In the Animorphs universe, what prevented 9/11?

[Dogman15]

Spoilers for book 54, if it's not obvious.
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Book 54 takes place a few months into the year 2000, by my reckoning. In all of the post-54 fictions I've read (and, by the way, The Beginning goes at least into 2004 by the last chapter), no mention is made of the 9/11/01 attacks, and the female Governor of California from book 51 usually becomes the U.S. President after Clinton.

What kinds of things do you think kept Al-Qaeda from starting a terrorist attack in that universe? Wasn't Visser One receiving his trial in The Hague (Netherlands) then? (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Court_of_Justice )

This thought was triggered by the fan fiction "The Earth Diary of Toby Hamee": http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5893377/1/ , specifically the last (super-long) chapter.

(If you think 9/11 still could have happened in the Animorphs universe, feel free to explain how.)

[NateSean]

Well, there was the terrorist faction that rose up in hatred of aliens. Perhaps having a new enemy to fight gave the extremists something else to focus their ire on. It's easier to have an object for your hatred when your enemy has four eyes, blades on their arms, or is a giant centipede.

I imagine security was ramped up quite a bit, using Yeerk and Andalite technology to monitor air and sea travel. A tractor beam could have easily stopped the jets midair and other tech implemented in the plane could have knocked out any terrorists effortlessly.

[ko ko]

i was under the impression it was excluded because it would over complicate the war at hand. also, to mention it, at least in canon in 54, it would have to simply be a side note that isn't even relevant to the plot. if kaa did try to tackle 9/11, at some level, she would have to take a stance on the war. my memory of the series is a little faded, but i don't really recall her taking too many political stances, especially on something sensitive like that.

on the other hand, what might prevent the attacks if the yeerks really had invaded?
that's a complicated question. would the extremists hatred for america be diverted due to a bunch of slugs trying to come in and take over out entire planet? who knows. would it be possible to attempt to lay all blame on the yeerks for the injustices america performed on the middle east that gave rise to the extremists? i would guess no.
the issue of oil, one of many reasons they hate america so, might become a non-issue. if andalite technology made it possible for the globe to no longer be oil dependent, then the middle east wouldn't have to worry about america's hand in their oil industry. then again, if the globe is no longer oil dependent, what would the middle east have to export? i suspect that the inflow of technology from the yeerks and andalites would throw the globe through a bit of a loop while we try to figure out exactly which countries are going to have the ability to produce and trade energy. if each country theoretically became energy independent due to new technology, there would still be issues of trade. what exactly is the middle east going to sell to america? other than oil, the largest commodity (i think, not positive) in some places are drugs. i think the global economy would be thrown into a giant mess of uncertainty until the dust settles and each country figures out what they are going to export/import.

would the extremists have attacked the andalites or yeerks instead?
maybe, maybe not. the people that orchestrated 9/11 did not simply react in a knee jerk fashion (it is irrelevant here if america did react in such a manner as a response). they have a long list of injustices that they felt needed rectifying. i think they might not have attacked the yeerks or andalites and would have waited to see what the future holds with the aliens in the picture

[NateSean]

if kaa did try to tackle 9/11, at some level, she would have to take a stance on the war.

Not necessarily. The events of 9/11 and the subequent war on terror can be taken as two seperate events. One preceded the other, but it didn't have to be the case. Spain didn't go to war after the train station was attacked for example.

[MoppingBear]

if kaa did try to tackle 9/11, at some level, she would have to take a stance on the war.

and given that the overall message of animorphs is "war is hell" its pretty easy to guess what it is.

[donut]

if kaa did try to tackle 9/11, at some level, she would have to take a stance on the war.

and given that the overall message of animorphs is "war is hell" its pretty easy to guess what it is.

There's also a message of "war is a necessary hell".

According to Wikipedia book 54 was published May 2001.  According to Amazon it was published June 2001.  The series ended before the attacks.  Unless she could predict the future, she couldn't have included them in the series.

[Alex Oiknine]

You know, if 9-11 had been mentioned in the books I just never imagined it would be more than a passing statement; it's not relevant to the series at all. They were focused on an alien invasion.

9-11 happened months after the last book came out. (The last book came out May 2001, I remember because I was super upset, lol. My birthday is in May and I had been dreading the end of Animorphs for months.)

[spoiler]Now, even though that book projects a few years into the future, it's not like they would have had any reason to focus on that while in the Hague. Who's to say it didn't happen? It just wouldn't have been a focus, anyway.[/spoiler]

[Terenia]

On the other hand, it would have been interesting to see how the Yeerk Empire would've reacted to the 9/11 attacks if they were still invading quietly.

The sudden increase in patriotism and people attending church? If they played their cards right, it would've been easy pickings for new controllers. Of course, people were suddenly more suspicious too....but then again, their suspicions were not based towards your neighbor who sat on the couch and watched the Towers fall with you. Suspicions tended to revolve around that dark-skinned guy at the gas station who wore the funny thing on his head. -.-

If they could've gotten a hold over a few key religious figures, possibly military recruiters, and if they could have ramped up the Sharing to promote community in the wake of terror....I can imagine that voluntaries would be flocking towards them.

