4 ms·

I think I am about the same age as you and agree completely. That optimistic world of the 90s (and 80s IMO) no longer exists. The country never did recover from

I think I am about the same age as you and agree completely. That optimistic world of the 90s (and 80s IMO) no longer exists. The country never did recover from 9/11 and has stumbled from one crisis to the next ever since - the War on Terror, Iraq War, Katrina, oil crisis, subprime mortgage meltdown, Occupy Wall St, college tuition debt crisis, and now the pandemic and current protests. Where it all ends I don't know.

api 6y ago
The thing is nothing much actually changed, at least not physically. We lost a few thousand people and some buildings. More people die every year of the flu. Covid has killed over 50X 9/11 and yet 9/11 felt like a much more profound loss of... something. It's all in our heads. Digging out is going to be tough though because the shift was profound and deep. I don't think we can go back. That's not exactly what I'm saying. What I'm wondering is if we can go forward. Going forward always involves a bit of going back. Some of the 90s optimism was resurrected 60s optimism. But it also involves invention of new things.
- mdorazio 6y ago
  To me, 9/11 represented the loss of some key aspect of American Identity. For the first time in a very long time, America was vulnerable and that realization of vulnerability sparked so many enduring negative responses we see today - endless wars abroad, non-stop attacks on privacy, militarization of police forces, tribal identity politics, unhealthy nationalism instead of healthy patriotism, etc. It's hard to put into words for people who weren't there, but there's a distinct before and after 9/11 when looking back at America.