> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.421.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Sir, a Second Meme Has Hit My Brain - URL: https://www.421.news/en/sir-a-second-meme-has-hit-my-brain/ - Published: 2025-09-11T03:01:05.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-08T01:50:12.000Z - Description: The meme playground around the Twin Towers attack: planes, Bin Laden masks, wojaks vs chads, and the "inside job" conspiracy theory. - Author: Admin - Tags: culture, memes, #en, #ensayo Eighteen days had passed since the **Twin Towers attack** when comedian Gilbert Gottfried delivered the first televised joke about the whole thing. It happened in the middle of a roast, a traditional American format where, to celebrate the life of someone important, their friends, family, and associates get together to crack jokes roasting the guest of honor -- in this case, Hugh Hefner. **"I have to fly out to California. I can't get a direct flight. They said they have to stop at the Empire State Building first,"** the great Gottfried let rip. The audience's response was crystal clear: **TOO SOON**. But we know that the [internet](https://www.421.news/es/421-primer-aniversario/) operates at a different [speed](https://www.421.news/es/crash-ballard-cronenberg/), and only 10 minutes had passed since the impact on the first tower (8:46 AM) when, on the SomethingAwful forum, user DogWelder posted (8:56 AM): **"That's one goddamn huge hole in the World Trade Center, people!"**. He attached an image of Tyler Durden, the [*Fight Club*](https://www.421.news/es/historia-del-cine-slasher/) character played by Brad Pitt, with a line from the movie: **"In the industry, we call these cigarette burns,"** referencing the hole left after the first tower was hit. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2b/7f/2b7f69fc-a243-4d2f-ae8e-db8312c6653a/content/images/2025/09/image-26.png) **9/11 was one of the first memeable tragedies** of the internet, but if Pompeii, [**the Hindenburg disaster, or the sinking of the Titanic**](https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryMemes/comments/hvysi9/an%5Finefficient%5Fmeme/?ref=421.news) had happened in 2001, they would have been prime meme material too. The event triggered the **full unlocking of comedy about** [**horror**](https://www.421.news/es/hp-lovecraft-horror-cosmico/), driven by that relationship between anonymity and empathy that emerges when we communicate through screens. So 9/11 started circulating as humor material not because the tragedy had lost its weight, but because **the internet was creating subcultures where the forbidden became funny** precisely because it was forbidden. The **World Trade Center attack** became standard memetic material on the internet. So much so that 24 years later, the memes are not only still funny -- they keep iterating and improving. And they've also entered dimensions like the **Dunk Meme** world, the most abstract and absurd version of meme culture. Today, 9/11 is not a sacred topic: it's just another resource in the internet's nihilistic humor arsenal. The dominant tone is **post-ironic**: it's no longer even about mocking the tragedy directly, but about using its imagery as a signifier of the inappropriate and the absurd. Aided by the new social media platforms that emerged over the last two decades, **9/11 memes** have evolved into reels and TikTok content. And in many cases, they're being made by people who weren't even alive when the attack happened. ## **9/11 meme templates** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2b/7f/2b7f69fc-a243-4d2f-ae8e-db8312c6653a/content/images/2025/09/image-32.png) If we think about the definitive templates, first we have the classic photo of **the Twin Towers with the second plane**. Now a pillar of reaction images for unexpected situations or things you'd throw yourself headfirst into -- the visual equivalent of "full send." Then there's the image of **George W. Bush** that illustrates this article, with that **completely lost stare** while White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispers to him that a second plane has hit the other tower. **"Losing isn't serious; the problem is *the dumbfounded look on your face*"**, as Argentine politician Jose Maria Vernet once said. Let's remember that at that moment, Bush was reading a story to kids at a kindergarten in [the state of](https://www.421.news/es/seguridad-nacional-trash-metal-nwo/) Florida. Finally, there's the classic **Wojaks and Chads** template, with ranks that vary according to the needs of the situation. Many of them depict the Level 1 of conspiracy theories claiming that U.S. President George W. Bush was **directly responsible** for the attack. A perception that's hard to sustain when you see the dumbfounded look on his face when he learned about the second tower being hit. **"9/11 was an inside job"** is a memeplex that deserves an entire article (or a series of articles) on its own. