How do you think the overall mood and atmosphere of the '00s would be different? Do you think it would be a decade that we'd look back on more fondly?

I think it would've been a lot bubblier, lighter and softer, and upbeat. If you look at 1998-mid 2001 culture, it was very bubbly, optimistic, upbeat. Then 9/11 happened and...yeah. I think its more than just coincidence that emo and hip-hop surged after 9/11 and teen pop and goofy pop-punk dissolved.

I think it would've been a lot bubblier, lighter and softer, and upbeat. If you look at 1998-mid 2001 culture, it was very bubbly, optimistic, upbeat. Then 9/11 happened and...yeah. I think its more than just coincidence that emo and hip-hop surged after 9/11 and teen pop and goofy pop-punk dissolved.


But many people say the the '00s were very bubbly even after 9/11.

It's one of those things that confuses me. You'd think that, with 9/11 and a whole melange of disasters happening, the '00s would have been a very dark decade.

If there was no 9/11 there would've still been the Iraq War, there would've still have been Katrina in 2005, Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, the begginings of the great recession in 2008 'til now.

There would've have been no current inappropriate patdowns at the airports right now! There would have also been less security at the airports.

I agree that many of the disasters that occured during that decade would have happened anyway, but the general paranoia over terrorism would not have been as strong.

If there was no 9/11 there would've still been the Iraq War, there would've still have been Katrina in 2005, Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, the begginings of the great recession in 2008 'til now.

There would've have been no current inappropriate patdowns at the airports right now! There would have also been less security at the airports.


Actually, I wonder if the Iraq War would have happened if 9/11 had never happened? The main justification for invading Iraq was the possible threat of them attacking us with WMDs, and the fact that we had recently been victimized by terrorism exacerbated our paranoia over Iraq.

Actually, I wonder if the Iraq War would have happened if 9/11 had never happened? The main justification for invading Iraq was the possible threat of them attacking us with WMDs, and the fact that we had recently been victimized by terrorism exacerbated our paranoia over Iraq.


You have a great point there. I didn't think of that.  :D

I think there would be a lot less paranoia and craziness in the world,If the planes had missed the towers and crashed onto the ground,maybe the terrorists would've died? ???

I think there would be a lot less paranoia and craziness in the world,If the planes had missed the towers and crashed onto the ground,maybe the terrorists would've died? ???


Uh they did die dude. And even if they'd missed the world trade center and crashed into the ground they still would've leveled a good portion of buildings and most if not all of the plane passengers would've still died. It wouldn't have been that different.

Could the Trade Towers been saved if they didn't crash? ???

Uh they did die dude. And even if they'd missed the world trade center and crashed into the ground they still would've leveled a good portion of buildings and most if not all of the plane passengers would've still died. It wouldn't have been that different.


Do you really believe that?  ???

If it missed the Twin Towers than it would've hit a building close to the Twin Towers and the Twin Towers would still be here today.  :-\\

Actually, I wonder if the Iraq War would have happened if 9/11 had never happened? The main justification for invading Iraq was the possible threat of them attacking us with WMDs, and the fact that we had recently been victimized by terrorism exacerbated our paranoia over Iraq.


Ehh, I'm sure the Bushies would have found some way to invade Iraq.

Speaking of which, I'm fairly certain that had 9/11 not happened, George Bush would NOT have been reelected.

Do you really believe that?  ???

If it missed the Twin Towers than it would've hit a building close to the Twin Towers and the Twin Towers would still be here today.  :-\\


Or maybe it would've hit people on the ground.

If 9/11 never happened, the 2000s probably wouldn't be hated as much as now. But then again, it could have happened on another day as well like 10/11/01 or 8/12/04 etc.

I think it would've been a lot bubblier, lighter and softer, and upbeat. If you look at 1998-mid 2001 culture, it was very bubbly, optimistic, upbeat. Then 9/11 happened and...yeah. I think its more than just coincidence that emo and hip-hop surged after 9/11 and teen pop and goofy pop-punk dissolved.


I disagree.  The culture was far more unified and peaceful after 9/11 than it was pre-9/11.  I was a sophomore in high school in 2001 and there was noticeably less school violence after 9/11 than before it.  Not one bomb threat happened that year (there were several evacuations the year before).  It changed the mood in this country completely.  Its sad that it takes something as horrible to 9/11 to bring our country together.

