We're never going to forget September 11th, 2001. Not only was it the single most horrifying day in American history, but it was also a day we lost 2,977 of our loved ones. 

We lost 2,977 daughters, mothers, fathers, and sons on that awful day, a day we can barely bring ourselves to think about.

A much more trivial loss, but a loss nonetheless, was the loss of the Twin Towers in the New York City skyline. One World Trade is stunning, of course, but it'll just never measure up to the feeling of supreme innocence we felt when we still had the Twin Towers jutting up in the skyline.

Experiencing 9/11 was unbearable, and impossible enough, but what's really too much-- what really breaks the camel's back --are the slew of insensitive cultural representations of 9/11 we've had to endure after the fact.

Whether it's people completely disgracing the 9/11 Memorial, taking selfies with selfie-sticks or leaving their trash or just generally having a good time beside what should be a somber, respectful monument; it needs to stop.

That's why we have absolutely no patience for the narrative-driven virtual reality project called [08:46]. Like, none whatsoever.

Their product statement is that it's a "narrative driven experience designed for virtual reality, which makes you embody an office worker in the North Tower of the World Trade Center during the 9/11 events."

Uh, okay. Since the actual 9/11 wasn't bad enough, let's make a virtual reality version of it. Awesome!

[anad]

That was sarcasm. We needed to point that out to you because this is the worst idea ever, and we didn't want that to somehow get lost in translation. 

Apparently, the project created by a group of French university students, and "developed in three months by a six member team in collaboration with two actors for voice and motion capture acting." Whoop de doo. We don't care. We're so furious our blood is partially boiling, actually.

Okay, okay, we've taken it down a notch, and we can say that it seems like the group's intentions weren't malicious. They stated they conducted "countless hours of research in order to properly recreate the atmosphere and dynamics within the top floors of the towers."

Via [08:46]

They claim they've "put our best efforts to craft a compelling and narrative experience ... on the 14th anniversary of the tragedy that shaped our century."

Come on, guys. If you really put it in all those hours of research, you'd know no one wants to relive 9/11 in any way, and especially not via virtual reality.

Is the simulator a learning experience? Is it exploitative? Is there anything to gain in recreating the trauma of a collapsing building that killed more people than we can even bear to think about?

[anad2]

We're not sure, but we do know that the video below may trigger an extreme emotional reaction. For us, it triggered fury, even though one Reddit user argued that "it's important to know these events and how they happened."

Do we think it's important to know how these events happened? Certainly. Do we think exploiting people's deaths, thousands of people's deaths, through virtual reality is inherently harmful? Yeah, we do.

You can watch a video of the simulator below. WARNING: it's extremely graphic.

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[Feature Image Courtesy CapitalBay]