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2b/7f/2b7f69fc-a243-4d2f-ae8e-db8312c6653a/content/images/2025/09/image-29.png) ## **Argentina and the 9/11 memes** In our beautiful country, **we have a tradition when it comes to the limits of humor**. The internet and social media gave free rein to our national character and we managed to create **a parallel system that transforms constant stress and crisis into serotonin, via meme production**. Everything in [Argentina](https://www.421.news/es/south-park-nueva-temporada-27/) eventually becomes memeable, deployed in all kinds of ways, from the most harmless to extreme weaponization. September 11th was no exception. Shortly after the attack, **Bin Laden became a kind of comedic character**. This was crystallized in that iconic moment when Diego Maradona put on a mask of the Al-Qaeda leader. Almost instantly, the world of football was flooded with references to Bin Laden as a sort of folk hero, anchored in our country's long-standing anti-imperialist tradition. On top of that, the meme infuriated a more "politically correct" segment of society on this topic, or even openly pro-American voices (Daniel Hadad, Infobae), which only made it funnier. There was even a controversy sparked by a back cover of [**Revista Barcelona**](https://digital.revisbarcelona.com/library?ref=421.news) (an Argentine satirical magazine) that commemorated the second (?) anniversary of the attack with a cake and the towers as candles. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2b/7f/2b7f69fc-a243-4d2f-ae8e-db8312c6653a/content/images/2025/09/466132369_18467226277057575_275257677117145087_n.png) El Diego: he walked so we could run ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2b/7f/2b7f69fc-a243-4d2f-ae8e-db8312c6653a/content/images/2025/09/meme_9_11_grabois.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2b/7f/2b7f69fc-a243-4d2f-ae8e-db8312c6653a/content/images/2025/09/ce5b985e-dfe1-4cd5-a899-0d14f2d945cb.png) ## **The attack after the attack** 9/11 has been through so many layers that the attack has been abstracted from the image itself, turning it into a concept that applies to wildly varied scenarios, from one idea crashing into another to the ridiculing of the situation itself. And it makes sense: two commercial planes crashing in a terrorist attack against the most iconic towers in the United States is **one of the most WTF moments in history**. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2b/7f/2b7f69fc-a243-4d2f-ae8e-db8312c6653a/content/images/2025/09/image-33.png) To commemorate this day, here's a curated selection of memes and a bonus track of videos: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2b/7f/2b7f69fc-a243-4d2f-ae8e-db8312c6653a/content/images/2025/09/imagen.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2b/7f/2b7f69fc-a243-4d2f-ae8e-db8312c6653a/content/images/2025/09/image-35.png) > [ Ver esta publicación en Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzlKp9ct7ea/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [Una publicación compartida por dino dino dino geh geh geh brbrbrbrb eyyah ks ks (@dinazor3169)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzlKp9ct7ea/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2b/7f/2b7f69fc-a243-4d2f-ae8e-db8312c6653a/content/images/2025/09/3f3iio.jpg) > [ Ver esta publicación en Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAtkrz4vEF1/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [Una publicación compartida por McFreakery (@mcfreakery)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAtkrz4vEF1/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2b/7f/2b7f69fc-a243-4d2f-ae8e-db8312c6653a/content/images/2025/09/G0Q48QbXEAAghUw.jpeg) > [ Ver esta publicación en Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCDOXNcvg4l/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [Una publicación compartida por Daniel Cantero (@daniel.cantero\_\_)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCDOXNcvg4l/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > [ Ver esta publicación en Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DD793rNJFDr/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [Una publicación compartida por Tortuga Marítima (@maritimatortuga)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DD793rNJFDr/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2b/7f/2b7f69fc-a243-4d2f-ae8e-db8312c6653a/content/images/2025/09/image-37.png) > [ Ver esta publicación en Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGFdSo9pxDS/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [Una publicación compartida por Sam Sharpe (@ssmsharpe)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGFdSo9pxDS/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2b/7f/2b7f69fc-a243-4d2f-ae8e-db8312c6653a/content/images/2025/09/image-39.png) *See also:* [*Memes and Assassination*](https://www.421.news/en/memes-and-assassination/) *See also:* [*La Scaloneta: A Brief Memetic History*](https://www.421.news/en/la-scaloneta-a-brief-memetic-history/)