If 9/11 never happened, the 2000s probably wouldn't be hated as much as now. But then again, it could have happened on another day as well like 10/11/01 or 8/12/04 etc.


Good point.  ;)

I disagree.  The culture was far more unified and peaceful after 9/11 than it was pre-9/11.  I was a sophomore in high school in 2001 and there was noticeably less school violence after 9/11 than before it.  Not one bomb threat happened that year (there were several evacuations the year before).  It changed the mood in this country completely.  Its sad that it takes something as horrible to 9/11 to bring our country together.

I agree. There was a great sense of unity and patriotism after 9/11.

If 9/11 never happened, the 2000s probably wouldn't be hated as much as now. But then again, it could have happened on another day as well like 10/11/01 or 8/12/04 etc.


or maybe we would never have heard of Osama Bin Laden.

or maybe we would never have heard of Osama Bin Laden.


Osama Bin Laden was already in the news.  He was responsible for the 1998 US embassy bombings and the 2000 USS Cole bombing. 

would they have passed The Zadroga Bill? ???

Or maybe it would've hit people on the ground.


That would be terrible.  :-[

It also seemed to loosen up censorship. for example, if you have on demand on cable, or even youtube, see if it has some old MTV videos of slim shady or the like. listen to what the "edited version" sounds like. on mine, they blanked or rewrote "vodka" out of it, along with a few others. now listen to a few newer videos on there, preferably MTV versions. you will hear quite a few words that were censored out of previous videos are still in.

I am not sure if this is because of the sudden decision right after to play footage on network TV where "holy s**t" was used, or the fact that they let it slide on NYPD blue (which then led to south park saying "s**t" a whole 162 times) or if it was just the fact that someone felt we had been desensitized by everything that happened.

Either way, it seems to have had quite a profound effect on everything that is today. but it also seems it set us back quite a bit. Quite a few people, while being peaceful, had diverted quite a bit of hate towards people of Middle Eastern descent, automatically labeling them "terrorists" or watching their Middle Eastern neighbors thinking that they will slip up and out themselves as terrorists. I know "terrorist" was used like the "N" word towards a few of the Middle Eastern teens in my school, even though they had been there well before, and their parents were rooted as business owners for quite some time in the area. It was almost how the Asian people were treated during wartime in decades past.

It also seems to have, in a small way, helped topple the economy, as a kind of butterfly effect heading on towards 2007. People decided to stop spending and start stashing as people have done during wartimes of past, unsure about war or expecting their metro area was going to be the next hit (I live in the Chicago suburbs). This reluctant spending helped crash the industries that were built and thriving in the 90s.

so it would seem that 9/11 had a much longer impact that rippled beyond 2001. The question is, would things have gotten this bad without 9/11, or would it have burned out at the level it did if things continued on the way they did?

Let's say for example the plane landed safely?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/09/04/what-if-9-11-had-never-happened.html

And what if the social media that we had today was around back then?

And what if the social media that we had today was around back then?


If Facebook, Twitter or Instagram was around in early 2000's, social media would've been buzzing on the internet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qSlRLakz90

This is a video of what if 9/11 never had happened.

I will take it one step farther and answer the question: What if the Supreme Court didn't hand the election to Bush in 2000? There definitely wouldn't have been 9/11, the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. The NSA wouldn't be spying on everyone. There wouldn't be the Patriot Act (which is the most wrongly named act if I every heard one) and we wouldn't have to take off our shoes when we fly-which is totally stupid. John Roberts wouldn't be the Chief Justice & Samuel Alito wouldn't be on the court. The economy wouldn't have tanked in 2009 and Obama probably wouldn't be president. And climate change would have been addressed. 


If 9/11 didn't happen but Bush was pres anyway, we still would have gone to work in Iraq. He wanted to go long before he even go into the White House.


Cat

I will take it one step farther and answer the question: What if the Supreme Court didn't hand the election to Bush in 2000? There definitely wouldn't have been 9/11, the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. The NSA wouldn't be spying on everyone. There wouldn't be the Patriot Act (which is the most wrongly named act if I every heard one) and we wouldn't have to take off our shoes when we fly-which is totally stupid. John Roberts wouldn't be the Chief Justice & Samuel Alito wouldn't be on the court. The economy wouldn't have tanked in 2009 and Obama probably wouldn't be president. And climate change would have been addressed. 


If 9/11 didn't happen but Bush was pres anyway, we still would have gone to work in Iraq. He wanted to go long before he even go into the White House.


