We are not the Greatest Generation. We are not the Baby Boomers. We are not the Hippies, the Yuppies, or even Generation X.
We don’t know what to call ourselves, and frankly, most of us don’t really care. But if you asked the majority of us what the pivotal moment of our generation has been, you’re more than likely going to hear a retelling of the morning of Tuesday, September 11th, 2001.
8:45 AM : The Collapse
I had expected to sleep in. I had expected to be awoken by the alarm I had set the night before. I never expected to be shaken awake by my college roommate mumbling the following words:
“I think we’ve been attacked.”
I was confused, groggy, and wondering whether I was still dreaming.
Matt went back to staring at the TV. Was he seriously watching the news at 9 AM? What the hell was going on here? Shivers went up my back as I began to realize that somewhere in the world, something had gone horribly wrong.
Everything fell apart when I glanced at the TV. What I saw was a video clip of an airplane crashing into one of the World Trade Center towers and exploding into flames. Then the clip repeated again. And again. And again.
When did this happen? Holy sh*t holy sh*t holy sh*t holy sh*t…my girlfriend was down near the Towers this morning.
I called her phone, but the call could not be connected. I tried again, but it didn’t work. I began to freak out as I made the third call, which also didn’t go through. I collapsed onto the bathroom floor and lost it, convinced that my girlfriend was smack dab in the middle of the World Trade Center attacks.
Terrorism, Media, and Fear
My girlfriend slept through her alarm the morning of September 11th. Thanks to her sleepiness we are now happily married.
Similar stories of near misses abounded in the days following 9/11. But as inspiring as all of these were, nothing—absolutely nothing—could counterbalance or remedy the images of World Trade Center workers, everyday Americans, jumping from burning offices to their death. This will never leave my brain. Ever.
It was disturbing images like this that would be replayed over and over again in the years to come on televisions across America. It soon became that to evoke 9/11 was to evoke fear.
Although there hasn’t been another terrorist attack on our soil that comes close to the magnitude of 9/11, this decade was nonetheless marked by an underlying anxiety and paranoia that an attack could happen any day. The fear was all too real, and it was something that most Americans were unaccustomed to dealing with.
For all our lives we had heard news of suicide bombers in the Middle East. We had heard the stories of cafes and public buses being bombed in Israel. We heard all this from what was, in reality, an entirely different world.
But on 9/11, America was thrown into that other world where peace of mind only exists in hopes and dreams. We had met our new enemy, and for the first time in our national history, we could not pinpoint the location of our enemy on a map. The enemy could be anywhere, the enemy could be anyone.
With the help of 24 hour cable television and an ubiquitous Internet, Americans were bombarded with non-stop images and information concerning Terrorism, Radical Islam, War on Terror, Threat Levels, etc, etc, etc, everywhere and anywhere they went.
Thus the 2000′s was a decade where fear of terrorism reigned supreme.
Peace and the New World Order
As we prepare to enter the 2010′s, America must begin to ask itself whether it is truly possible to achieve peace nationally without also achieving peace globally.
As our world grows more interconnected every day, it is becoming increasingly clear that we are all in this together. Whether it is the global financial crisis of 2008 or the ongoing debate over global warming—every day brings fresh evidence that national independence is a thing of the past.
Although the process of globalization began long before the 2000′s, the events of 9/11/01 acted as a catalyst to speed the process up. Over the next few decades you can expect terrorism to continue fueling the inevitable solidification of the New World Order.
And what will the New World Order look like?
It’ll be a police state. One giant global interconnected police state where terrorism and war will gradually die away, and your individual freedoms will gradually be compromised for the Greater Good.
Welcome to the future.
Image Used in This Post
Remembering 9/11 image courtesy of Flickr user Sister 72 published under the CC license.
London Underground Suicide Bomber image courtesy of Flickr user Annie Mole published under the CC license.
war and peace image courtesy of Flickr user jayel aheram published under the CC license.
49 Comments
Do you support that sacrifice of individual freedoms in favor of this nebulous ‘Greater Good’?
No, it actually makes me wish I lived in a simpler less populated time period in our history. I’d sacrifice all this technology and material comfort for a little more simplicity and a lot less security checks.
