Someone woke me up to tell me a plane hit the tower, and I thought they meant a little prop plane and went back to bed. Then I woke up just in time to see the first tower fall.

My first reaction was the sinking feeling that this would be the ammunition to steer us into fascism.

I remember people not being able to contextualize the targets at all. People would be afraid whatever pissant thing they cared about was going to be attacked, the mall, the methadone clinic, the stadium.

The bloodlust was crazy. You couldn't get through to anyone. I know this is about 9/11 but, like the whole Iraq thing in the aftermath felt so much like Gaza today where you're just trying to scream and no one cares.

I remember when I heard the news. I was sitting in I think science class in my freshman year of high school, some kid told me a plane hit the empire state building to which I literally said "that's dumb" . Later on in I think English class we had the tv on watching the news. I was kind of miffed we didn't get let out of school early since a lot of schools on the east coast were reporting bombs threats and I thought "schweet half day!".

I went home that night and played Diablo 2 where all the boomers on battle.net were frothing fash over killing Muslims, so by then the brainworms had already set in.

I was waiting for more. Car bombings, things of that nature. For one, I was expecting Martial law or something. Which I now realize is unnecessary. But also, when further attacks didn't immediately come it made 911 feel like less of an attack and more of a statement.

The sniper attacks and anthrax mailers did have me wondering though. Just felt like if they really wanted to come at us there were so many other vulnerabilities that could have been exploited. We weren't really a full on surveillance state yet, the tech wasn't quite there. Still plenty of opportunities for a hostile force to move unnoticed through the country tearing shit up.

Edit: lol, everyone is talking about being in class. Should probably note I was an adult that had done time in the armed forces and was already trying to work my way up the corporate ladder.

I remember waiting in my assigned bunker, periodically checking the uplink to confirm its connection status and wondering if my Gladio activation code would be broadcast on the numbers station.

I was still in my first year of life, so I was probably just shitting my pants that day

Some kid in class was talking about how a helicopter crashed into a building. A few years later I saw a news headline on the TV saying "US invades Iraq" and was like huh, that's weird, why would they do that

I remember how quickly people were ready to hate Muslims and how excited they were at the prospect of "getting back" at anyone.

I remember my English teacher asking us if we felt like we were in danger in our bunk ass hick town and I quoted October Sky saying it would be "a waste of a bomb" to drop on us.

All the fucking car-window American flags littering the sides of the freeway.

David Cross had some really good "post 9/11" bits in his stand-up specials "Shut up you fucking baby" and "It's not funny"

I was a fourth grader, so not too politically concious. But I happened to be home sick on 9/11. I got up late and the news was on and my Mom was in the other room on the phone with a relative. And I saw the second plane hit live. As I said I wasn't too politically concious. But definitely noticed so much fear mongering and paranoia afterwards. The anthrax mailings to people is the main story I remember from the time, along with people starting fires microwaving their mail before opening it.

Comedy Central had no programming for days and a lot of other channels were the same. The flag was everywhere and on everything

Went into my history class, saw a TV playing in the front of the room. Thought "Oh cool, we're watching a documentary today."

We were, in fact, not.

Also fun fact, Advance Wars released on 9/12 (though I didn't play it until a few years later).

Probably playing Donkey Kong 64 and WWF No Mercy after school

9/12 - No cars south of 14th street

My only memory is of me watching my mom watching it on TV with a concerned expression on her face, when I turn to watch the TV I got scared because I thought it was some kind of smoke monster swallowing the people running

I was dancing on the rooftops of new jersey, just living in the moment

I remember doing an "important thing just happened that I don't fully understand outside of being important somehow" stim.

It was in the news when I went to school. Then the news was still on when I got back and kids' shows were supposed to be on

I had a limerent fixation on a boy who lived in NYC but spent summers in my neighborhood. I was convinced this meant he was going to move to my town permanently and we'd be together. I was elated on 9/12

Watching in horror as the nation reacted like little children throwing a temper tantrum instead of being the 'adults in the room'. This was the first of many eye-opening moments for me where I started to break away from the programming.

I was 2 1/2 years old. Don't remember anything at the time it happened.