Cat


I actually think there's a good chance that, if 9/11 hadn't happened, Bush would not have won the 2004 election. 9/11 was such a life-altering event that I think we've all (understandably) forgotten what Bush's reputation was with the electorate before his approval ratings skyrocketed in the aftermath of the attacks. In early and mid 2001, Bush's popularity was just at or below 50%, the economy was floundering following the bursting of the Dot Com Bubble, and Bush was seen by more than half the country as an "illegitimate" President.

If 9/11 hadn't happened, and the issue of "national security" hadn't come front and center, the mostly forgotten early '00s recession would have been a much larger factor in Bush's first term. The Democrats probably would have performed well in the 2002 mid-term elections, and a more economic populist liberal nominee (think pre-scream Howard Dean) could have really given Bush a run for his money two years later. Remember, John Kerry (of all people), almost beat Bush in 2004, and that was even with the Repubs literally having their convention in the shadow of ground zero and all but calling Kerry a terrorist sympathizer for eight months.

I would also like to add if there was no 9/11 attack, Would we still get those surveillance cameras everywhere you go?

I actually think there's a good chance that, if 9/11 hadn't happened, Bush would not have won the 2004 election. 9/11 was such a life-altering event that I think we've all (understandably) forgotten what Bush's reputation was with the electorate before his approval ratings skyrocketed in the aftermath of the attacks. In early and mid 2001, Bush's popularity was just at or below 50%, the economy was floundering following the bursting of the Dot Com Bubble, and Bush was seen by more than half the country as an "illegitimate" President.

If 9/11 hadn't happened, and the issue of "national security" hadn't come front and center, the mostly forgotten early '00s recession would have been a much larger factor in Bush's first term. The Democrats probably would have performed well in the 2002 mid-term elections, and a more economic populist liberal nominee (think pre-scream Howard Dean) could have really given Bush a run for his money two years later. Remember, John Kerry (of all people), almost beat Bush in 2004, and that was even with the Repubs literally having their convention in the shadow of ground zero and all but calling Kerry a terrorist sympathizer for eight months.



I'm not too sure that you are right that if 9/11 haven't happened that Bush would have not won reelection. It may be possible but I believe that Bush stole the election in 2004. He was buddy/buddy with the CEO of Diebold-the maker of voting machines. These machines do not leave a paper trail and there were many precincts where there were more votes for Bush than there were register voters. Also, there were voter register purges, voter suppression, etc. Of course register purges, voter suppression (i.e. voter I.D. laws) going on now. I find it interesting that it is the Repubs doing that. They can't seem to win honestly so they have to rig the system.


Cat 

I actually think there's a good chance that, if 9/11 hadn't happened, Bush would not have won the 2004 election. 9/11 was such a life-altering event that I think we've all (understandably) forgotten what Bush's reputation was with the electorate before his approval ratings skyrocketed in the aftermath of the attacks. In early and mid 2001, Bush's popularity was just at or below 50%, the economy was floundering following the bursting of the Dot Com Bubble, and Bush was seen by more than half the country as an "illegitimate" President.

If 9/11 hadn't happened, and the issue of "national security" hadn't come front and center, the mostly forgotten early '00s recession would have been a much larger factor in Bush's first term. The Democrats probably would have performed well in the 2002 mid-term elections, and a more economic populist liberal nominee (think pre-scream Howard Dean) could have really given Bush a run for his money two years later. Remember, John Kerry (of all people), almost beat Bush in 2004, and that was even with the Repubs literally having their convention in the shadow of ground zero and all but calling Kerry a terrorist sympathizer for eight months.


Great post. Yeah, I remember that during the late Bush administration, I had some nostalgia for the pre-9/11 Bush era when he seemed more like an embarrassing bumbling uncle rather than a devastating war criminal. I think the Comedy Central sitcom "That's My Bush," which ended right before 9/11 I believe, captures the popular perceptions of him during that part of his administration quite well. The jokes were all about his verbal and mental clumsiness, his desire to codify his conservative Christian worldview into law, and now forgotten but then hot-button issues like oil drilling in Alaska or stem cell research. After 9/11, it was hard to laugh at his administration in such an innocent way anymore knowing that his stupidity had the potential to not only be embarrassing but also dangerous.

