Does anyone give a toss about 9/11?

That's because we don't do ding-dong of bells for people who have been killed, provided those people are in the wrong part of the world. Most of the time the deaths of countless numbers elsewhere in the world means little more than a 5 minute bit on the evening news, or a short article in the Foreign Affairs section. Now as unfair as we might find this, there is a compelling reason, which is that people tend to value the lives of people they know and are close to more than those that they don't or those who are far away. And don't imagine for a second this is something Americans reserve for foreigners - you've said it yourself 30,000 US veterans left to commit suicide over the past twenty years - that's four times the active service casualties and ten times the 9/11 casualties. I guess you're not alone in being turned off by the topic.

One thing I will note though, a quick crunch of your casualty numbers suggests 3 million Iraqis dying in the conflict over the past two decades, which is frankly insane and probably something in the region of ten times the actual number. And I will remind you, invariable, it is the opposition forces, not coalition or government ones, which cause the greatest casualties amongst the civilian population.

My basic point is that I expect the OP was making what I see as the hackneyed argument I frequently see amongst rather vocal anti-American persons. Specifically, their claim of caring and feeling so offended by the death toll arising from US actions around the world, when quite frankly such people are happy enough to see similar atrocities and keep their mouths shut. It's not so much that I disagree with many of the proposals these people raise - namely less US involvement around the world, reining in the 'Empire', being a lot slower to fund - it's just that so much of the ire I see poured out over these acts seems to begin and end with US involvement.

My go to would be a comparison with China - if one wants to make the case that the US should not be engaged in a Middle-Eastern conflict which is getting so many locals killed, then I think we could reasonably expect that the same people would be even more outraged when a country is in the process of ethnocide, confining a portion of its population to labour/concentration/re-education camps, and profiting in the process. But for some reason, I never see a fraction of that rage directed in such a manner. The only conclusion I can draw from this is people either don't believe in the ongoing atrocities in other regions, or their interest is not so much in opposing atrocities as it is opposing the US. I hope that clarifies things a little bit.

Yeah i did/do.As other people have said, seeing people jumping to cerltain deaths can have a effect on you.

Myself, I didn't see it as I was at (construction) work on 45th Street, then locked into the building listening to it on the radio. Having worked in them alot and having been on good terms with a few freight elevator employees etc , I could never get the reaction in Ireland which was , mostly as I could see, they (US) brought it on themselves.

The Irish girls I knew who worked in pubs down there were completely traumatised by hearing the sounds of bodies hitting the ground.

My only real memory of seeing 911 is looking down 6th Ave and seeing the throngs walking uptown and of cars/taxis who stopped to give lifts to us across the bridges etc.

I'm also , slightly, haunted the fact that had the lad running our 3 man job not missed the Monday I would have been there that day.

You, or any of us don’t have to watch anything. Nor are we having anything stuffed down our throats.

You’re manufacturing your own outrage.

Why?

I think it solidified in me the truth that there are people who literally hate the West, no matter what. That would of course include Ireland. So yeah, give many tosses.

On a much more trivial note, the look of Manhattans skyline isn't as wow since. The WTC was so unique, so simplistic, and weren't in reality just two large grey rectangles. Throughout the day they would take on a unique look, because they weren't' just solid concrete blocks, but had lots of glass, that would reflect light in different ways per time of day. So even the destruction of the buildings themselves is a regretful loss.

I give / gave a toss... but it’s an event that occurred 20 years ago. i don’t know of anybody killed in 9/11 although my cousin is a lawyer in New Jersey now but based in the NY office then and had clients in both towers... no Skype or Zoom in those days, so a client meeting was in person... because of the communication shîtstorm with cell phones and said technology being in relative infancy he wasn’t able to contact home from the car or his wife able to get him and his wife couldn’t remember if he was due to head towards the towers although she was sure enough if he was ..based on when he left home he’d never have got there before the towers were hit...

Trump's inauguration.

You nailed it.

I would also add that tragic deaths of people closer or perceived as being more "like" one tend to resonate the hardest, just as we will find the death of a friend or relative more upsetting that that of whoever was killed in the latest car crash somewhere else in the country. Countless people die around the world every day, and some of those deaths will resonate more than most. That's normal, not a character flaw. We have more in common culturally and linguistically with those who died on 9/11 than we do with the victims of the Asian tsunami, for example. That doesn't mean one is indifferent to those deaths, of course, just that some hit one's inner gong that bit harder, and for many different reasons. Another factor in 9/11 was that whereas usually we only see the aftermath, even if only shortly after, of tragic events, whereas we watched the 9/11 attacks unfold in real time and for a long time before the event moved from "happening" to "aftermath". A plane crash live, people jumping/falling to their deaths live, two huge skyscrapers collapsing, live. Of course it bloody well resonates with people. Except for the Americaphobes, of course.

It was a terrible event and very harrowing for the people of New York and the USA in general.

However, I can't help thinking that it is a case of the chickens coming home to roost/you reap what you sow.

The USA had it coming from their activities over practically the entire second half of the 20th century. The individuals did not have it coming, it wasn't their fault, although I've no doubt some would have supported American foreign policy.

Of course their policy got worse since then.