September 11th, 2001 Attacks

Overview

September 11th, 2011 Attacks refers to the 3 suicide plane attacks against the World Trade Center twin towers in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and one that crashed into the fields near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Following the crash of two planes, The World Trade Center towers completely collapsed within hours after 2 planes collided with the buildings. In total, 2,996 people were killed, including 2,977 victims and 19 hijackers.

Background

Media Coverage

Media coverage was intense during the attacks and aftermath, beginning moments after the first crash into the World Trade Center. CNN was the first channel to break the news of the attacks, with anchor Carol Lin entering into the middle of a commercial at 8:49 a.m. (ET):

All day, non-stop live coverage, alternating among New York, the Washington area, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, was offered by most major U.S. news organizations. On September 12th, 2011, images of the 9/11 attacks were printed on the front pages of 145 news publications across 19 countries.

Notable Photographs

• Moment of Impact, Photograph by Spencer Platt, Getty Images
• “Falling Man,” Photograph by Richard Drew, Associated Press
• Running for Their Lives, Photograph by Suzanne Plunkett, Associated Press
• 9/11 Firefighter (of Mike Kehoe), Photograph by John Labriola
• The 9/11 Tourist Guy, Photograph featuring José Roberto Penteado (fake)
• 9/11 Satan’s Face in Smoke (fake)

Controversies

Mainstream Media

Several comedians and commentators came under fire after making remarks or jokes that were considered too insensitive or too soon following the events of September 11th, 2001. The pundit Bill Maher was reprimanded by his network sponsors and the White House after making a remark about the U.S. bombing tactics:

“We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.”

Comedian Gilbert Gottfreid was also booed when he remarked at a Friar’s Club roast on September 17th:

“I’m flying back to L. A. tomorrow. I wanted a direct flight, but apparently they have to make a stop at the Empire State Building.”

Online Presence

Myths about the deeper meaning behind its numbers (9+11) and speculations of Nostradamus’ prediction quickly spread on the Internet forums.

On September 17th, 2001, A compilation of September 11th-related jokes were posted on Usenet group alt.tasteless.jokes.

On Something Awful, numerous photoshopped images and videos sampling the footage of the attacks surfaced in the forums, including a video of someone there made of people jumping from the burning towers while “It’s Raining Men” plays in the background.

In November 2001, Ooze published PENTAGON DISASTER JOKES, a compilation of jokes relating to the attacks on The Pentagon in Washington D.C.

A parody rendition of the Banana Boat Song “Day O” also became quite popular on the internet humor forums, lyrics of which described how the U.S. military will tear the Taliban down unless they handed over Osama bin Laden. After the song became widespread on the Internet, two radio disk-jockeys were fired for playing the song on-air.

In June 2002, English professor Bill Ellis published two research papers titled “A Model for Collecting and Interpreting World Trade Center Disaster Jokes” and “The Role of Humor in Constructing a Global Response to Disaster,” both of which address the phenomenon of 9/11-related jokes.

Osama bin Laden

Since the confirmation of Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda’s involvement in the September 11th attacks, at least 35 video tapes carrying bin Laden’s announcements were broadcast across major U.S. networks and worldwide and dozens of documentaries and published books detailing the history of his upbringing and involvement with al-Qaeda.

Having been a both political and fundamental religious figure who maintained a level of presence through videotapes broadcast to millions of viewers , Osama bin Laden made himself a prticularly easy target for mockeries online and parodies in pop culture. For more on the Western media portrayal of Osama bin Laden and conspiracy hoax, read KYM Blog – Restrospect: Osama bin Laden in the Media.

On May 1st, 2011, President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden, which triggered a record-setting flood of conversations and reactions in the mainstream media as well as on the web. For more on the online media events following the confirmation of bin Laden’s death in May 2011, read KYMdb – Osama bin Laden’s Death.

Conspiracy Theories

Videos associated with the 9/11 film series Loose Change began circulating in April of 2005 when the first edition was made available on the Internet. On November 27th, 2006, an hour and 20 minute video titled “911 Loose Change (full-length)” was uploaded to YouTube by user sdlhsn. The video has received 6,346,834 views as of September 15th, 2011.

According to an August 2006 article on Vanity Fair[], Loose Change was one of the most popular viral videos during that year:

For the past three months, 20,000 people a day have been clicking on to the official Loose Change Web site, loosechange911.com; more than 50,000 have placed orders for the DVD since its release. (“But we’re not really making any money,” says Rowe, “because we gave away like 100,000 copies for free.”) Millions more have been downloading the film from a growing number of unaffiliated sites.

The two most viewed September 11th videos on YouTube are conspiracy-related. YouTuber NuffRespect uploaded a video titled “9/11: Total Proof That Bombs Were Planted In The Buildings!” with various footage related to the disaster on April 3rd, 2007.On May 1st, 2007 YouTuber nwodetox uploaded a video titled “Strange things in 911 footage – look closely” that shows one of the planes turning black during its approach on the twin towers. The NuffRespect video has received 23,919,528 views and the nwodetox video has received 29,110,040 views as of September 15th, 2011.

Never Forget

“Never forget” became the most common slogan associated with the attacks, often referring specfically to the World Trade Center attack in New York City. According to NY Mag[], it first was used in relation to the Holocaust during World War 2:

“Never forget” long ago entered the lexicon, in relation to the Holocaust. It has now been reassigned to 9/11, where it is likely to remain. It has become a mantra and a marketing tool for politicians and merchandise alike.

Online Presence

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/547977

Derivatives

Search Interest

Google search shows 528,000,000 results associated with “september 11” and 606,000,000 with “9/11.” Various search queries related to September 11th have seen progressively smaller spikes during the month of September each year since 2004 until the 10-year anniversary where it reached its highest recorded peak.

External Links

^[] Wikipedia – Loose Change

^[] Vanity Fair – Click Here for Conspiracy

^[] NY Mag – Never Forget

^[]CNN – Day of Terror Video Archive

^[] Internet Archives – Understanding 9/11: A Television News Archive

^[] Interactive Publishing – Screenshot Archive of Online News Sites

^[] Newseum – Today’s Front Pages / Wednesday, September 12, 2001

^[] TheForbiddenKnowledge – You’ll Never Think The Same Way Again

^[] Tripod – Tourist Guy

^[] Temple – Making a Big Apple Crumble: The Role of Humor in Constructing a Global Response to Disaster

^[] Ooze – This 9/11 Joke Collection Will Save America!

^[] Google Groups – alt.tasteless.jokes