What Has 9-11 Taught Us?
It has been 17 years since that fateful day. It was a historical day that just about everyone can say where they were when the heard or saw it. Every year it fades a little from the country’s consciousness. Maybe not to the people in New York or perhaps Washington DC, but for many it does. Kids born that month are now seniors in high school.
So, what have we learned from it? For one, we learned that our leaders can overreact with serious consequences. Personal privacy has been greatly and perhaps irrevocably reduced in the name of national security. The intrusion of the government into our lives and data is far reaching. You would be hard pressed to convince me this has been a good thing. Many political leaders hide behind national security to get laws passed or programs funded. Hundreds of billions of dollars were spent under this argument.
The world gave us permission to go after Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan. It did not give us permission to go into Iraq. I agreed that Sadam Hussien was a very bad dictator who needed to go. However, we used BS arguments to do it. There are a lot of bad dictators who we have chosen not to go after. We had no planning for what to do once we got rid of him. 9-11 not only impacted the US but it has caused major changes in the Middle East, and not all for the good.
9-11 has had a big impact on how people react to hostage situations. Most will not be passive anymore but will assume they will be killed. This is a “positive” albeit not an intended one.
We need to elect politicians who react quickly to face national emergencies like 9-11 but more importantly, we need those who know when to stop. After 17 years, we still don’t know when it will stop.
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