September 11th 10th anniversary merchandising

[chozoghost79]

A picture on of my Facebook friends shared:
http://i.imgur.com/oGndQ.jpg
The ten year anniversary of a horrible event in American history, and people are seemingly trying to make a quick buck off of it. Seems kind of shameless to me. What do you think?

[CaptainJaneway]

It depends is the proceeds going to charity?

[chozoghost79]

For charity? That I don't know. All I have to go by is the picture, which looks like a display in a store like Wal-Mart or the like. I hope for the store's sake it is for charity.

[Kheldarson]

That's a Michael's sign in the background. (I've been getting my wedding supplies from there). Trying to see if I can find anything on their website.

[the_std]

This is another area where I feel a huge disconnect between American culture and Canadian culture. The States have one of the biggest consumer cultures on the planet. No subject is sacred - a lot of your money is spent on kitsch for holy days, and there is no true taboo when it comes to making money.

Yet mention 9/11 and it's all regressive. It's like... If anyone tries to treat it like you treat everything else, it's in bad taste, or it's sacrilegious, or it's blasphemous. I will admit that I don't know what the feeling was like, to be an American on 9/11, and maybe it's because the whole thing was fairly recent, but I do not get why it's still an incredibly touchy subject. A small display of goods associated with a tragic day ten years ago is enough to get your attention and arouse ire? I don't understand.

[tropicsgoddess]

I would be okay with merchandising wares for 9/11 so long as the products and the way that it's done (displays and promotion) were in good taste and most importantly that 100% proceeds go to supporting 9/11 charities.

[Gravekeeper]

A small display of goods associated with a tragic day ten years ago is enough to get your attention and arouse ire? I don't understand.

I do, its utterly crass. You said it yourself, nothing is sacred. But just because some profiteering dicks think nothing is sacred doesn't mean you have to accept it just because it appears to be the norm.

I don't think you need to walk around on egg shells about 9/11, but have some respect for it is all people are asking I think. I also don't think, as Canadians, that we can't understand. 9/11 affected as well. But even if it hadn't, I can understand just from a viewpoint of simple respect to be honest.

[the_std]

Except that, if nothing is sacred, why is this one thing such a hot button? There are so many ways that I see American people profiteering on tragedy and sadness... So why is this special?

Also, please note that I'm not trying to say that Americans have a unique hold on despicable business practices. I'm just using this example, as it's the one I'm curious about.

And GK, I'm actually saying that I don't understand the feeling behind 9/11. The only difference I've seen in my life is that plane rides are more of a pain in the ass. I feel more connected to, say, the genocide in Darfur, or the insane drought in Africa. I feel more emotionally affected by the tsunami in Japan, just about as far away as you can get from where I live, than I do about 9/11.

[AdminAssistant]

There are various ways that Americans (and other countries, I might add) profiteer from tragedy and sadness. But certain events are off limits. Yes, you can get a ticket to go to the Ford Theatre and see the booth that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in. They don't sell "Be John Wilkes Booth!" kits that contain a pistol, a mustache, and a copy of Julius Ceasar.

Look at it this way. Imagine that you safely live in a first-world country that hasn't experienced a significant attack in over fifty years and has seen no real battlegrounds in almost 150 years. You grow up with an expectation of security and freedom. Then, all of a sudden, a small handful of extremists shake all that to the ground. 3,000 dead in a few hours and an entire nation went on lockdown. I don't know what the Canadian experience was but in America pretty much everything went on lockdown. All military, National Guard, and Reserve were called out. TV stations played nothing but the news for weeks, and most NYC-based channels were shut down for months. Everyone was suspicious of everyone else. We were attacked simply for being Americans. As typically happens in times of crisis, there was a great national rallying. Six months later, I went to NYC, and it was still all anyone talked about. How many bodies did they find today? How much longer until they called off the search? It was incredible.

I have great sympathy for the drought in Africa, the genocide in Darfur, and the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan. But it's hard to worry about the problems across town when your own backyard is on fire.

[Gravekeeper]

Admin hit it on the head. It was such a significant and tragic event that changed the face of the world. Selling cheap shit to profit off of it would be like selling "I Survived Hiroshima" t-shirts in downtown Tokyo in 1955.

As for how it went up here, we locked down too. Our airspace was closed, all air traffic was grounded and we took in every US flight that was still in the air that could divert from the US as your airports went into lock down. We steered everything away from major city airports for fear of attacks on Canadian cities as well. Save for a few that were avoidable which ended up with fighter jet escorts just in case.

Longest undefended border in the world and all that. We mirror any serious security response you guys have.

[HYHYBT]

I think this is a day that should not be marked as special in any official way. OK, tenth anniversary, but after this, no more.

[Rageaholic]

I'm with the STD. 9/11 was tragic and completely changed our country, but I don't find anything offense about these merchandise. Had it been a T shirt that had the towers on fire, THAT would have been in bad taste, but all this is is simply "never forget".

In fact, since 9/11 is a national holiday now, I think 9/11 merchandise is more acceptable than making a profit off of something like the Japan Tsunami.

[Andara Bledin]

We're a fairly capitalist society. There is a demand for such merchandise, and so there will be people who are going to fill that need by supplying it.

It's no tackier now than it was in the weeks just after the attack where such displays were everywhere.

^-.-^

[Ipecac Drano]

It's no tackier now than it was in the weeks just after the attack where such displays were everywhere.

Not so fast...



http://www.chess.com/forum/view/fun-...less-chess-set

...and, if you like to imbibe while playing chess...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._Memorial_Wine

[Greenday]

So glad we don't have to deal with shit like this. Just some nice ceremonies and low flying planes that buzzed the chem lab (I can now see why people in the towers kept getting pissed at Mavrick in Top Gun. That shit is LOUD!).