UK town organises Sep 11 terror attacks watch party to 'refresh memories' - 'A true conspiracy in real time'

A coastal resort town in the United Kingdom is planning a watch party on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks to "experience the fear, tears, and paranoia of the live news channel analysis and raw footage of the disaster again". This year will mark 25 years of the world's deadliest terror attack, in which nearly 3,000 people lost their lives. Visuals of two airplanes crashing into the World Trade Centre in New York City on September 11, 2001 aired on every news channel in the world, leaving everyone in shock.

The Wild Boscombe Cafe in Bournemouth has called on people to leave their phones and join them for a watch party where they would relive the fear and distress people experienced at the time while watching their screens. It is being organised by the political arts group Verdurin as part of the Adam Curtis Party Conference.

Why have a watch party for a traumatic event?

People are raising questions about the intent behind having such a gathering, asking why people would come together to see the horrific scenes of the tragedy. Defending the decision, owners of the venue said it is not a "celebration or trivialisation" of the attacks.

An online listing describes the event as a place where you can "refresh your memories", and those who were too young can "get a feel for what it was like as it happened." It reads, "9/11 Watch Party rebroadcasts the responses of the mainstream media, twinning them with conspiratorial commentators in an installation of overwhelming scale."

Curator of Verdurin's website, Pierre d'Alancaisez, said, "The anniversary affords an opportunity to review once more the raw television image, our hyperreality's fundamental building block." He said that when the news anchors were narrating the events, they knew the "September 11th attacks would define the 21st century." Pierre said the “archive video reveals them revising the story as it unfolds, creating a true conspiracy in real time.”

Turning a tragedy into a spectacle

Meanwhile, the event has come under heavy criticism for using the footage for "entertainment." Christchurch councillor Simon McCormack said thousands of people were murdered, and they are using the occasion for "entertainment." "This was a real human tragedy—not entertainment, a 'watch party' or an experience to be recreated for an audience," he said. People will watch "the original television news footage, commentary and emerging conspiracy theories unfold again in real time, recreating the experience of that day as an 'immersive event'."

"Packaging their final moments and the suffering of their families as an immersive event crosses a line" and turns the tragedy into a spectacle.