don’t be scared to ask that person out. the worst they could do is say ‘no’ and then begin attacking you with their bare hands, ripping the skin off your face and tearing out chunks off flesh from your arms and disemboweling you
I reblogged it earlier but I'm glad the Something Awful Forums 9/11 thread was archived because it's an incredibly important slice of internet history. For the record I think 9/11 was thousands of personal tragedies for the direct victims of the attacks but one big national farce that led to America's ongoing slide into fascism, and the nationalism and remembrance around it is a joke especially in the wake of the same amount of deaths every fucking day in the US during the height of coronavirus.
Nevertheless I think it's important that if you do not remember because you were too young or just didn't exist on Sept 11, 2001 to read the Something Awful 9/11 forums to get an idea of what the internet was like at the moment when America changed to 24 hour news cycles and renewed hyper-nationalism not seen since WWII.
This all happened before Twitter, Facebook, before Discord. Before smart phones. Before most people had cell phones. When a lot of people still had dial-up internet, even. Some people in the thread were relying on radio because internet and TV weren't keeping up.
It was a live event of internet denizens reacting to the biggest national event (and among the biggest international events) of the past 25 years. It was also a slice of what the internet was like at the turn of the millennium. Not only that, but people accurately calling out who was responsible, and what would result before the attacks even finished.
Keep in mind that the links that follow contain images of the event, lots of Islamophobia, people calling for the Middle East to be nuked, people blaming Palestine, casual racist and homophobic language (this was Something Awful after all), etc etc. They preserved the first 17 pages which spanned about 24 hours during the events. It's the origin of the "WATCH BUSH START A FUCKING WAR" screenshot.
Links under the fold. I've also annotated the pages with notes regarding the timeline and any posts of interest. Note the thread was preserved in Pacific Time even though the page says times are Eastern. That's incorrect. Post timestamps are 3 hours behind Eastern Time, which is the time zone where the attacks occurred:
Page 1 - Note the first post was edited to include images of the second attack. The thread started after the first plane hit. Second plane hitting the WTC happens here too.
Page 2 - Poster accurately calling out Bin Laden was responsible at 9:14 AM EST
Page 3 - "WATCH BUSH START A FUCKING WAR"
Page 4
Page 5 - First official acknowledgement it was a terrorist attack.
Page 10 - First mention of towers collapsing at end of page
Page 11 - More reactions to collapse of first tower. People thinking it was a bomb or yet another plane. Rumors about a fourth plane just missing the White House (these are false and predate the actual 4th plane crash by minutes)
Page 12
Page 13 - By this point there's just rampant speculation about more bombs at the WTC, the US Capitol building being hit, etc (all false). Remember this is all just people reacting to TV news and radio and the rumor mill via phone, AIM, IRC, and maybe text messages.
Page 14 - By this point internet news sites are overwhelmed
Page 15 - Second tower collapses. First acknowledgement of the fourth plane that crashed in PA.
Page 16 - There's an abrupt time jump in the threads, I think it was the result of admins pruning the activity or the SA forums going down. This page starts on 9/12 even though it is page 16. American flag signatures and ribbons start appearing.
I like my protagonists sad, tired, bitter, fully convinced they will never get the recognition they deserve, but they still gotta get up in the morning and be a good person
Meeting someone is so cool but it’s cooler to ask “where have we met before?” As in, how many times have we been in the mall at the same time. Were we even in Disneyland at the same time? How about for that dinner where we celebrated my sister’s birthday. How about the waiting room at the hospital. How often have we crossed paths at highways? Were you ever at the same cinema as I was? Watching the same movie? Maybe a few rows away from my seat? Perhaps a few seats away?
How many moments have we shared? How many times have we crossed each other’s paths and ignored each other’s existences until now?
clouds and how they look different throughout the day
the different colors the mornings can have. sometimes it's an orange hue and sometimes pink and sometimes it's too misty to tell
pretty color schemes in random places (the trees and your neighbors wooden patio and the color of their car)
the states of the vehicles passing you by, dents and scratches and the different trinkets suspended from their rearview mirrors
the sound of silence
the shadows the lights cast in your home, like how sunset looks different than sunrise, and the shadows the sun casts look different than those of your lamps and candles
pretty details in buildings and houses like certain types of windows or doorknobs or archways
the movement of things in the wind. flags, leaves, flowers, people's hair and coats
i dont understand people’s perception of friendship anymore. do you only want to get to know people on a surface level? just for cute instagrammable moments?
do you not care deeply about them and understand that they are complex human beings who experience a range of emotions?
your friend being vulnerable with you is not trauma dumping. you don’t have to be a grief counselor to be there for your friend while they cry about a loved one dying. or just a rough time they’re having.
i mean, do you only have deep discussions with a therapist and not friends or family? if so, that’s weird tbfh and not utilizing therapy properly.
it’s all so incredibly bizarre to me. everyone’s always talking about yearning and loneliness, but if a friend starts to cry about their dying grandma it’s like, “oop, girly i dont have the Headspace for that. here’s my discount code for betterhelp.com” weirdo shit tbh
baratheonpilled
prguitarman
turnnoffyourmind
theartofmadeline
blakekathryn
areudirty
yousharknotpass
