What Event Makes You Sad In History?

[John Thomas8]

I lived in Ohio at the time, and ended up meeting several of the members of 2/107th Cav, and everyone was haunted.

[Slim Cognito]

If we’re talking about history we lived through, and if trump’s election or Jan 6 is the Free Space, I’d have to say 9-11.

[Frater I*I]

If we’re talking about history we lived through, and if trump’s election or Jan 6 is the Free Space, I’d have to say 9-11.

11SEP01 was horrible to be sure, but Flight 93 made me proud to be an American, Semper FI to those brave people....

06JAN21 was the first time in my life I was ashamed to be an American, the whole world seeing our citizens in insurrection to overthrow our democracy...

If I had lived in DC that day, I'd be doing life without...

[John Thomas8]

I'm older (62 on Sunday) and lived through all 3 incidents.

Kent State still haunts me.

Our country's reaction to 9/11 and J6 are just obscene.

[qbawl]

I'm older (62 on Sunday) and lived through all 3 incidents.

Kent State still haunts me.

Our country's reaction to 9/11 and J6 are just obscene.

I had just completed my 6 years of military service in an Ohio Army Reserve unit the January prior to the Kent State shooting and was at a UC campus hangout when I saw this unfold on the TV. The event and the sickening irony of realizing I had feet virtually planted in both camps changed my thinking forever.

[John Thomas8]

I'm older (62 on Sunday) and lived through all 3 incidents.

Kent State still haunts me.

Our country's reaction to 9/11 and J6 are just obscene.

I had just completed my 6 years of military service in an Ohio Army Reserve unit the January prior to the Kent State shooting and was at a UC campus hangout when I saw this unfold on the TV. The event and the sickening irony of realizing I had feet virtually planted in both camps changed my thinking forever.

Me, too, but I still went and joined up on 5 Nov 79.

[AndyinPA]

Can't pick one for sure, but it would probably be among Kennedy assassination, 911, or J6. The assassination was a shock, and I was pretty young. The 911 was a shock, but, honestly, no surprise, and the J6 was shocking and jarring and sickening in a completely differently way.

[Kriselda Gray]

I'm older (62 on Sunday) and lived through all 3 incidents.

Kent State still haunts me.

Our country's reaction to 9/11 and J6 are just obscene.

I think 9/11 was an amazing success for the terrorists. Not immediately, but I think you can trace a lot of the division we're dealing with today back to the aftermath of the attacks.

• "If you're not with us, you're against us" was one of the first big cracks I recall.
• It became ok to be openly hateful towards brown-skinned foreigners. One of Trump's first moves was the Islamic ban that was a direct result of the 9/11 attacks.
• The sick form of "patriotism" that requires conforming to certain beliefs helped make it ok to hate fellow Americans who didn't follow them.
• 9/11 Trutherism made it more acceptable to believe in conspiracy theories
• In the 90s we were fighting against domestic terrorism, but after 9/11 the focus shifted away from that, making it easier for hate groups and domestic terrorists to dig themselves in more firmly and grow.

There's a lot more, I'm sure, that's just some of what I can think of off the top of my head. But the 9/11 terrorists goal was to bring America down, and the poison their actions injected into our society through out own reactions to it has gotten them a long ways towards that goal.

[Kriselda Gray]

As for historic events during my lifetime that have affected me, 9/11 and J6 are both obvious for most all of us I think, but another one that really got to me was Oklahoma City. That was the first thing of that nature that I really saw unfold in real time and followed the story of. Ever since then I've thought domestic terrorists are one of the biggest threats this country faces, and I was really disappointed with how badly we took our eyes off that ball after 9/11.

I think the only reason we haven't see a repeat of OKC is because White Supremacists feel that they've got power now, and I truly worry what might happen when Trump is either convicted of something or loses the election.