But this is the world we live in, and unless you want to run away and live in the forest like a recluse, then you got to make compromises if you want to be a productive member of society. It seems inevitable.
It was Benjamin Franklin who said, “‘Those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither.” I firmly disagree with him. I would rather embrace the words of Edmund Burke when he said, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
Now that I have first hand experience with military intelligence/avionics, My eyes have been opened to the truth. The 911 conspiracy theories fed to the public (building 7, small flashes in front of the planes, extra tanks seen on the bottom of the planes, a drone really hit the Pentagon, etc) are all laughable…and I mean laughable at best…
On September 11, 2001 we were attacked by Radical Islamic Terrorists who used our own commercial aircraft as explosive weapons against US locations that represent power (Pentagon) and money (WTC)…exactly what the they hate most about us.
When the towers fell, they took out half of the first few floors of building 7. A decision was made to pull the building straight down before it fell sideways like a tree. When you see the videos of building 7 falling, they only show you the south and west sides of the building (the sides still perfectly in tact).
911 was not planned by our government so that the Patriot Act would get passed, ultimately stripping our freedoms. The Patriot Act was passed to try and prevent something like 911 from happening again.
911 was not planned so that the world would up its pace in globalization. Globalization was doing just fine that morning. If anything the attack was on globalization. Remember..the WTC represented over 90 countries inside.
911 was not planned so that the US would gain global support for a war in the middle east. The last time I looked at how the Iraq War started, a coalition of the willing was put together due to the “lack of” support for such a war.
My point is that hindsight is 20/20. It’s easy to look back and assemble a magic bullet. It is easy to look back and assemble a conspiracy theory that has our government allowing this to happen for whatever reason. Our enemy duped us…its as simple as that. As long as our government doesn’t bother me for anything else once I prove to be threat free, then I am fine with them checking me out as much as they want to.
I agree Jon. Hopefully your essay comment wasn’t written because you came out of reading this post thinking I support some kind of government conspiracy.
My point of the post is that clearly the world is moving in a direction where we’re going to amp up security more and more until every nook and cranny is observed and taken into account. Until we do this, there will still remain fuzzy intelligence, or system failures like the one that led to the Nigerian guy trying to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas.
I find it very interesting that a hard-line Conservative is supportive of a more intrusive government. Increased security and observation of populations require larger government institutions and increased government spending; this is in direct contradiction to the smaller, more hands offs government principles that Conservatives pride themselves on. I want less government, more personal freedom, and more personal accountability. Won’t get that here in the US. The majority demand a scapegoat for their problems and TV shows to raise their children. That is not what they espouse, yet they don’t see their hypocrisy. Therein lies the danger of their perspective and motives.
Andrew, 911 is a very fascinating event for me. Don’t get me wrong, it was horrible but its very hard for me to take my eyes and mind off of that day. I am extremely passionate about researching all aspects of it and I continue to do so…so sorry for the length of my comment. I do not believe that you support government conspiracy…I know you are much too smart for that. I just can’t stand listening to people who preach the conspiracy theories…especially what I know now.
Who here is a hard-line Conservative? If you average my viewpoints across the political spectrum, the results would be that of a moderate…not a hard-line Conservative. If you’re calling me Ann Coulter, then I think you have the wrong idea about me. My viewpoints on stem-cell research, civil unions, and abortion are not those that a hard-line Conservative would take. When it comes to the war on terror/protecting the US (the majority of my conservative viewpoints), I don’t think we should lessen security and make ourselves more vulnerable just because it disagrees with a political ideology you think I adhere to wholeheartedly.
I don’t feel that added airport security represents a more intrusive government as a whole. I think it is a good idea and just response to the recent Detroit incident..which was the 28th terror plot that failed on the US since 911. 93% of these failures were the result of our intelligence foiling the plot. Is it your position that we should have let these plots carry out just so we can say, “We have a small non-intrusive government…Yay?”
All eyes are on Obama… I hope he heads full-steam towards uniting the compartmentalized intelligence system into a practical whole. That and beefing up airport security is what the majority of America is looking for here. And I’m not talking about profiling…I’m talking about checking and scanning EVERYONE!
Alright, then I was mistaken. My apologies.
