Does anyone know if any mefites were victims of 9/11?

February 26, 2006 9:36 PM

Does anyone know if any mefites were victims of 9/11? [MI]
posted by spiderskull to MetaFilter-Related at 9:36 PM (42 comments total)

If so, could we follow up and see if their families need help? What would it take to organize this?

Also, although it has its inaccuracies, if a poster stopped all activity after 9/11/01, it may be something to look into.

Just wondering.
posted by spiderskull at 9:36 PM on February 26, 2006

Just read the thread from that day and see for yourself.
posted by riffola at 9:40 PM on February 26, 2006

I think you're about 5 years late.
posted by puke & cry at 9:42 PM on February 26, 2006

Why specifically Sept. 11th? There's been a host of other disasters to befall the world in the last 5 years.
posted by Mijo Bijo at 9:45 PM on February 26, 2006

Kind thoughts, but yeah I tend to agree with the, it's a bit late now/other disasters have happened more recently.
Has there been any estimates on life lost to the hurricane/s?
posted by edgeways at 9:53 PM on February 26, 2006

I think you're about 5 years late.

The way I look it, they're probably still dealing with the direct aftermath of the loss. I don't really like the idea of forgetting about the people most affected by the disaster just because it's been 5 years.

Anyway, I was browsing the posts from that day, but there are just too many threads, so I thought maybe someone had done something.

I hadn't been a frequent member until way past 9/11, so I guess that puts me behind.
posted by spiderskull at 10:01 PM on February 26, 2006

Metafilter members and their friends and family members have, to my memory, been caught up in 9/11, the tsunami in S/SE Asia, the disaster in New Orleans, and the war in Iraq, amongst other terrible events. I personally lost one of my best friends in the Bali bombings in 2002.

There are a lot of people here, and only some of them (well, most, granted) are Americans.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:23 PM on February 26, 2006

(Of course I realize that upwards of a third of the people who died in the World Trade Centre were not Americans, either.)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:25 PM on February 26, 2006

I was a hurricane escapee, as well as having been beaten up in the Westwood riots that followed the Rodney King beating (I then fled town on the second day of the LA riots). Thankfully, I was not in New York for 9/11, although I flew out the following week, which was unnerving.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:06 PM on February 26, 2006

.
posted by mlis at 12:15 AM on February 27, 2006

9/11 has been used to justify so many bad things, I think it kind of annoys people to hear about it anymore.
posted by delmoi at 12:51 AM on February 27, 2006

I didn't lose any close friends on 9/11, but (like quite a few MeFites) I live in NYC and was deeply affected by it. I watched on TV as the planes crashed into the towers, ran to my window and saw the smoke.

I watched the towers fall, knowing my wife was on a train that ran right underneath them. I was unable to reach her cellphone for a couple of hours -- the scariest hours of my life.

I still have nightmares.

But I agree with others here that, though terrible, 9/11 was just one tragedy out of many. There have been many worse events -- earthquakes, wars, etc. 9/11 wasn't special.
posted by grumblebee at 3:57 AM on February 27, 2006

At least one regularly posting member of Metafilter died in 9/11 that I am aware of - I didn't know him, but I remember looking at his profile and last posts after someone provided a link, and being affected by it. Beyond that I'm not sure.
posted by fire&wings at 4:02 AM on February 27, 2006

My ex-girlfriend's brother was killed. I think there's still aftershocks in her family about it. I was actually on the phone with her as each of the towers fell—she knew, but had forgotten, that her brother was in NY at the WTC and staying in the Marriot. He had a meeting a 8AM on the 99th floor of North Tower. It was only a bit later in the day, I think about 11AM, that she called me, very upset, as she remembered that her brother was there. At that point, I told her that no one hearing from him through the morning didn't indicate anything because so many people were displaced. By the next day, though, it looked pretty bad.

He had two young boys, something like 4 and 8, and they have had a lot of emotional trouble about it.

