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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   967 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 11, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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It’s time for my annual listen of Cat System Corp’s News at 11. Looking at the comments, I am far from the only one. If you aren’t familiar, it’s a vaporwave album filled with clips of shows and news reports in the moments leading up to the attack, cutting off seconds before it is announced. The author has stated in an interview that the album is an attempt to suspend history in a moment, right before the peaceful days ended. It’s an interesting read and I recommend it if you’re interested in the subject. I find it especially fascinating since the artist is Dutch, yet the impact of 9/11 seems no less haunting for him.

I was very young when 9/11 happened. My memory of it is more a memory of my mother’s reaction; we were in the living room, and something on the tv had happened that had her distraught. I remember that very clearly. It wasn’t until I grew older that I really understood the event that would frame the rest of my childhood.

Another piece of media I revisit each year on this day is That episode of Lain that aired after 9/11. There’s something especially haunting about this one, something that captures the feeling of that time to me. It feels like falling leaves, the air growing colder, “visiting the doctor on a school day” as one commenter put it. I didn’t witness this as it was broadcast, but I can so easily imagine myself doing so; being a child and sitting in front of the tv as this strange cartoon broke the scheduled programming, not truly understanding the meaning behind the words scrolling across the screen. It’s almost pure simulacra on every level, but no less meaningful for me.

It’s been 25 years now, and as difficult to grasp as that is to me, I know it will be much more so for many of you here who were older when it happened. The world has changed so much, not just technologically, but in our attitudes as well. Sometimes, I will watch ground level footage on YouTube of when the towers fell, or footage of news stations covering the event. It is difficult to imagine us reacting the same way as a country should a similar event happen today, in a post Internet post irony poisoned culture war environment. Would that shock and anger express itself the same way? Would we just shrug and move on? Would we argue over whether it was a good thing or deserved?

I’m not sure. To all of you — do you have any rituals or traditions like this? Media you go back to, or ways of commemorating the tragedy to yourself? Those outside of America, do the events of 25 years ago hold significance to you at all, like they did for the Dutch artist behind News at 11?

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