"Never forget 911". What do Americans mean by this expression?

Question

"A day that will live in infamy..."

What a historic speech that was, after the Japense attacked Pearl harbor. Everyone knew exactly what was meant by "remember Pearl harbor".

However, what the heck do Americans mean when they say "never forget" during the anniversary of 911? I must admitt, when I hear people blabbering this hollow expression, followed by silence and confusion, it just drives me nuts.

At least the "great generation" was willing to face the enemy and call the enemy "the enemy". In America, we cant even do that...we just say "never forget" and pretend like someone knows what the heck that means or what specifically we are supposed to be remembering.

Almost all armed conflict worldwide is Islamic, this is not rocket science...its very plain to see who and what the enemy is, yet we just dont have the courage to speak it.

We are weak weak weak weak......

one_for_the_doctor:

Clearly your one of the people I was referring too....why is it so hard to acknowledge this beastly enemy...why cant you say it?

RUTH:

I was loving your post till you backed off a bit with the "radical" addition to the word "Islam". Study Islam and then tell me that the expression "radical islam" is not a redundancy.

Answer 1

It seems that many people have forgotten 9/11. The sacrifices made while trying to help another person that you didn't even know. The way we all stood behind our President, not bash him every chance we get. The scenes from Islamic countries burning our Flag and cheering.

Why people need to remember is because the threat from Islam has always been there and is still here. We need to remember that United We Stand, Divided We Fall and Islam wants to divide us, and for some reason we are letting that happen.

Answer 2

Ok. I'm with ya. Now what?

First, we have to define what 'weak' means.

I'm not ready to call us weak.
Confused? Certainly.
Divided? No question.

I don't think its that we don't know what we mean when we say 'remember 9-11' it's that we all mean something different.

That it will be remembered, can not be helped.
What concerns me is how that memory is communicated to our children.
Were we innocent?
Were we complicit?
Did our government do it?
Did we deserve it?
Were we asleep at the wheel?
Are we giving the rest of humanity too much credit for humanity?
Are we dealing with a religion or a pathology?
Are we on our own?
Should we attack?
Should we isolate?
Should we accomodate or appease?
Is life as we have known it over, can it be restored?
Should it be restored?
Can we define what the moral high ground is?
Can we win an asymetrical war with large conventional forces or do we fight fire with fire?
I could go on and on.
It's all new. It's extremely complex.
The world has never been faced with this before. Even the definition of 'world war' has changed.
It will be a long time before we establish standards for analysis.
Until then, we will continue to wonder, what is meant by what is said.

Answer 3

I will never forget how for a brief period our country was united brought together with a spirit we would get thru this together! And we would together not let this happen again! I'll never forget all the ceremonies and the united front we shared to the world. Then in a short time later that was all thrown away and we have now become so divided we accuse our government of the worst imaginable offenses that is being projected around the world! The whole world united with us and now it's over. It wasn't Bush going to war, it was a group of people living in our country that are determined to keep us divided and determined to bring our government down. Sad, I don't see America recovering from this blow.

Answer 4

I don't know what kind of answer you are looking for, but I will answer truthfully about how I feel...

To me, "never forget 9/11" means that I will remember the innocent lives lost during the terrorist attacks, as well as the men and women fighting for our country and our freedoms.

To me, "never forget" means that we are NOT safe. That there truly is evil and hatred, and we must fight by any means to protect ourselves.

I do not fly my flag or remember this day because I am weak. I do these things because I want to show I am NOT afraid, and I do it out of respect. As a matter of fact, I fly my American flag every day! Not just when terror or disaster strikes.

Answer 5

"Never forget 9/11" means so many things to me. Never forget that there is a belief that wants to dominate the world. This belief is not based on God. It is a rigid ideology that dictates every aspect of its followers life, not just the spiritual. islam will do WHATEVER it takes to spread including flying planes full of innocent people into buildings, hiding behind women and children, desecrating their own "holy" places with ammunition and bombs, killing their own brothers and sisters to get their way, using laws and freedoms to destroy from the inside. We cannot forget the threat still exists. We cannot forget that our basic rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are under attack. We cannot forget the lives lost! We cannot forget how America was united!

God Bless.

