"We Will Never Forget 9/11/01"

October 28, 2002 12:57 PM

"We Will Never Forget 9/11/01" Hmm, so this is what happens when "9/11" becomes old news. I'm not American, I don't know anyone who was touched by what happened that day, but I am utterly appalled by this.
posted by chrid (55 comments total)

The myriad popups that ensued on clicking that link almost caused me to miss the giant eagle that's about to peck the south tower.

Frightening.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:00 PM on October 28, 2002

Sorry I should have warned about the pop-ups.
posted by chrid at 1:01 PM on October 28, 2002

That's a big freakin' eagle.
posted by sir walsingham at 1:03 PM on October 28, 2002

I'm not American

If you were, you'd know we Americans have a fantastic ability to commodify, cheapen, and package any sentiment in the tackiest way possible. The nexus of this particular gift of American culture (the tacky, that is) can be found here.
posted by malphigian at 1:03 PM on October 28, 2002

Especially since the graphic on the side says Stacy's _Delightful_ Gifts and costs $30 without shipping
posted by Jeffy at 1:04 PM on October 28, 2002

Refresh my memory... what happened on "09/11/01"...?
posted by cadastral at 1:11 PM on October 28, 2002

I've seen the photos of the demon rising from the smoke of the towers, but hadn't seen this one yet. I bet this image is faked. If not, it is pretty creepy to think that a giant bird menaced the towers moments before the tragedy.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:14 PM on October 28, 2002

Obviously the people don't know how to grieve appropriately. You should offer seminars. They'd probably be really thankful.
posted by joemaller at 1:15 PM on October 28, 2002

joemaller, I think they're probably doing fine without me, and without Stacey's Delightful Gifts.
posted by chrid at 1:20 PM on October 28, 2002

Well, joemaller, that's an interesting question. Purchasing tacky crap is a lot of people's way of dealing with issues like this. Having 9/11 t-shirts is what solidarity and remembrance means to them. This tendency obviously opens up the floodgates to rapacious marketeers, but I don't think this is a case of supply determining demand. I think the demand is deeply ingrained in Americans, particularly the rural white low- to middle-class, so the question really becomes: Exactly how does the mechanism of purchasing shit assuage people with this mindset? And how healthy, or unhealthy, is it?
posted by blueshammer at 1:23 PM on October 28, 2002

The nexus of this particular gift of American culture (the tacky, that is) can be found here.

Or here.

Joey, how much do you wanna bet some one super-imposed an image of towers over a picture of a real 1,500 foot eagle? Otherwise, one slip of that beak and you'd have a huge lawsuit on your hands.
posted by Modem Ovary at 1:27 PM on October 28, 2002

I'm appalled too... 3 fucking pop-up ads? Oh the humanity!

FYI, I think their marketing strategy is a little flawed: the memory of 3,000 dead citizens has a market value of around $15.99, they'll never sell at $29.99.
posted by zekinskia at 1:32 PM on October 28, 2002

Hey, that's an American eagle. Finally, we have photographic proof that the US government was behind the attacks.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:33 PM on October 28, 2002

Surprise your honey this Sweetest Day! Nothing says "I'm in the mood" quite like September 11 sleepwear. Only at Stacey's Gifts!
posted by mathis23 at 1:36 PM on October 28, 2002

I'm not shocked. Morally it's not really much different from collecting Titanic memorabilia - it's just that the tragedy is a lot fresher, and there are are more survivors and survivors's relatives around to be upset by such crass exploitation.

I'm wondering - aren't there people out there who will buy this stuff out of a sincere desire to remember those who died? Maybe a lot of people? Seems to me as a culture we've become pretty stunted emotionally and spiritually when our only means of dealing with tragedy is buying something. Or baking a cake.
posted by orange swan at 1:38 PM on October 28, 2002

I really don't know what this thread is about. I bought four of those shirts this morning, one for me, one for my wife, and one for each of my parents. We all wear them at the same time when we play bingo, or go sightseeing. We also are all morbidly obese and dress our children in day-glo spandex clothing My son wears water socks, even on land, and my daughter wears purple Jelly shoes.

--excerpt from my future novel "Tourist hell on a Washington D.C. metro car"
posted by Mushkelley at 1:38 PM on October 28, 2002

I bought a piece of the Berlin Wall from a department store.
posted by blogRot at 1:59 PM on October 28, 2002

Bah. Nothing at all shocking about this. It's part of the a uniquely American weirdness: an attraction to the synthetic and artificial. It's so much... cleaner than the real thing.

Hence Disney's Animal Kingdom with its immense artificial tree. Gated communities with astroturf instead of lawns. Hollywood movies that are merely a remake of an older film. Pop music. Artificial tans. Rolex knock-offs. Huge portions of low-quality food. Colour-enhanced oranges. Spring-fresh air freshener.

