How do you feel about hearding 9/11 tapes?

[jscharf]

We lost my brother in law there and many friends. I think it is a horrible idea. What do you think?

 

[CRB#33]

The only point of this is to feed people with morbid curiousities.

That being said, if the family of a victim would like to hear them as part of their grief process, they should be available to them

To the rest of us, what in heavens name is the point?

 

[jel0511]

As someone who was in the WTC in 1993, and whose DH worked across the street in the World Financial Center, I personally think it's very morbid. I was reading the paper this morning, and they did have a few excerpts printed, and I felt it was very disturbing, and decided that I won't read anymore. I also lost MANY friends and former collegues on 9/11 and bringing this stuff out, just re-opens a lot of the wounds that had finally healed. jscharf - I'm sorry for you loss.

 

[kidzmom3]

I also think that it is a very difficult question. As a human being I can feel sympathy for everyone who lost a loved one. Should a child have to relive the terror of a parents last call? But, I do wonder, why do they release 911 tapes at all? Is anyone elses tragedy and less intense than the 9/11 victims? Yes, 9/11 was a very severe case, and the loss of life was horrible and the feelings we all have towards it are sometimes indescribable. Locally, we had a young girl raped and killed and they played her 911 tape on the local news. If I were her mother, I could not have dealt with having to listen to that. So I personally think, that 911 tapes should not be displayed and played for everyone to hear.

 

[FOJMO]

On one hand, I feel that they are a part of history. But, on the other hand, I don't feel like I need to hear someone's last words or pleas from that horrible day. My imagination runs wild already with what those people must have been going through...

I definitely don't feel like anyone should make a buck with any of these recordings, and I think if they're released to the public, that someone will try to cash in on them. Mark my words...

 

[HeyMickey]

It's been two years, and I think it's about time we lay this to rest. Yes, it was a horrible tragedy and we should remember it and all, but do we really have to hear about it every day? Maybe I'm being insensitive, but I just want to move on with my life. I really have no interest in hearing the tapes, and I can imagine how terrible it would be for someone who lost friends or family to hear them. The press will do nearly anything to sell more papers or get better ratings, and this is another example of just how low they're willing to go.

 

[gina2000]

From Boston, to NYC, to DC.....this will never, ever be laid to rest. We will never forget this tragedy. Quite frankly, it burns in many of our hearts as strongly as the day it occurred.

Having said and felt this, I feel the tapes are an constant reminder of the pain and suffering of live individuals who feel their losses every day. It's difficult to decide whether THEIR need to know or NOT know is more important than the nation's right to know.

As long as this is not made into a three ring, media circus event, the tapes should be released and treated with the respect and gravity death and tragedy deserves. The tapes should be offered privately to the families who have lost loved ones first. Then the public release should occur.

I suspect many people in the NE will avoid the release like the plague. I know I will.

 

[RickinNYC]

I lost nine very good friends, colleagues and former clients on 9/11. I personally will not read or listen to any of the transcripts of the emergency calls.

As the second anniversary approaches, I can't help but feel a sense of grief and anger wash over me again and again. I don't need to know or hear any last words or pleas for help.

Loved ones are dead and they aren't coming back. I miss them so much some times and I choose to remember them in a happier time and place.

 

[delswife]

No, I don't think they should release the tapes. I heard about them yesturday, and I couldn't believe they were even discussing releasing them. Maybe I am way off base here, but I feel that releasing something like that is a form of torcher for the surviving families & friends. Haven't they had to live with enough?
I have lost serveral family members over the years, and the one thing that I always think about is the last thing I said to them before they died. Thankfully, with my father it was, I love you. Would I want to hear thier last moments of life, especially under those circumstances? No way! It would haunt me. I believe the pain would be unbearable. Would the people on the tapes want thier loved ones to hear that? I don't believe they would. I know I wouldn't.
What in Gods name can be gained by releasing them? With the thousands of people who lost a friend/loved one, or two, or three or many, opening up these old wounds is cruel. Bad idea.

jscharf and RickinNYC
~ I am so sorry for your losses. I stand beside you, this is a horrible thing to do. {Hugs} to you.

 

[swanmom]

Along with many of the previous posters, we lost many friends and parents of DD's friends in this horrible mass murder. That being said, I truly believe that the material should be made available.............whether or not you choose to read it, hear it, or leave the TV on that channel is up to each individual. Some families may actually find it comforting and others not but it is up to them to decide.

 

[dcgrumpy]

FYI-They're not releasing the actual tapes, just the transcripts.

 

[jamsmom]

I feel the transcripts should be released to family members who may then choose to read them now, read them years from now, or throw them away. I do not geel the rest of us need to know what is in the transcrips.

Although I id not personally know anyone there, I know 2 people who had planned to be at the WTC that day, but instead had a change of plans. It breaks my heart to think about what friends and family members went through that day and every since.