I'm really glad that my ex had forgotten, and I didn't know, that her brother was there as we watched the buildings fall. Even so, I can't see the crash into the North tower without thinking that I'm seeing her brother die probably right at that moment. The crash was centered on the floors around 99, maybe on 97?
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 4:14 AM on February 27, 2006 [1 favorite]

This is a weird question. Just for context, as a rough estimate, based on user numbers, about two-thirds of MeFi members joined after 9/11.
posted by mcwetboy at 4:17 AM on February 27, 2006

It is a weird question, but I'd like to take this opportunity to agree with fandango_matt that the latest conspiracy FPP sucks. Could people please stop posting that shit? Is it supposed to be funny (you know, in that postmodern "ironic" way)?
posted by languagehat at 4:56 AM on February 27, 2006

What do other tragedies that have happened since have to do with spiderskull's curiosity about 9/11 and how it may have affected our members personally? Sure, his inquiry may seem a bit "late", but he did clarify his question as being a "follow up".
posted by Witty at 5:48 AM on February 27, 2006

9/11 happened right at the climax of the hoopla around Gary Condit (aka the luckiest man in the world) and I was in DC and had been regularly reading a DC community board to keep up with gossip about the case. One very well regarded and prolific poster never posted again after that morning and in retrospect, looking at his posts, he was clearly military and clearly in the Pentagon. I had never interacted with him off the board and so was surprised at how upset I was. I mean, you're all just pixels, right?
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:04 AM on February 27, 2006

What fandango_matt and languagehat said--why is that post still up?
posted by LarryC at 6:35 AM on February 27, 2006

What makes you think that any mefites were victims? It's not like tens of thousands of people died in the attack. Relative to other disasters 9/11 was only important because it happened in the US and not in some less significant country. I think that Americans (myself included) need to move past it already.
posted by sic at 6:40 AM on February 27, 2006

We were all victims of 9/11.
posted by mischief at 6:53 AM on February 27, 2006

I think that Americans (myself included) need to move past it already.

Who says we haven't moved past it. Asking a question about it isn't necessarily anything more than that.
posted by Witty at 6:58 AM on February 27, 2006

languagehat writes "but I'd like to take this opportunity to agree with fandango_matt that the latest conspiracy FPP sucks. Could people please stop posting that shit?"

Agree, I can't beleive it's still there.

I think we should have an obit section of metafilter. Just a page saying these active members are known to have died on this date and a link to their user page where further details could be provided. I think it would add to the sense of community.
posted by Mitheral at 7:34 AM on February 27, 2006

mcwetboy, I'm surprised that that many people here joined before 9/11.

There's also some vagueness with the word "victim". My wife was a victim of 9/11 who lived and was physically unhurt but I can't say that we have been unaffected by it.
posted by mikel at 7:41 AM on February 27, 2006

I'm flagging the hell out of this, but it doesn't seem to do anything.
posted by puke & cry at 7:42 AM on February 27, 2006

Oh yeah, I watched that 9/11 stuff on TV and was sorta horrified. I accept PayPal and cashier's checks and also I have an Amazon wishlist if anyone wants to help out.
posted by thirteenkiller at 7:55 AM on February 27, 2006

I already bought you a ticket to the UK what more do you want from me?!
posted by public at 8:35 AM on February 27, 2006

I realize it's a weird question, so if I'm the only one wondering about this (although an obit page sounds more reasonable), then clearly it's not worth pursuing.

It seems like a large majority of Mefites are from the NY area, although that might just be because of the prolific posters -- hence 9/11 vs. other disasters.
posted by spiderskull at 9:21 AM on February 27, 2006

We're just really loud.
posted by CunningLinguist at 9:29 AM on February 27, 2006

Are you asking specifically if anyone with a MeFi account was killed? Because every resident of the NY area and anyone who files was directly physically affected, making them a "victim," and there's a whole range of other effects which took more time to sink in, especially if you consider the emotional impact that comes with having a friend die or even live through that chaos.

So what are you really asking? Perhaps someone with an account was killed in one of the towers, but it would be hard to know. There are/were a lot of scarcely active members / registered lurkers. And I think their families had much better things to do than follow up with us here.

To my knowledge, it has never come to light that a MeFi member was killed in the attacks. Someone correct me if I'm wrong as it might answer this question.

And yes, this is 5 years too late. At this point I would not reach out to any strangers who lost loved ones to offer my "support," as it would aggravate an old wound for no clear reason. Are you just overcome with some 9/11 nostalgia/horror and feeling a vague urge to DO something? What do you have in mind that would actually be worth the doing at this late date?
posted by scarabic at 9:30 AM on February 27, 2006

It seems like a large majority of Mefites are from the NY area

No, it just seems that way because Jonmc and Amberglow are from NYC.
posted by LarryC at 9:38 AM on February 27, 2006

Because 9/11 has been so weighted down with further badness by politics doesn't mean there aren't still people coping with it today who may need help, precisely because so many of us have moved on. There are many who aren't lucky enough to be able to move on. So far, there have been about a dozen deaths among the ranks of rescue and clean-up workers. There will be many more related deaths, and for many, there are no longer workers comp and federal funds to care for their needs.

