this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2026
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9/11 memorialization feels so hollow and performative (lemmy.world)
submitted 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) by HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world to c/unpopularopinion@lemmy.world
8 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

With the sole exception of those mourning their friends and family members who died on that day, and don't politicize it, it all is so hollow and performative.

The US government, and by extension the US voting population who supported the government's actions, have committed orders of magnitudes of 9/11s before and after 9/11.

In Afghanistan the US killed tens or even hundreds of thousands of civilians.

In Iraq, at least 1 million people died in that conflict, and that estimate doesn't even include the rise of ISIS which was a result of the Iraq War.

Even Iran's death toll can be attributed to the US's 9/11 response. Not only did Trump use it to justify the Iran War just yesterday, but the Islamophobia that lead to the Iran war was exacerbated by the colossal surge in Islamophobia post 9/11. Even Bush claimed Iran was in an "axis of evil", and the Pentagon plotted a war with Iran to take place after the war with Iraq, just months after 9/11.

Furthermore, it seems the only people still bringing up 9/11 as a matter of discussion, are those who want to use it to justify far-right talking points and policies. Even the GOP's and many Dem's support for Israel and the genocide against Palestine is constantly followed with talks about US victimhood during 9/11.

I so look forward to the day when Boomers and Gen X lose their stranglehold on US politics and media so we can finally shut this performative bullshit down. 9/11 shouldn't simply be seen as a great US tragedy, it should be seen as the beginning of the collapse of the US empire and the reign of terror the US brought in it's dying days as a global power.

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[–] gastroglizzy@piefed.social 3 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

You're painting with broad strokes. The people who died in the tower aren't the same people who commit international atrocities.

By and large, the average US American doesn't want war, genocide, or human rights abuses. The government operates independently of what its citizens want and has monopolized the right to violence to an extent that makes meaningful resistance nearly impossible.

In b4 all the Canadian kool-aid chuggers calling the US a "literal shithole country run by nazis". Go do something with your life besides huffing hate propaganda. Do you hate North Koreans this much too?

[–] wh90b@sopuli.xyz 7 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

With the exception of those grieving, a lot of it felt performative on Sept 12 2001.

[–] 0li0li@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Agreed. The bully got slapped and cried and played the victim for about 10 years, and now what's left is indeed fucking hollow and political, not much else.

[–] wh90b@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 hours ago

Well said!

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

It was, but a lot of that at the time was people processing real emotions from what happened. The performance was a way to try to push back to some normalcy. Outside of some regions, the emotions people were going through were more of a lack of feeling safe than any actual mourning.

[–] wh90b@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 hours ago

Very true. I do remember a lot of fear even in the rural south east where I was. The terror was inescapable if you turned on the TV or looked at a newspaper/magazine rack. Insane times.

[–] yesman@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

I so look forward to the day when Boomers and Gen X lose their stranglehold on US politics and media so we can finally shut this performative bullshit down.

Just going to point out that your whole argument says that the people who shouldn't be talking about 9/11 are the same people who lived through it.

And I don't know what you have against GenX, we've never had a president, and we're shockingly rare in Governor's mansions or Congress. JD Vance is our highest-ranking member if you keep in mind that Vice President doesn't have authority or influence, just a shot at promotion.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

I was thinking similar things yesterday. Even here in Germany it was all over the news channels - there were plenty of more local and more recent terrorist attacks that don't get nearly as much coverage. Granted, much of that coverage was critical of the US "war on terror", and through that "war on terror", 9/11 was arguably more impactful than any of the terror attacks in Europe in the last 30 years.