Answer 6

We do need to call evil evil.
This polictical correctness will do nothing more than get more people killed.

Sorry if Muslims don't like it when people use the term Muslim terrorists but that is who they are.

This country had no problem calling abortion bombers Christian terrorists and willing to lump all Christians in that boat or anyone with a Pro-life message. Yet Muslims get speical treatment.

We have no problem with making fun of Christians and yet a cartoons are ban in fear of upseting Muslims. WHY?


Time for this country to get a grip and the left has to do the same to face this evil and call it what it is Muslim terrorism.

Answer 7

Here in New York City, we haven’t forgotten 9/11 and those, like myself, who were at the World Trade Center on 9/11 will never forget it.

What we don’t understand is why Bush and his neocon advisors chose to invade Iraq and neglect going after Al Qaeda, the organization that was supposedly responsible for the 9/11 attack. This country’s resources have been diverted to an unrelated venture that has actually helped terrorist recruitment.

Also note that most voters in NYC voted for Kerry. Our security is worse and Al Qaeda is gaining strength. What has happened to us is sad and tragic, yet we seem to have a president who really doesn’t care.

Also, Islam is not the enemy. Even Bush has said that. The Islamic extremists have a political agenda. If you fall for the religious aspect of the conflict as being primary, then you are falling into the trap that the extremists have set for you.

Answer 8

For me personally when I hear never forget 9/11, means never forget that morning when the Islamic fascists, terrorists, radicals, whatever you want to call them or sugarcoat them with. The point is, never forget what they did with our own planes full of American citizens and how they brought yet another act of destruction due to their insanity.

For the people who say the government is behind it and all these other crap-conspiracy theories. Ask them what they think about the first 1993 WTC bombing, the two US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the Khobar Towers and USS Cole. All under a louse of a President that did not do a thing, Clinton, who said do not overreact the terrorists are just looking for attention. Don't forget the miscellaneous attacks too from them in their home countries; suicide bombings, car bombings, beheadings, and kidnappings of all different cultures ranging from Korean schoolgirls to Thai monks. By the way, on that note regarding suicide bombings and Korean schoolgirls being beheaded, is Bush to be blamed for that too? Is he behind that too all you conspiracy folks?

Thanks to the liberal politically correct world of today it is considered "racist" and "insensitive" to blame anyone but white people, especially white Americans, for the problems of the world, society or country.

6 years have gone by and no attacks have been done on American soil by them. The only acts of terrorism I see is from politicians Democrats and Republicans alike. Wanting amnesty, protecting terrorists and not doing what should be done to fight a war and doing what it takes to get information. Even if that means -- gasp -- wiretapping, bugging mosques, bugging airports, and tracking and trailing suspected terrorists. But nooo! That is insensitive and racial profiling! That is taking away the rights of Americans. WHAT ABOUT THE RIGHTS OF TERRORIST VICTIMS! YOU LOUSES! THE VICTIMS THAT ARE BLOWN UP BY A RADICAL MUSLIM WHO STRAPS BOMBS ON HIMSELF AND BLOWS HIMSELF UP IN A MARKET DISTRICT OR IN A CAR! YOU SAY THOSE SUICIDE BOMBING, VIOLENT CRETINS HAVE RIGHTS LIKE THE REST OF US THAT TAKE INNOCENT LIFE FOR THEIR WARPED VIEW OF RELIGION?

Bug them all! Track them all. After all it is that culture (hence the world culture and not me saying it is all Muslims) that has terrorists and harbors terrorists.

Yes we are weak by the hand of kindness and gentleness. We want to be everyones best friend instead of vigilant and tough. We want to bend over backwards for everyone instead of standing strong. Instead of fighting a war the right way the politicians turned it into a politically correct war; restricting military action, milking money from it and not doing anything with it except getting more money.

Answer 9

Never forget the Alamo, which you did, but when used in connection with 9/11 only the wicked claim not to know.

Answer 10

I would like to think that this titanitc struggle will require the US going all in to settle this problem. If it requires making one cougar for every soldier in Iraq then do it. Take the gloves off and call the Imams who preach hate out and hold them accountable. Win the war or bring the soldiers home and hope and pray that those guys stay over seas. That worked before 9/11 right . . .