To be honest, I’m all about profiling in airport security. I’ve seen elderly women harshly pulled out of line and roughly checked, bordering on harassment while a shady-looking dude strolls right on by. That’s not security, its stupidity. Like the 75-year old lady with a toiletries bag is more of a threat than the guy with a one-way ticket and no bags? She is just out of the loop, and the other guy is a potential threat. Just saying…
Just because 97.4% of all terror attacks on America were carried out by radical Islamic males of age 18-24 doesn’t mean….well…umm…lol yeah…
But if we profile, then the 75-year old lady with a toiletries bag will be the medium of choice for delivery. Something could be slipped into her carry on pre-screening and she walks right through. I say the solution is for everyone to get naked before a thermal camera and Xray vision….some True Lies stuff. And if you refuse to take your clothes off for some stupid religious reason, you should have to be sniffed by a full size Grizzly Bear. They have an excellent sense of smell (much better than bomb dogs). How about that?
I think Mr. Garrison has the answer to all of our flying problems.
What makes you think that a new world order that bends over backwards to appease radical Islam would not be a miserable failure like the League of Nations and the corrupt cowards at the UN?
Hey Jack! Back from the island nation?
It’s more of a commonwealth, but I’m having trouble figuring out what exactly it is. I’m still in PR on my way from San Juan to Guanica.
More importantly are you having a good time??? The far better half must love having you around to visit her old stomping grounds.
How would amped up surveillance and security bend over backwards to appease radical Islam?
Condeming Israel for a defensive war in Gaza, allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons, sitting idly by in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and applauding Ahmadenijad when he prays for the return of the Mahdi in front of the General Assembly is bending over backward. We had surveilence, it was called the Patriot Act, and I’m sure you were not a fan. Fighting a purely defensive war is textbook stupid. If you don’t go on the offensive you can never win. This idiot running the DHS is going to let 911 happen again or worse if she doesn’t get her act together. She has not said the phrase “war on terror” once since she got the job because she would like to pretend we’re not at war. Well we are, and our enemy is fearless, and it us quite simply them or us, there is no reasoning with religious fanatics.
This idiot you refer to, Janet Napolitano – Director of TSA/DHS, actually said “the system worked.” I didn’t realize that part of this “system working” was an extremely flammable substance failing to explode and only catch fire….a very poor appointment IMO.
We are more at war now than we ever have been. Even though she would prefer to call it “the overseas contingency operation” LMAO. War on Terror…say it with me…WAR ON TERROR!
Why are people more concerned about amped up security/surveillance rather than actually worrying about more terrorist attacks? Ask yourself how has the Patriot Act and/or increased security truly affects you, besides making you safer?
I can honestly say that I have never personally worried about a terrorist attack. Perhaps that makes me naive, silly, or just uncaring, I don’t know. Either way it is not something I have ever lost any sleep over. I hardly feel, or expect, others to feel the same way that I do. I just do not worry about the situation. I do, however, respect those who do worry, to a degree.
As for the Patriot Act, I too could not care less either way. It is what it is. That said, it does bring with it some elements of the Secret Police. It can easily be used for a perceived good, just as it can be wildly abused. I have no control over the matter and therefore do not concern myself with it.
On the whole, I find the entire prospect of discussing these sort of shaded macro issues as folly anyway since we are all dealing with very incomplete information. Who knows what’s ‘really’ going on. All the more reason to not give a damn about it in my opinion.
…which brings us back to the point of this post. As individual citizens this is all out of our control, even though we get the privilege of being dealt the consequences.
Andrew, I will agree to that. But can I add that we get the privilege of being dealt the benefits as well as the consequences and not just the consequences?
Even with beefed up security, can you name another country that has more freedom than the United States of America?
Spain. I’m ever jealous of my cousin who got to leisurely go to college for free. He also gets a 2 hour siesta every afternoon. He also gets a long ass vacation every August. And he also gets medical help for free whenever he wants it.
Yes, I know he pays for all of this with taxes….but its not like we aren’t paying an arm and a leg for every damn thing already in America.
Spain? Don’t they have a freaking artistic tax. Examples like this make our freedoms look really good. Sometimes they are too good. Look at the liberties the 9/11 suspects are being granted in NYC (free attorneys, free protection, etc). Compare that to the other side of the pond.
