I question reparations. Yeah, it was nice for the Red Cross and other agencies to give assistance to people in the beginning--without death certificates, it was hard to get life insurance payoffs and some companies were slow to give pensions to widows and children. But now, a year later, it seems odd. There are people, due to their loved one's job in the WTC/wherever, that are getting very large paychecks--enough to live comfortably on for the rest of one's life. On the other hand, there were those there who died without insurance/pension/etc. Would there be some sort of scale to decide who gets what--does a woman whose investment banker husband who left her enough so she wouldn't have to work get the same amount as a woman whose husband was a security guard without insurance or pension?

The last few times I was in NYC, I didn't care to make it to Ground Zero. I don't want to see that site without some sort of building on it, so I will have to just avoid downtown for the next few years. I have had the experience of seeing it from the air. I took the semester abroad, and my planes took off/landed from NYC. The WTC site was the first and last things I saw of the US.

Here are my thoughts
 

1. 9/11 should not be a national holiday, while there were thousands of people effected, however there were many more thousands of people who were NOT effected, IMO it's unneccessary. However, in NYC, out of respect for victims and their families/friends, schools and businesses should be closed that day.

2. I am dead against reparations for 9/11 victims families, reason a: who would pay them? the terrorists won't, reason b: everyday a child/parent/sibling/other relative/friend gets murdered, do we get reparations for that? No. No killing is worse than another. All are tragic, the 9/11 victims are no better than any other victims.

3.I'm probably going to get some flack for this. :eek: There shouldn't have been a "WTC" in the first place, it's no surprise that WTC and Pentagon was a hot spot for terrorists, of ANY kind: foriegn or domestic. It is unwise to have so MANY important resources in ONE place. As with any thing in life, don't put too many eggs in one basket. Everything should be rebuilt, but not all in one place or area. I'm not just talking about terrorist attacks, I'm also talking about natural and structural disasters. Why build the WTC all over just to have it attacked again or have it destroyed by some disaster? A memorial site will be more appropiate and respectful.

9/11 as a national holiday: No. Like Cream said, eventually the meaning would be lost and it would just become an excuse for department store sales. Plus, I think it sends a more powerful message to the terrorists - yes, they've hurt us, but we're picking ourselves up and going on with our lives.

Reparations: I'm not sure precisely what the victims' families are getting now, so I can't speak to this.

What to do with the site: My initial reaction was that the Twin Towers should be rebuilt as they were. I'm not so sure about that any more. Something should be built - it's prime real estate and NYC could use the office space. Maybe 4-5 buildings of 60-70 stories each would work. But there also must be a memorial. The WTC complex had a wide open plaza; I think something like that, with a memorial garden and possibly a wall inscribed with the names of the victims, would be fitting.

Munchkin03, I had the same experience as you... I also saw ground zero from the air. A couple of months after 9/11, I had to fly into LaGuardia. We were put into a holding pattern over the East River. I saw the Empire State Building go by and I knew what was coming... :(

Short and Sweet....
 

I'm pretty sure there will be some flack for this.....
1. No holiday
2. Funding for those who desperately need it ( service workers, cooks,..etc.)
3. I think that it should be a memorial park( trees, grass, wildlife...etc.)...Granted it is a lot of land and we should show the world that we can move on , but we should also show the world that we do not forget. That we cherished the lives of those who lost theirs and the families who have to deal with it.

I agree with pretty much everyone...911 shouldn't become a National Holiday for all the above listed reasons. But I do believe it would be nice to see a moment of silince, memorials and special events to remind us so we never forget.

It's hard to say who should get what. I know that had my father been killed in the 911 incident I'd want justice...not necessarily money. But I'm also the oldest of four kids...four kids my mother could not support on her own. So it's hard to say. But I think most of the survivors have been well "embursed" for what happened with donations.

I think something should be built there and that it should be office space. I am not in favor of a memorial structure for many reasons and one of them is there is STILL no WW2 memorial, so why should we build one for 911? Maybe I'm a little bitter, but I feel if anyone deserves a memorial structure first it's the persons that lost their lives in WW2.

Hootie, the terrorist attack on the WTC and the Pentagon cannot be equated with WWII. It was similar to Pearl Harbor except that the victims and survivors had not enlisted or been drafted into the military. The victims were just regular people who had jobs or appointments in the Twin Towers. They were also rescue workers such as firefighters, police officers, and medics who arrived at the scene to help. BTW, why would you be bitter about a memorial regarding WWII and deny one for the victims of September 11th?

So far (from what I know) only seven families have received any type of financial payment for their lost family members.

Dionysus, why should there have been no WTC? There were over 30,000 people employed within that structure. Many people fed, housed, and clothed their family members with jobs they had there. It stood for twenty years without incident and another eight years after the first attack in 1993.

im going back and fourth on the national holiday, i can see the points that people on here have raised and that others have raised. as far as reparations go, the charities have been horrible about getting money out, if anyone watched the oreilly factor last fall, he showed that on a nightly basis. if were talking tax money going to families, i dont have a problem with some of my money going to help someone effected by the attacks, however common sense needs to be applied. the debate about if a janitor should get just as much or less than an executive in the same building needs to go away. the way i look at it is, the executive made more, therefore probably has more expenses than the janitor, therefore i think the execs families should get more. anyway, that was my little rant :) as for the wtc site, i say they put back up two 110 story towers, and have a memorial at the bottom. any modification to the original site is unacceptable, and i think it would be changing out lifestyle out of fear of terrorism.

Unfortunately I think the insurance costs will forbid any buildings that tall from ever being built again (at least in the US). May as well paint a big target on 'em. But to make it into a big memorial park would be wrong. I don't like the fact that they turned the Oklahoma City site into a memorial... But that's OKC land, it's cheap. NYC is another story.

1. Not a national holiday - "holiday" is the wrong word. It should be commemorated in the same way that Pearl Harbor Day is.

2. Reparations - if "reparations" consists of the victims' families flogging the @$#% out of the guilty terrorists on national TV, bring it on. Otherwise, I think people are getting the $$$ they need from private groups. It should be based on need of the family.

3. The decision to rebuild should be made by NYC residents only - they are the ones who live with it every day. I don't even feel comfy offering an opinion on that.