Quote:
Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45
9/11 was complicated because it was a physical attack along with a symbolic attack.
Not only did it kill people, it installed fear of being able to hijack 4 airplanes, something most people have been on, and being able to crash them into symbolic structures.
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I don't completely agree. I find the logic in the event more compelling. If 11 September was so tragic for reasons provided, then the 1993 WTC attack should have also been just as tragic. After all, had that attack succeeded, then one tower would have toppled upon the other with something like 40,000 people inside. 11 September did not even intend to be so destructive.
Reasons for success are so similar to how destructive a bullet might be. The bullet itself fired into an elephant did almost no damage. But the elephant fell down upon many people. The real damage was not the attack. The damage was its unintended after-effects.
Remember two planes into the WTC were never intended to bring down either building. It was only intended to kill a few hundred. But both planes took out fire protection systems. No water meant carpet, furniture, and paper brought down both towers. The unintended clogging of stairwells with sheet rock meant almost 3000 people who had plenty of time to escape, instead, died.
The attack even closed all NY financial markets and caused every fire department for 100 miles to become involved. None of that was expected. The terrorists just got lucky. It is their luck that causes 11 September to become a 'smoking gun' akin to Pearl Harbor. In Pearl Harbor, good planning made the attack work and bad luck did not make it as successful as anticipated. But the resulting after-effects were same because both events created a 'smoking gun' with about same number of casualties and a sudden appreciation that a danger existed.
Curiously, even Hilter’s generals did not approve of Pearl Harbor. Even nations not so friendly to the US in 2001 suddenly wanted to be helpful. More indications of how significant each event was as a ‘smoking gun’. Yes, both event did also inspire the more emotional to become fearful or angry. But emotions are fleeting. It is the logic in both 'smoking gun' events that make them so significant. The resulting emotion was simply frosting on that cake.