I think the whole “free college/medical help” is easily explained by one of your own babelers. Based on his findings, it appears that 75% of the price per gallon of gas in Europe goes to the government.
True, but I want someone to explain why the US has the worst, I repeat, THE WORST, healthcare in the industrialized world if government-run healthcare isn’t the answer? Maybe OUR government can’t run healthcare, but that is because our elected officials are obnoxiously corrupt and inept…not that ALL government officials in all of the world are. Again, just saying…
By the way, Jon, you made me think a good deal with the profiling comment and I couldn’t believe I was so short-sighted. It’s just like Vietnam when they started using children as suicide bombers. Talk about a poorly thought out comment on my part. “I am ashamed,” said like Jacques from Finding Nemo.
Jay re: your Vietnam comment, that is why I feel the safest method is to check everyone in the airport no matter what the delay.
It would be a real shame and embarrassment to hear that old granny (the person they assume is the least harm and let through) stumble onto a plane with a purse full of nasty!
@Jon, I’m still confused as to what you mean by freedom in America? Its such a vague word. From my point of view, freedom in America is relative to whatever class you were born into. The poor are the least free and the rich are the most free. The rich have the most opportunities by every measure available. Absolute freedom in our society is being filthy rich.
That’s why all our magazines and media outlets worship the rich: they have the monopoly on freedom. But that’s capitalism for you, only the top top percent get the real benefits of society. Forgive me if I’ve been too ideological in these comments…but this topic brings out my inner sociologist.
I disagree. Being rich may mean that you are scrutinized by the paparazzi and by other media to such a degree that you have no personal life. That is not freedom. They may have monetary freedom, to buy whatever they like, but their lives are certainly not their own.
Jay, I agree. More money doesn’t equal more freedom in the US. It means higher taxes and being on the minority end of envy.
@Jon, I don’t know if you are totally correct about the tax comment. The super rich, top 3% let’s say, certainly pay more in terms of total dollars, but their percentage of income that is taxed is actually quite low. When it comes to taxes, it is the upper middle class–the lower upper class that absolutely get hammered.
I am a little confused about the comment structure here. My last comment was meant as a reply to your January 4, 2010 at 9:33 pm comment.
@Jon—suffice it to say, the comment structure is more than a little whacky. For some reason, our post comments get out of sorts every now and then. Makes for some haphazard comment chains that’s for sure.
What is freedom except the ability to spend money????
I mean seriously, do we not all live in the same country? You can’t do shit without money. Therefor money is the key to freedom in our current state of America. Yes, the celebrities are hounded by the paparazzi, but they also have the cash to buy hideaways in foreign countries like France that have laws against paparazzi.
Money is freedom in this country. If you are gonna keep talking about freedom in the abstract sense to convince me of some past 18th Century reality that citizens might have experienced in America’s past, then you are nothing more than a mouthpiece for modern PROPAGANDA.
Freedom is the ability to choose a major/career path in school, the ability to vote, the ability to have/adopt as many children as you like, the ability to use whatever search engine you wish…things that you can’t do in some other countries.
It is the ability to receive medical care from a hospital without money (ER care for now…soon to be more), the ability to receive welfare without money, the ability to receive unemployment when you loose your job and are shit out of luck with money.
If that is too abstract for you, then I’m sorry. It’s how I view freedom. Wealth and power are entirely different animals.
I’ll take your first one to task because its the most important freedom lacking in America. Freedom of education/freedom to choose a career.
That is highly dependent on what class of America you were born into. Yes, we all have the freedom of speech to discuss and dream what we’d like to do for a living. But if you were born in a poor neighborhood with a horrible school you most likely got an education which was not of equal worth to the American in the more affluent neighborhood. I have witnessed this first hand: its systemic and its criminal.
Without equality of education the poorer American from the inferior school has less opportunities open to them in terms of colleges, and likewise in terms of future careers. That doesn’t mean that a few individuals don’t make it out and achieve social mobility up the class ladder. But it does mean that too many poor Americans lack the necessary opportunities to advance themselves and their future generations.
Freedom is opportunity. The history of America is the gradual advance of equal opportunity to all people. We’re not there yet, but America is all about progress, and that’s the reason I love America. It’s always evolving.