[Estelore]

The sudden increase in patriotism and people attending church? If they played their cards right, it would've been easy pickings for new controllers. Of course, people were suddenly more suspicious too....but then again, their suspicions were not based towards your neighbor who sat on the couch and watched the Towers fall with you. Suspicions tended to revolve around that dark-skinned guy at the gas station who wore the funny thing on his head. -.-

If they could've gotten a hold over a few key religious figures, possibly military recruiters, and if they could have ramped up the Sharing to promote community in the wake of terror....I can imagine that voluntaries would be flocking towards them.

Agreed.

If the Yeerks had avoided open war, theoretically the various conflicts on Earth would have progressed precisely as they did; nothing whatsoever would have prevented the WTC attack. If anything, it would be to obvious Yeerk advantage to have large groups of humans turning on each other. During war, countries tend to churn out massive amounts of weaponry of the sort effective at killing each other... and ineffective in the long-term against alien invaders with superior tech. It would only take strategic control of a few bases and armories for the Yeerks to have all they need to initiate martial law, if the slow infiltration wasn't going smoothly for them.

As for them not being mentioned in the books, it's been mentioned that the books predate the attack(s)... but even if they didn't, it seems to us that KA would have avoided addressing the topic unless she planned to make it a significant plot point.
Considering she was at the last book in the series... unless she had some masochistic desire to extend the series by another ten or twenty books to get a strong arc out of it, it would be purpose-defeating to the wind-down arc.
A 'plausible prevention' of the attacks- in the open war, suddenly humanity has no useful reason to be dividing and attacking itself. It needs every man and munitions it can get. *shrug*

[Alex Oiknine]

On the other hand, it would have been interesting to see how the Yeerk Empire would've reacted to the 9/11 attacks if they were still invading quietly.

The sudden increase in patriotism and people attending church? If they played their cards right, it would've been easy pickings for new controllers. Of course, people were suddenly more suspicious too....but then again, their suspicions were not based towards your neighbor who sat on the couch and watched the Towers fall with you. Suspicions tended to revolve around that dark-skinned guy at the gas station who wore the funny thing on his head. -.-

If they could've gotten a hold over a few key religious figures, possibly military recruiters, and if they could have ramped up the Sharing to promote community in the wake of terror....I can imagine that voluntaries would be flocking towards them.

Don't forget good ole Islamophobia shooting through the roof. People were so focused on being 'REAL' Americans. Still are, sadly ;-; The Sharing always presented as boy-scouts/girl-scouts 'Real American' type of fun.

[General Squall Leonhart]

People will disagree with what I am about to say and I am okay with that. Realize that this is not just my opinion because there are a lot of people who feel the same way as I do about 9/11. Some of you may label what I say a conspiracy theory and that is fine as well because a lot of people think that it is UnAmerican to have a view like mine. With that said here is my opinion of why 9/11 did not happen in the Animorphs universe.

George W. Bush did not become president after Clinton instead it was the female Governor of California. Now that may cause a bit of confusion so this will make it more clear. Members of the Bush Administration, including the President himself, were involved in a plan to transform our country and give the Government more power over the citizens of America. The fact that W. was not elected to office in the Animorphs universe means that they were not able to cause that tragedy.

Now I know that this may cause people to dislike me. All I ask is that you simply take my post for what it is: an opinion. I also said that I am not the only one with this opinion and this is a Wiki article about the movement that I am a part of. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_Truth_movement

[Shenmue654]

Interesting. It is my belief that the President at that time would not have attacked his own country, even for political gain. I may have disliked him greatly, but the man loved the United States and this I can respect. Whether or not there were members of his staff that would have is another topic altogether. But that is for the Political section and not the Animorphs section.

Simply put, as someone else said, the final book appeared before the 9/11 attacks. K.A. was remarking on an event in her own generation's memory rather than the generation to come.

[strawberry banana]

i always just thought that it was published before 9-11 so Applegate wouldn't have been mention it in the book

but if i were to write it in there then i'd have it as if the terrorists were controlled by yeerks. viser 3 (later 1) sent them to crash into the towers to destroythe human's hope (this would've been after the invasion was known to people and it turned full scale, but before the end). but it was just a plan, it never had the chance to be acted out (kinda like how Hitler had all of these inventions that would have won the war for him, but him didn't put them out in time or whatever) it wouldn't be acted out because the end of the book would happen and then all of the yeerks would be gone so they couldn't controll the terrorists to make them actual terrorists[font]

[Timtim243]

if kaa did try to tackle 9/11, at some level, she would have to take a stance on the war.

and given that the overall message of animorphs is "war is hell" its pretty easy to guess what it is.

There's also a message of "war is a necessary hell".

According to Wikipedia book 54 was published May 2001.  According to Amazon it was published June 2001.  The series ended before the attacks.  Unless she could predict the future, she couldn't have included them in the series.

this is the correct answer.

[yunyun]

Maybe the terrorists were contollers and then dies somehow

Maybe the building they attacked was already destroyed near the end of the war