And, naturally, artificial emotions. Why suffer the stress of real mourning and the effort of forcing the government to change its foreign affairs policies, when one can instead purchase the t-shirt or bumper sticker?
posted by five fresh fish at 2:01 PM on October 28, 2002

aren't there people out there who will buy this stuff out of a sincere desire to remember those who died

I agree. I think the people who buy this stuff, no matter how tacky, are just trying to show that they were affected by what happened.

excerpt from my future novel "Tourist hell on a Washington D.C. metro car"

Remember, though, that without our tourists, D.C. would be in pretty bad shape. Try to keep that in mind the next time that you are forced to look at a whole family of them on your commute.

five fresh fish - Your opinion seems to be filtered by a lot of stereotypes about American suburbs - I'll bet you've read White Noise. I think despite the apparent shallowness of buying a 9/11 commemorative t-shirt, most people's motives in wearing one are pretty sincere.
posted by drobot at 2:08 PM on October 28, 2002

I'm waiting for the north and south tower condoms, "make the towers rise again"
posted by joemeek at 2:08 PM on October 28, 2002

Maybe they stole that image from the new FOX television show coming out soon, When Giant Eagles Attack!
posted by camworld at 2:09 PM on October 28, 2002

Further down on the Giant Eagle catalogue page:
The 6" Fortress Feeder is our abridged edition of our cage feeder and is equally beautiful, and equally impenetrable to you-know-what.
Cryptic! can someone who-does-know-what enlighten me? I hate this feeling of being out of some inner circle. Could it be Squirrels? They are dangerous beasts.
posted by Catch at 2:09 PM on October 28, 2002

drobot: I thought the idea was from an Umberto Eco book on the semiotics of simulacra in America, but I can't find a reference to it at the moment. Regardless the author, it was an interesting book: a good examination America's preference for the artificial over the natural, with endless examples. From videotapes of flames in a fireplace to cut-out babies to tacky roadside attractions, American has a disturbing fascination for simulating what could instead be experienced for real...
posted by five fresh fish at 2:16 PM on October 28, 2002

Five Fresh Fish: finally, something we agree on!
posted by ParisParamus at 2:22 PM on October 28, 2002

I have several questions about this page:

1. What the hell is crystalle?

2. Why in the world would it cost $190.00?

3. WHy would you want a WTC sculpture out of it even if didn't cost $190.00?

4. What does a velour valentine chihuahua have to do with 9/11, or about crystalle for that matter?

5. Why am I strangely drawn to order a few valentine chihuahuas?

Ah, on preview I now see that the "other gifts" that pop up are randomized. You may have to refresh a few times to see the chihuahua. Likewise, I haven't gotten the Fortress Feeder yet, though I did get a nice Crazy Frog Fountain.
posted by yhbc at 2:23 PM on October 28, 2002

five fresh fish - Maybe from Eco, but it doesn't matter - my point was that I don't think Americans actually prefer the artificial over the natural - for every videotape of flames, cut-out baby (?), and tacky roadside attraction, you'll find many more actual fireplaces, babies, and natural parks. Have you been here?
posted by drobot at 2:25 PM on October 28, 2002

Why a nightshirt?
posted by originalname37 at 2:28 PM on October 28, 2002

American QVC Culture? Repeat after me: AHEAD, CRINGE FACTOR SEVEN
posted by ParisParamus at 2:28 PM on October 28, 2002

They rejected the original motto and design, which featured a gigantic lemur dozing over the World Trade Center with the legend "WE WILL OCCASIONALLY FORGET" underneath.
posted by Skot at 2:33 PM on October 28, 2002

I suspect that crystalle is another name for plastique
posted by Catch at 2:36 PM on October 28, 2002

"semiotics of simulacra"

Graduate school, much?
posted by sir walsingham at 2:36 PM on October 28, 2002

American QVC Culture? Repeat after me: AHEAD, CRINGE FACTOR SEVEN

Consider that you just criticized 'QVC Culture' with an allusion to Star Trek. Was that intentional? It's pretty funny.
posted by drobot at 2:43 PM on October 28, 2002

drobot: well, no. It just like the phrase, which I've used for years. Anyway...
posted by ParisParamus at 2:45 PM on October 28, 2002

I remember being appalled at things. It's been a while though.
posted by condour75 at 2:46 PM on October 28, 2002

Could this be the same bird? Or perhaps his evil twin?
posted by initapplette at 2:50 PM on October 28, 2002

Considering that plastique is sometime slang for C4, I'd say that it's pretty darn appropriate then. 'Course, they could fill them with dyesel or Jyt-A too.
posted by bonehead at 3:01 PM on October 28, 2002

Well I can honor the memory of that horrific day for just 9.95, and if you call within 20 minutes, I can throw in a Princess Di commemorative pot holder.
posted by 2sheets at 3:10 PM on October 28, 2002

"American life is a powerful solvent. It seems to neutralize every intellectual element, however tough and alien it may be, and to fuse it in the native goodwill, complacency, thoughtlessness and optimism."