Andrew, if you have more money than me, then yes you can drive a nicer car than me, have a more expensive house than me, travel to more places than me, go to a better school than me…but you sure as hell don’t have more freedom of speech than me or freedom of religion than me….do you understand my point now?
There are places in the world where people wait for a helicopter to drop a bag of rice once a month if they are lucky. I have witnessed this first hand in Africa and that sir, is criminal. At least our poorest areas (like the ones you refer to) still have welfare, shelter, drinking water, parks, public schools, etc.
You mention America’s ability to progressively evolve for equal opportunity and I have to agree with you in loving our country for that. See? Now that is a freedom! There are countries where the people would be gassed for that.
Btw, on a separate note…how did you feel about the Spanish Government increasing/amping up their security/screening and stripping freedoms to do so after the March 11, 2004 Madrid Train Bombings?
Yup, compared to the poorest countries on Earth, the poorest cities in America are like a Hilton. I can’t disagree with that. But I’m an activist and a dissenter at heart, and I know America can still be better than it is…even if it is a way better place to live compared to most other countries.
As for the Spanish Gov and their security crackdown….my opinion hasn’t changed since my comment on amped up security a few days ago. I’d rather not have to deal with the extra surveillance and security, but it is what it is, its one extra buffer against some jerk blowing up a plane midair.
Once again, the point of this post was not to complain about the amped up security…but more just to point out that this is direction the world has moved in the last decade because of the events on 9/11.
Freedom, I feel is best defined by our Bill of Rights.
Greg said, “Who knows what’s ‘really’ going on”
No offense…I’m not saying any of us here know exactly whats going on at the top level…but some of us know more than others…I can assure you of that…
On the other hand, you are right, it’s almost a waste of time to discuss it here. Some worry and some do not…to each is own.
O.K. Jonathan*, I’ve had enough. prepare for the wrath of my Dizzying Intellect. You might be too young too know our national Credo, this is ” The Home of the Brave and the Land of the Free ” Not the Nursery of the Suspicious and Terrified! Let’s suppose monitoring phone lines is a “Good” idea, prepare for a job finding a needle in a hay stack. There are 300,000,000 of us. and I don’t care how many “Night Watchman” you hire, in a eight hour day, we all need to use the bathroom sometime. O.K. let’s say, We got one of the low life bastards on the phone. do we know for sure he has information, or is he a plant to spread false information? Terrorist are not stupid just antisocial. Jonathan I know your scared, but one day soon you are going to be a Man. And as a Man you will see that Fear, is the playground of children and cowards. You are not a child or a coward. So, if War does come, there will be no time for fear or confusion, all of us are going to, have to ” Man-Up” and have the Courage to be Brave! because living in fear is not Freedom.
*Jonathan’s name was used for dramatic effect only. Not to be taken personally.
Andrew – Help!
Michael, they don’t listen to all 300,000,000 of us. They listen to chatter across lines that are known numbers/forms/lines of terrorist communication.
If Bin Ladin or one of his top loyalists calls a US phone number, do you want our agencies to listen or not?
I am not scared…I would just prefer to foil plots that could result in mass casualties. That’s not fear…that’s just common sense!
The Patriot Act was a necessary evil for the war against terrorists. BUT, it has massive potential for abuse by our elected leaders…it has set up the perfect storm for invasion of privacy, its an unprecedented break from our national ideal of an individual’s right to privacy, and I think it’ll remain in effect long after terrorism has been significantly reduced as a threat.
As far as the current administration is worth: Obama needs to focus on synthesizing all of America’s disparate intelligence agencies into one fluid machine. Otherwise the Detroit incident will definitely happen again, regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican is in office.
Also, I think Obama is waiting for Iran to go into deeper civil unrest before he attempts a military invasion. Its a risky move, but the opposition movement in Iran has been an unexpected factor in the debate over what to do with Tehran.
@Andrew, that was a very cogent response.
The Patriot Act helps me sleep better. Life is too short to worry about the “potential for abuse.” There are far more intrusive acts of Big Government being passed than the Patriot Act.
OH NO…our Government is looking at my/everyone’s bank accounts, phone calls, and text messages. How the hell else do you expect our intelligence agencies to intercept harmful communication? Seriously…enlighten me…the ball is in your court!
