Ok I am about to get something off my chest that I am sure will draw mixed opinions from people but quite honestly I do not give a shit, it needs to be said. As someone who grew up 2 blocks from the twin towers it was devastating to be woken up in california at 6am by a phone call to watch the news. To this day it makes me sick to my stomach but we, as a nation, have a duty to NOT forget.
Ok so your asking well what did you want to get off your chest?
Well here it is :
The tragedy of 9/11 does NOT belong to those families who lost a loved one.
I have unfortunately lost all pity I ever had for the 9/11 victim families after watching their greed unfold over the years. The terrorists attacked America.. not a single family or person. The greed of suing for this, wanting more money etc etc is intolerable. I don’t see these very same greedy families donating any money to the people who are shot at an atm or killed in a drive-by.
Did the fact that they lost their individual in a terrorist act make it any more of a deplorable act? If any of these people had been shot in the head at an ATM while removing money not one person would think they should be getting millions in donations. Nobody would think that somehow we need to listen to the families because they somehow instantly know more than anyone else about robbery. Just because a couple of my friends were lucky and managed to make it out of the building as it collapsed does not mean it did not affect me. It did! So to all you greedy families who want more money or who think you are someone owed something by this country I have something to say.. Shut up and quit whining, your families are not the only ones who got killed that year.
Some statistics to keep this in perspective for NY 2001:
Based On Number of offenses reported
Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter : 960
Violent crime total : 98,103
Some of those 960 people who are JUST AS DEAD as your loved ones were also in the wrong place at the wrong time. Keep that in mind when your whining about how the USA owes you money.
I have to keep reminding myself not to let the pettiness of some of the 9/11 families sour me to the families as a whole.
Monday, October 4, 2004 - 3:51 pm
Ok – THANK YOU for getting this off of your chest & mine!! I could go into detail, but when I hear the same people over & over again complaining, I mean, we all were effected that day not just those particular families. They’re just greedy…ok, gotta go home now!
Monday, October 4, 2004 - 6:28 pm
Aww, come on. This is the American dream, the land of opportunity. What an awesome thing to be able to milk the system and the pity of everyone. Hell, people are writing books and everything. Much easier than slaving away like the rest of us. Come on! They’re entitled to it. They deserve it. They’re grieving.
(tongue in cheek)
Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - 8:00 am
Oh, I know Jeanette! I’m glad to know that I’m not the only person feeling this way & that I won’t be persecuted for rolling my eyes when I hear them speak…
Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - 10:34 am
I agree with you, though I’m not quite as quick as some to condemn those who suffered family loses.
Having a family member–or even a friend–die senselessly and at the hand of evil people does not lead to rational thinking. The world does, in fact, seem to rotate around that lost loved one. Nothing can fill the void, though money can help remove some of the attendant worries, like raising kids.
There is an unfairness in the way 9/11 funds were handled. There was unfairness in the way that private donations weren’t discounted before government payouts. There was unfairness that those who suffered from 9/11 were compensated, but those who died in the US Embassy bombings were not.
But the ultimate unfairness was that somebody’s loved one was brutally taken away.
If 9/11 were to happen again, I’d hope that we could find a better way to deal with the families of the deceased. I’m not holding my breath, though.
Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - 12:54 pm
I agree that death is tragic and 9/11 was right up on the top on the speechless horror scale. About the only thing I could say when it happened was “oh my God”, over and over again.
But, I do NOT think that it warrants the families the right to continuous whining and the feeling of entitlement. People deal with the loss of loved ones every day. That they lost their loved one in a tragedy created by terrorists does not make them more special. Well, maybe in one sense it does, because they have a built in support system with others who lost theirs in the same building. And the emotional support of the nation.
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly a bleeding heart. I think we all have a griefs and wrongs to deal with. Many things are unfair, but in order to live you have do whatever it takes to move on. Whining and dwelling on the past is not moving on. Expecting financial support forever because you lost someone is not moving on.
Thursday, October 14, 2004 - 2:58 pm
I have a question for you , how much of this is the families and how much of it is the lawyers representing them. I think this is far deeper that the greiving families, and until we stop paying out millions to idiots that burn themeslves on cups of coffee we can hardly blame anyone but our own society that not only tolerates it but activly encourages it.
Thursday, October 14, 2004 - 5:50 pm
Hi RedFred,
The families hire the lawyers to represent them therefore the families control the lawyers.. If the families greed allows the lawyers greed to flourish then you can not blame the lawyers but the actual families. Not all of them are money grubbing but a good portion of them are money grubbing people who think they have some copyright on the 9/11 tragedy. Also we need to make sure the net does not distort some of the legendary myths that go on. I actually looked into the spilled cup of coffee in the car case and actually found that the mcdonalds had already been sited many times by the health department for scalding hot coffee. The punitive damages in this case were really a punishment to the store more than the lady getting burns from it.
As for society, we are society and unless we speak up and show those money grubbing members of society looking to cash in on grief that they are being seen for what they are then maybe we as a society can stop the frivilous lawsuits etc.
Thanks for commenting
Friday, October 15, 2004 - 6:46 am
if the damages were punitive against the company rather than compensationary for the “victim” then put the money in to medical research for the treatment of burns rather that fueling the “goose has laid a golden egg” mentality we have anytime there is any negligence on the part of a company, especially when the victim is at least equally negligent.
I still maintain that the lawyers are not blameless, but along with the plaintiffs they pale in to insignificance when compared to the jurors who consistently allow their sympathy for the victim to over ride common sense. Until there are structured compensation restrictions it is difficult to blame anyone else, lawyer or victim. Would you pass up the chance of a multi million dollar windfall on the basis of a moral stand point? The sad reality of all this is as you point out, many people lose their loved ones to crime, accidents (not involving corporate entities) and they go for the most part largely uncompensated for a loss that in the end of the day is no less painful.