-George Santayana
posted by homunculus at 3:11 PM on October 28, 2002

Can you tell us about George Santayana? I don't know much about him.
posted by drobot at 3:17 PM on October 28, 2002

Classic guitarist from the band Santayana. Just had a hit album called "Supernatural."
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:37 PM on October 28, 2002

Sorry. Apparently, I couldn't resist. In reality, here is A George Santayana Home Page. He is a philosopher and theorist.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:46 PM on October 28, 2002

We're probably thinking of J. Baudrillard, who uses the word 'virtual' about twice in any given sentence in just about everything he's ever written that I've read (you can snag some of it for free off of Textz.com).

I think the demand is deeply ingrained in Americans, particularly the rural white low- to middle-class,

This seems to me to be saying, in somewhat more articulate terms 'Rednecks are advertising cattle', which is untrue insofar as it seeks to discriminate the "rural white low- to middle class" from the rest of the population. While your average poor white farmhand may buy things you think are tacky and cheap (being yourself a member of another subgroup entirely), he no doubt has similar biases against the similarly arbitrarily chosen set of cultural artifacts you (and I, admittedly) have got. The notion of owning a cellular phone and computer rather than a car and house no doubt strike him as a seriously misplaced set of priorities on your part.

Snobbery in America by David Brooks of the Atlantic Monthly.

Personally, I'm perfectly willing to admit that the t-shirts are 'tres gauche' or whatever, and would personally never purchase one. Nonetheless, to say that only a certain class of a certain racial group are strongly inculcated into a habit which forms the basis of our society (consumption) is kind of silly, isn't it?
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 4:03 PM on October 28, 2002

It's not t-shirts though. It's nighsthirts. Is there a subtle difference?
posted by chrid at 4:59 PM on October 28, 2002

I'm going to have to agree with five fresh fish on the breakdown of Americans preference of the artificial over the natural. The Umberto Eco book is called Travels in Hyper-reality and is really worth a read. It's not the book that lead me to believe this, it was growing up in a Midwestern American suburb. It's not to fault Americans as individuals, it's the structure of our capitalist society. 'The natural' cannot be massed produced, packaged and disseminated so 'the artificial' is used as a substitute. It isn't surprising that the 9/11 tragedy is being commodified so that grief and mourning can be bought off the shelf.
posted by elwoodwiles at 5:01 PM on October 28, 2002

You think that's offensive. Try this. I'm evil, I know, but I thought it was hilariously bad taste.
posted by salmacis at 5:03 PM on October 28, 2002

...for every videotape of flames, cut-out baby (?), and tacky roadside attraction, you'll find many more actual fireplaces, babies, and natural parks

Have you ever not been in America? I find that America tends to go further in this trend than other countries. With the possible exception of Japan, which has invented artificial pets a number of times.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:29 PM on October 28, 2002

five fresh fish - Yes, I live here. What country do you call home? What is a cut-out baby? I personally have never actually had the pleasure of viewing a videotape of flames, and yes, there are certainly some 'tacky' roadside attractions, but my point is that the generalization that American's are obsessed with artificial things isn't well founded, or at least not for the majority of Americans. Sure, there might be folks out there who enjoy a video fire, but that's just something that you picked up on and incorrectly assumed was representative of *all* or even most Americans.
posted by drobot at 5:57 PM on October 28, 2002

My theory is that people that were not directly involved try to "connect" somehow. I was close by when this happened, know exactly where I was, and will never forget it. (I was working in a Level I Trauma Center, waiting for patients that never showed up). It still bothers me to see pictures of stuff like this, it brings it all back up! But I think people that weren't in the area or have a connection have different needs. Just MHO.
posted by RunsWithBandageScissors at 6:12 PM on October 28, 2002

You are all heroes, each and every one of you.
posted by Slagman at 6:29 PM on October 28, 2002

except those of us who live in America, evidently.
posted by Vidiot at 7:30 PM on October 28, 2002

Thanks Slagman, always wanted to be a hero and now I can cross that off the To Do list. Phew!
posted by billsaysthis at 8:22 PM on October 28, 2002

"semiotics of simulacra"
Graduate school, much?
posted by sir walsingham

It doesn't take grad school to know about Eco, but really, what's wrong with a bit of erudition? Isn't your first day on MeFi a little early for the anti-intellectual snarks, Wally?
posted by muckster at 8:35 PM on October 28, 2002

drobot: sorry to have offended. Lord knows that one can't make general statements on MeFi. Everyone's an individual, and it was dastardly of me to attempt to paint a big picture.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:58 PM on October 28, 2002

Seems that page has already been removed. Does anyone else get this error? If so, does anyone have an archived copy?
posted by timyang at 11:36 PM on October 28, 2002

five fresh fish - It's ok to generalize, I just disagree with your view of the big picture.
posted by drobot at 6:04 AM on October 29, 2002