Re: Obama, Ill refer to my previous comment, “All eyes are on Obama… I hope he heads full-steam towards uniting the compartmentalized intelligence system into a practical whole.
Iran had a real set on them to create an oil market based on the Euro (screwing the US Dollar). Thats textbook “how to taunt an invasion 101.” They also have a set on them to continue their nuclear weapons campaign. There is no doubt in my mind that the civil unrest we are all hearing about in Iran is the result of black-ops destabilization techniques…def invasion soon!
You mean someone like Bill Gates who only ends up paying 12% income tax? You have to understand that the reason he walked his percentage down from 35% to 12% is because of the rediculous amounts of overhead and charity he spends money on (building wings on hospitals and schools/everything else he does).
If you are one of the elite you are referring to and gross $60 million without having such expenses/write-offs, you better prepare to pay the IRS the highest percentage (35% tax bracket) of all Americans.
My point is, whether the top 3% spend on business expenses or charities, they have to spend it in one way or another. They do not have the freedom to just keep it.
Now I definitely agree about the upper middle class and lower upper class getting hammered. Whats the solution though? Raise the tax brackets on the top 3% from 35% to say 45%? Not allow business owners to write-off business expenses/charitable donations? That will be real good for our job-suffering economy….talk about lay-offs. Capitalism does have it’s monetary downsides (as Andrew points out), but that is the nature of the beast isn’t it?
Hey guys, I know this conversation has taken a bit of a turn from the intention of the post, but it has certainly inspired some worthwhile discussion. That is why I’d like you all to read this post that Cameron Schaefer put up today. It really looks at this situation from a unique angle that is probably too easy to dismiss but should really be thought about. More importantly, it makes mention of a very serious conversation that we are not having, although we are approaching it somewhat here.
Specifically it addresses Jon’s mentioning of Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote on freedom and security and how it is perhaps more applicable than ever in our world today.
Please give this a read: “David Foster Wallace on the Freedom vs. Security Discussion America Isn’t Having“
Great article. I am convinced that many of the problems in America today stem from our culture’s hysterical fear of death. We sacrifice our freedoms for the sake of “security”; our out of control healthcare spending is partially due to unwise spending on the care of those terminally ill or so infirm as to achieve no benefit in the end. I don’t know how we got here because our grandparents weren’t this way, but if we don’t embrace our inevitable demise as a culture we will continue to pay the price in many unforeseen ways. Sorry, everyone, death is a part of life. You don’t like it, then you can get out…wait, that means dying…
An interesting point. I wonder if our fear of death is driven by a fairly steady decline in faith?
Good corollary. Despite lacking of any sort of evidence I would have to agree.
Nice article…well written. But to lower our guard completely and accept all terrorist related death as a toll of freedom? I am not ready to do that. I think terror-attack related death might rise a bit from a few thousand, no?
If we lower out guard, they will flat out play rampage with the skyscrapers in our city. Shotgun not working in a city!
“…why (will) no serious public figure now speak of the delusory trade-off of liberty for safety that Ben Franklin warned about more than 200 years ago? What exactly has changed between Franklin’s time and ours?” (Wallace)
What’s changed is that the Political Establishment has become too politically correct…which really is just another way of saying that our culture is suffocating our freedom of speech. Think about it, critics of the ironically named Patriot Act were called unPatriotic. End of argument. If you’re not with us, you’re against us. Excuse me?….what ever happened to objective debate?
Well I guess objective debate goes out the window when you’re dealing with the threat of death by terrorists. Which brings us back to Jason’s point about our culture’s fear of death, and Greg’s point about our decline in faith. I think you guys are on to something.
That article was excellent. But I fear that Wallace’s point about the value of sacrifice falls on deaf ears in our culture. We are Takers, passive consumers — we excel at consumption rather than sacrifice. Which makes me wonder how we expect to defeat terrorists whose ideology is 100% fueled by the concept of sacrifice for the sake of preserving culture.
Dude, seriously. How can a bunch of wussified Americans who are too scared to get on a plane without a rectal exam for every passenger ever hope to defeat an enemy that is completely unafraid of bodily consequences and zealously faithful to their ideals? Our ideals are more like what movie to watch or mall to shop at. Our culture’s direction makes me sick.