"More than four years after hijackers rammed passenger jets into the twin towers, at least a dozen people who worked at Ground Zero have died of diseases attributed to the witch's brew of deadly chemicals and toxic substances that filled the air at the disaster site.

Thousands of other Ground Zero workers are suffering from serious respiratory ailments. The victims include police officers, firefighters, construction workers and even immigrant laborers. Some call these forgotten men and women the 'walking dead.'"
---
" ... Of the roughly 70,000 people currently enrolled in Mount Sinai's World Trade Center health study, more than 60,000 suffer some kind of respiratory problem."
posted by madamjujujive at 10:41 AM on February 27, 2006

I appreciate your inyerest in helping other members of this community. There were certainly MeFites affected by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath who would be able to put contributions to good use. You could make a donation to modest needs. If there's an organization that tries to get people to be rational and behave civilly, we're all victims here, so that would be an excellent group to support.
posted by theora55 at 12:16 PM on February 27, 2006

That opened up a whole can of worms.

I clearly didn't phrase this the right way, and I apologize to those who are sick of hearing 9/11-related information -- it was meant to be a follow-up, and I didn't mean to take away from anyone that was adversely affected but not killed.

To clarify, by victim I mean someone who lost their life.

theora55 - thanks for the link. I think this should help me help others.
posted by spiderskull at 8:08 PM on February 27, 2006

I think spiderskull's curiousity is just fine - and this is the appropriate forum for the question.

As to you ghouls who seem to be almost "proud" of the fact that there have been "deadlier" disasters since 9/11, or who otherwise seem to be trying to dismiss it because it affected primarily Americans...screw your heads on - this was the most horrific single attack on America - ever - and the largest number of dead people from a single act of terrorism. And, unlike tsunamis or hurricanes, this was CAUSED BY HUMANS. That puts it on a whole different scale from natural disasters.
posted by davidmsc at 8:19 PM on February 27, 2006

Mischief is right: we were all victims of 9/11. Every single one of us was directly personally impacted by a large fuel-filled plane. Metaphorically I mean, in a spiritual sense. And those planes had people on them too, who are now a part of each of us, with tragic results. Yeah, that's it: those big jets full of people that impacted with us spiritually have decimated all our very souls. So where's Tom Cruise when we need him?

And davidmsc, that's why "they" hate us: the U.S. of A. is responsible for more and more devastating "tragedies" than "9/11", and they hear us complain so loudly about one bad day.

As for "9/11" itself, Americans ought to GET OVER IT ALREADY. Do we want to wind up like the Serbs cherishing 400 year old defeats, and to what end?
posted by davy at 9:05 PM on February 27, 2006

My head is screwed on just fine, davidmsc, but thanks for your input.

(I can't help but notice that of the five tragedies I mentioned -- 9/11, the tsunami, Iraq, New Orleans, and Bali -- the death and horror that resulted from all but one can be attributed in great part if not in their entirety to (ironic uppercase ahoy!) HUMANS (allowing, of course, that FEMA and the rest of the American government count as 'humans'.))

That puts it on a whole different scale from natural disasters.

Yes, we know. Terrible as that number may be, 2000 plus dead Americans (out of the 2,986 total) are on a whole different scale from 283,100 killed, 14,100 missing, and 1,126,900 people displaced. Just not in the direction you seem to think.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:02 PM on February 27, 2006

The hundred thousand dead in Iraq were not caused by humans?

Please.
posted by sic at 2:34 AM on February 28, 2006

Oh, come on. We all know that one dead American is equal to, what ... at least 8 or 9 dead brown people? DO THE MATH, PEOPLE!
posted by antifreez_ at 3:54 PM on February 28, 2006

lol Antifreez are you trying to be be inflamatory?
posted by thirteenkiller at 5:49 PM on March 1, 2006

*builds a white person out of blown up brown people*
posted by Azhruwi at 5:49 PM on March 1, 2006

"We were all victims of 9/11.".

Yup, some, more than others.

I say this without snark - yes I realise it's metatalk.
posted by lalochezia at 2:19 PM on March 2, 2006