I get the memes and all that, but am I wrong in thinking it's a tad more complex? In any context, I can't help but regret such loss of life. As I think about it, though, I guess we wrought all manner of havoc in the Middle East, and we didn't spare civilians, so why should we expect any different. All the horrific things we did there... I see clearly why it happened. I just can't see myself supporting such an action. If they flew planes first into government buildings (which I know they tried) or military bases I could understand better. I just can't in good conscience support either what we did there or what happened here. I also won't say the US didn't deserve it; we totally did, but was actually doing it the correct move? How is it entirely different from going out and shooting random finance bros or billionaires. Sure they deserve it, sure it'll make us feel better, but I don't think it'd bring about real change. It's the argument against adventurism. And it helped fast-track surveillance fascism here, though I don't blame them for that, that was our own ghoul-ass politicians and scared people.
I guess this could be a common sentiment, and people just like memeing, which is all right, I suppose, so long as it doesn't get you in prison for making an ill-advised joke.
EDIT: I guess I still have some pacifist brainworms. I keep wanting our "good guys" not to use such violence, when comparably it is a drop in the bucket of the violence used against them. Also, of course, the responsibility for what happened to the US is lies within themselves. I do regret the loss of life, but I need to remember to keep in mind the many many many more lives lost due to US imperialism. Thanks for the replies!
For the majority of you who weren't adults in the 90s, I think it might be helpful to understand a couple of things:
NYC was widely perceived as the greatest city in the world, by every metric. In this era of global megacities, we might forget that NYC was in the top 5 cities by overall population, and that competitor cities such as Tokyo were in the midst of major economic slumps (or in the case of Shanghai and Beijing, only beginning their economic takeoff). It might have felt different living in the city itself, but from the outside it was the embodiment of American hyperpower.
The WTC was the central imagery of NYC as a powerful city. Sure, you've got the statue of liberty, the Brooklyn bridge, the empire state building... but if a TV show wanted to establish where you were, it would flash the Manhattan skyline, with the twin towers as the center of attention.
Choosing the WTC as a target was particularly ambitious, because to really have the desired effect they needed to hijack TWO planes simultaneously. But it was such a dominant symbol of US power, that I think even if the US Capitol had been destroyed by flight 93, that the twin towers falling would still be primary imagry.