 

[December99]

I also do not think they need to be releasing this info to the public. I think it should be an option for the families, if they would like a copy, then they can have it. I can see where some would think hearing that voice one last time might be closure for someone but frankly, I don't really see how. I know when my mom passed away I was in the hospital area when the call went out over the intercom that she had coded. To this day, I still hear those words when I'm trying to get to sleep and I'm thinking about her. I can just imagine what people who lost loved ones could go through after hearing or reading the tapes/transcripts. I really feel for those that losed loved ones/friends/colleagues/etc. You continue to be in my thoughts and prayers and will for a very long time. I just don't see how these tapes/transcripts release will be a good thing.

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Ok, I think they should be released and here's why: People have forgotten. Obviously not a lot of us here on the Dis or those of us who live in the immediate area. But I feel alot of people in the United States have put it on the back burner. These transcripts bring back the horror and the pain. And this CANNOT be forgotten. Tuesday, September 11, 2001 should always be remembered with pain, with horror, with anger. We need to keep it alive, to remember that terrorism hit us on our turf. That 9/11 is not just some date in the history books. It is more than that. We cannot forget the pain. We need it to be there, to be reminded of it so that we don't become complacent, and lax. And most of all, we cannot just accept it.

 

[delswife]

Annie&Hallie'sMom~
I do agree with you that it seems that some people have put it on the "back burner." You are correct that this should never be forgotten. I just said that to my DH a few months ago. But, I think the impact on the families and friends would be deveistating.(sp?) I think it could cause more harm than good. Isn't there another way? Do we need to put more innocent people threw this kind of pain?

Tuesday, September 11, 2001 should always be remembered with pain, with horror, with anger.

Yes I totally agree. But there has to be something elce we can do. There just has to be.

My DS told me they showed him and the other guys in his group videos from 9/11. They were angry. Very angry. 9/11 changed alot of people, including my DS. He joined the military ONLY because of 9/11. I just found out that my oldest DD is concidering joining also, only because of 9/11. They did not need to read the transcripts. They saw enough on TV and in the papers.

There is a guy in my town who painted his pickup truck in camifalsh (sp? again, sorry, but I have smart kids and they aren't home to help me) and on the back in big letters it says "LETS ROLL" and his licence plate is 9/11. When I saw it, I burst into tears and couldn't stop crying for days. I didn't lose someone I loved on 9/11. Can you imagine, how a friend/family member might have reacted?
I'm not trying to start a problem, I just think we need to think about the long term effects this could have. I just really believe it is a bad idea.

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

I wasn't in NYC on 9/11 -- I was working on Long Island then. but I have spent most of my career working in lower Manhattan, and I also lost two people I knew in the Towers. that whole day I kept thinking "it could have been me." I work in lower Manhattan now, and a lot of my coworkers were in lower Manhattan that day and were evacuated from thei office. I work just blocks from Ground Zero.

I do think the tapes have historical value. I also think the tapes have clues as to what we can do to improve survival rates in the next tragedy, whether it's a fire or an accident or, G-d forbid, another attack. and in that I understand why the Times sought the release of transcripts of the tapes.

but I do feel for the families of those who died in the towers. and I can sympathise with thier desire not to have the transcripts plastered all over the front pages of every newspaper. it's got to be awful to have to relive those moments.

 

[floridafam]

I support their release. I think it should serve as a wake up call to how safe the next buildings will be.

When I heard some of the transripts it just made me realize how dumb they are to want to build replacement buildings even taller than what the WTC was.

Most of the people on the higher floors had no way out.

I can't believe that it's even legal to build that tall and put firefighters and emergency personnel in jeopardy when something goes wrong.

JMHO

 

[chell]

Honestly, I don't think they should be released to the public. The families can decide if they want to read/hear them. But I really don't think the general public needs to hear it. I surely would not want the entire country to see/hear what I say during my dieing moments, especially if it is the result of such a tragic event.

Maybe I can't look at it from all perspectives, but I do not understand how releasing this information can help prevent such attacks in the future. I just can't see it. How and what those people experienced in that building was AFTER the attacks on the buildings. How does this help in the future? I am not trying to be rude or anything like that. I honestly don't understand that view point. That's what they were discussing on the news last night and I couldn't grasp that concept.

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

it's not a question of preventing attacks.

it's a question of analyzing what happened that day -- communications systems that didn't work, misinformation that may have been given out -- and making changes so that the next time there's a disaster, more people have a better chance of being rescued.

 

[Mad4Mickey]

I suffered a loss in the WTC , My cousin was a Fireman who went in to help and never came out. I do not think I would want to read or hear any of the 911 calls that day or the radie transmits.I dont need to here my cousin calling for help , or hear him saying he knows he cant come down .

My husband is a Firefighter/Paramedic offered to work on the Ambulance to ease my stress and has been since after 911 . He will soon be trying to go back on the firetruck . I really do not need much more stress over this .I say release it to the family members that need to have it for closure . Leave it alone and off the TV for those of us who want to leave it where it is at "The Past"

JMHO
Wishing everyone a Tagged night