Dateline 9-11-2017

Well, today marks another anniversary of the date that sent the world spiraling into chaos caused by power grabs and opportunistic efforts from those who were claiming to step up and save the day. I will never forget the events of that day because there as many strange coincidences in my personal life as the stories I was hearing on the news.

Don't get me wrong, the coincidences in my experience were more novel with no mystery to how they played out which is why they stand out in my memory and I'm by no means trying to equate my experience with the terrors going on in New York City at the time.

I was working the graveyard shift at Kinko's at the time. This was a brand new store and the first in Seattle to install a TV to entertain the people in line. For the most part, management kept the TV on Animal Planet with the cable locked up by the store's server so I was stuck with whatever they left me to watch.

On nights where I was paying attention I would have the swing shift manager switch the TV over to the news, partially to stay informed but mainly because this was back in the day where every other channel would switch to infomercials after about 2:00 in the AM.

On September 10th, 2001, I must have forgotten because it ended up being an Animal Planet night because I would listen to Coast To Coast AM in the evening then switch over to Howard Stern at 3:00 in the AM then turn him off at 6:00 in the AM before the morning manager arrived. 

So, on 9/11/2001 not only did I not have the news channel on but I turned the Stern Show off just minutes before the first plane hit the building leaving me clueless as to what was going on. I remember when the first customer of the day came in and questioned why I was watching an infomercial for the Nad's Hair Removal System when a plane had hit the first twin tower.

She didn't seem all that concerned at the time and didn't know what type of plane it was or the severity of the incident because she just heard about it on the radio. I can't remember if it was weeks or months earlier but at some point recent to the time a Cessna or some other small plane accidentally crashed into a building in Florida so I assumed it was no big deal.

That is until customer after customer entered the store questioning why I was watching the Nad's ad during such a major event. These customers had much more panic to their voice which was my first real clue that something serious was going on.

The morning manager eventually arrived and switched the TV over to the news in time to see plane number two smack into the second building right before it was time for me to go home. The moment this happened, the big boss was in the store and was unsure if we'd stay open overnight and kind of left it up to me.

At the time, the store was so new that we didn't have the clientele to keep me busy throughout the entire night, plus I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep with all of this activity going on so I committed to not coming in and was morbidly excited to rush home and watch this world event as it played out.

The moment I jumped in the car, I quickly found that Howard Stern was still broadcasting live instead of restarting at 6:00 in the AM for the west coast listeners to have the full show available as they drive. This means, I just barely missed getting the news from my broadcasting hero in real-time when I turned the radio off expecting the replay. 

I then spent the rest of the day watching the news, while searching for other radio talk shows that were talking about the incident to where I overloaded myself with information. At this time there was no set storyline and it was unclear if the events of the day were done especially after the third plane hit the Pentagon and the other plane went down in some field.

At this point, I was buying into the storyline being pushed by the news because everything was so fresh that it was hard to see it any other way. Even as days passed and I started to see strange changes to the narrative (like no mention of multiple explosions that most people claimed to hear) and even stranger developments (quickly clearing a demolishing the crime scene) I was confused but still didn't think anything was wrong.

In fact, 9/11 fully worked in getting me from an anti-Bush citizen to getting behind our president because this was a time where he needed our support. Then as things developed even further the grab for power and money left me unsure as to who was wrong and who was right.

At this point, I don't buy the official storyline but at the same time, I don't think this was a government sponsored event. I feel that more people in high places know more than they claim to and whether or not they had an ounce to do with the planning these are the same people that benefited from the aftermath.

I'm not going to go into all the evidence here because I don't see it as my job to change anyone else's opinion, I'm just trying to share how I got to where I am because I remember the entire day clearly and it seems to me that some of the news from the day has been revised over time.

One final note, I like how this questioning leads many to point out that people believe in conspiracies because of how humans see patterns in chaos in an effort to understand the world around them leading people to put together these paranoid narratives to tie up any loose ends, mean while they make the same leaps in logic to make the official storyline fit into a perfect package to make them feel better about this world.

Alright, now that I've gotten this out of my system, it's time to go silent on the topic for another year because I prefer not to be treated like an idiot for questioning the motives of these monsters that are fucking up the Earth with never ending wars over resources instead of putting efforts into more sustainable replacements. 

Sorry for the downer of a note on this miserable day but I'll be back to my regular rambling when I check in tomorrow with an update.

Talk to you then, 

The Wicker Breaker