The Falling Man. Do you remember this photograph? (The man who jumped from World Trade Towers)

esquire ^ | September 2003, Volume 140, | By Tom Junod

[stlnative]

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[Wolfstar]

Thanks for posting this article. I wouldn't have seen it otherwise. I agree with the article's premise — that we should not avert our eyes from ALL of the horrors of that day. Rather, we should burn the horror into our memories so that we don't become soft again, we don't pretend to be immune again. Besides, it's my belief that we honor people like The Falling Man by witnessing ALL of what was done to them.

Don't sanitize the worst terrorist attack, and one of the single worst acts of mass murder in history. The hijackings were the most extreme form of brutality and inhumanity. Open your imagination to what those passengers experienced as they helplessly watched the planes they were on fly closer and closer to those buildings. Try to feel what those 100+ story falls must have been like. Think of the immense bravery of those on Flight 93 who chose to fight back.

The events of that day were bloody, feiry, gory, horrific, and all of the other adjectives that try, but fail to convey the truth we all MUST know if we are to prevent such acts in the future. If we are to find any meaning whatsoever in the deaths of all those people.

No, don't hide the truth from us. Only the images can tell the truth. Words are puny substitutes. I want to see because I believe I owe it both to those who died and those who might yet be victims if I pretend that 9/11 was really just another event in the passing parade.

[giotto]

I have examined the photos of people at the top of the smoking towers, and my theory is that many of the so-called jumpers did not intentionally jump--they fell. And the reason they fell is that, due to the deliberately narrow windows, they were forced to lean sideways out of the windows in order to get their heads far enough out to be able to breathe. The spaces were designed to be less than the shoulder width of the architect, who was intensely acrophobic.

[WayneM]

This is a small piece of something that we as a country should neve EVER forget.

We should think about this, and get angry all over again, every day.

[cajungirl]

I did not think this was a bad article,,I thought it was actually a very good article. And a sad one.

[EagleMamaMT]

Read later.

[muleskinner]

"No Soup For You!"

[putupon]

I'd like to put those pics on everyone's wallpaper before they come back to work in the morning. I really ought too.

[giotto]

I couldn't agree with you more. For the media to censor these images is an absolute dereliction of their duty as professional journalists. The lowest rung of hell is reserved for them. Their intentions are not to protect the families but rather to prevent the tsunami of patriotism which would sweep away forever their precious dreams of global socialism.

[Lazamataz]

NO SOUP AND NO MACADAMIA NUT COOKIES!

[mr.pink]

They were not celebrating..

"We got an alert to be on the lookout for a white Chevrolet van with New Jersey registration and writing on the side," said Bergen County Police Chief John Schmidig. "Three individuals were seen celebrating in Liberty State Park after the impact. They said three people were jumping up and down."

I believe that "alert" was from the FBI.

[Concentrate]

That was kind of weird. Maybe they were Muslims pretending to be Israelis? Perhaps they were Semites pretending to be other Semites? I don't know.

[MEG33]

Jumping up and down is excitement...but not necessarily celebration.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

ping.

[fire_eye]

At 8:46 tomorrow, I will be standing under an American Flag, burning a koran.

I prefer to shoot holes in them and then give them away. You should see the expression on a leftie-liberal fruitcake's face when he sees a "****DESECRaTED****" Koran...

But you've given me an idea... I think I'll fly my Gadsden flag tomorrow. We all should.

[Cogadh na Sith]

Y'know, a lot of people deal with the enormity of death and the mind-numbness of enormous amounts of death with 'gallows humor'.

To make it understandable--to put it at arms length, a lot of people use humor--especially Americans from what I can tell.

Witness all the Space Shuttle jokes, The AIDS jokes, OJ jokes....

Just an observation.

[Diogenesis]

Not only a butchered baby, but one photographed in two of the pictures.
Find the innocent baby in the larger pic in the upper right corner.

[clamboat]

It was pornographic trash. I stopped reading here.

What are we supposed to get from this? Are we supposed to all celebrate your ignorance? I actually read the whole thing (imagine that!)

Aside from the distastefull part of attempting to show pictures to the family at a funeral, I thought it was an interesting article, and it addressed a question that many of us had - who was that man? Did he have a family? What else was he known for, besided the famous photograph. But then you can have no comment on that because you couldn't actaully finish the article.

[Cogadh na Sith]

Now THAT is funny!

[Blzbba]

"In lieu of a koran, is burning magazine and newspaper photos of Beelzebubba and Hitlery an acceptable alternative? "


What the hell did I do?! What papers am I in?

:)