The worst of those stories I heard was the man who skipped out of work to meet his mistress for sex. His distraught wife was sure he was at work, and dead.
A very messy divorce ensued.
I've met a lot of people who talk as though they were very affected by the fall of the towers. Most of them had never even seen the towers. Many had never been to New York. I only ever met one person who had a friend in the towers, and he wasn't calling for anyone's death. He was just in shock.
I don't understand this need to pretend some sort of victimhood. It was sad and shocking, but to me this clamouring of "I was there, I'm affected," and, "I wasn't actually there, but I'm devastated," cheapens the real experiences of real people.
I saw a woman who'd lost husband, brother and sons (all emergency services workers), wandering around the streets in her slippers wondering what to do next. Someone who could maybe have been in the towers but wasn't is a voyeur piggybacking onto something horrific, and it makes me sick.
A very, very dear friend of mine is one of those 'morons', as you call, who wasn't at work that morning. She's still dealing with the guilt she feels at being alive through nothing but coincidence, and I'd wager she doesn't think that she's a better person for it.
I'm talking specifically about the people attempting self-aggrandisement. It doesn't apply to everyone, of course, and I'm sorry if it looked as though I was generalising.
What pissed me off was one specific guy whose status was all about how the events affected him, and when someone else commented about being evacuated from Tower Two he responded, I was supposed to be in Tower One! as though it were a contest and he had the royal flush. I found it incredibly distasteful.
That is beyond distasteful -- it isn't a goddamn competition! Lis makes the occasional morbid joke, but she doesn't talk about it much. I know for sure she doesn't try to one-up anyone else because honestly, who does that? I can't imagine how just not being dead isn't good enough for some people.
I'm considering creating a Tastelessness Bingo for next year to try and keep me from alienating half the people on my FB page with a, "You're not a victim; you're a ghoulish fuckwit," rampage.
"I should have been there, but..." "Islam preaches hate!" "Muslims are intolerant and they should go back to where they came from because they're not wanted here!"
I've seen variations on all three today and I am angry and sad.
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A very messy divorce ensued.
I've met a lot of people who talk as though they were very affected by the fall of the towers. Most of them had never even seen the towers. Many had never been to New York. I only ever met one person who had a friend in the towers, and he wasn't calling for anyone's death. He was just in shock.
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I saw a woman who'd lost husband, brother and sons (all emergency services workers), wandering around the streets in her slippers wondering what to do next. Someone who could maybe have been in the towers but wasn't is a voyeur piggybacking onto something horrific, and it makes me sick.
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Or, better yet, people talking about football.
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What pissed me off was one specific guy whose status was all about how the events affected him, and when someone else commented about being evacuated from Tower Two he responded, I was supposed to be in Tower One! as though it were a contest and he had the royal flush. I found it incredibly distasteful.
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"I should have been there, but..."
"Islam preaches hate!"
"Muslims are intolerant and they should go back to where they came from because they're not wanted here!"
I've seen variations on all three today and I am angry and sad.
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