I think it is quite possible that he would have been a one-term president. So much of the rhetoric for re-electing him was based on the idea (one I find erroneous) that we needed him to keep us safe in our post-9/11 world. Let's also not forget that his win was also largely dependent on just how terrible the Kerry campaign was. Kerry refused to respond to the vicious attacks against him, naively believing that (this is a paraphrase), "No one takes any of that nonsense seriously." Well, they did and we all suffered for it.

Great post. Yeah, I remember that during the late Bush administration, I had some nostalgia for the pre-9/11 Bush era when he seemed more like an embarassing bumbling uncle rather than a devastating war criminal. I think the Comedy Central sitcom "That's My Bush," which ended right before 9/11 I believe, captures the popular perceptions of him during that part of his administration quite well. The jokes were all about his verbal and mental clumsiness, his desire to codify his conservative Christian worldview into law, and now forgotten but then hot-button issues like oil drilling in Alaska or stem cell research. After 9/11, it was hard to laugh at his administation in such an innocent way anymore knowing that his stupidity had the potential to not only be embarrassing but also dangerous.

I think it is quite possible that he would have been a one-term president. So much of the rhetoric for re-electing him was based on the idea (one I find erroneous) that we needed him to keep us safe in our post-9/11 world. Let's also not forget that his win was also largely dependent on just how terrible the Kerry campaign was. Kerry refused to respond to the vicious attacks against him, naively believing that (this is a paraphrase), "No one takes any of that nonsense seriously." Well, they did and we all suffered for it.



What cracks me up about the Bushies is that they kept saying that Bush kept us safe. They just conveniently forgotten that the biggest attack on this country happened during Bush's watch.  ::)



Cat

What cracks me up about the Bushies is that they kept saying that Bush kept us safe. They just conveniently forgotten that the biggest attack on this country happened during Bush's watch.  ::)



Cat


And remember when someone disrupted him from reading a book to some kids in a classroom telling him that The U.S. is under attack.

And remember when someone disrupted him from reading a book to some kids in a classroom telling him that The U.S. is under attack.



Yeah, and he sat there for 20 minutes not knowing what to do. Yup-the leader of the "free world" sat there while the country was under attack. He really kept us "safe."  ::)



Cat

Yeah, and he sat there for 20 minutes not knowing what to do. Yup-the leader of the "free world" sat there while the country was under attack. He really kept us "safe."  ::)



Cat


http://911truthnews.com/wp-content/uploads/bushcard.jpg

Bush's face after being told "We're Under Attack". ::)

http://911truthnews.com/wp-content/uploads/bushcard.jpg

Bush's face after being told "We're Under Attack". ::)



And after while he was just sitting there he looked like a deer in the headlights not knowing what to do. Some leader, huh?  ::)



Cat

And after while he was just sitting there he looked like a deer in the headlights not knowing what to do. Some leader, huh?  ::)



Cat


He just didn't want to scare the kids.

He just didn't want to scare the kids.



Bullsh!t! That was his excuse because he didn't know what to do. He didn't have to say, "Excuse me kids, but America is under attack." He could have said, "Excuse me kids, I have been called away. A president's job never ends." Or something like that. That wouldn't have scared the kids. 

I have believed since Day One and I still believe it today that he KNEW it was going to happen. Maybe not the way it played out but he knew that al Quida was going to attack us and he allowed it to happen because it was a good excuse to go to war in Iraq.



Cat

Bullsh!t! That was his excuse because he didn't know what to do. He didn't have to say, "Excuse me kids, but America is under attack." He could have said, "Excuse me kids, I have been called away. A president's job never ends." Or something like that. That wouldn't have scared the kids. 

You have to say it so it doesn't cause any stress, kids back then didn't know what being under attack was and now being that they're older, probably about 18-20, they know now what being under attack is.

9/11 basically ended the jolly, happy 90s.  ::)  ::)

Bullsh!t! That was his excuse because he didn't know what to do. He didn't have to say, "Excuse me kids, but America is under attack." He could have said, "Excuse me kids, I have been called away. A president's job never ends." Or something like that. That wouldn't have scared the kids. 

I have believed since Day One and I still believe it today that he KNEW it was going to happen. Maybe not the way it played out but he knew that al Quida was going to attack us and he allowed it to happen because it was a good excuse to go to war in Iraq.



Cat


He wanted to finish his children's book!  ;D ;D ;D

Just kidding!

9/11 basically ended the jolly, happy 90s.  ::)  ::)


Now, everybody worries more about terrorist attacks every day, they're more nervous and more anxious since the planes smashed into the Twin Towers.