> Then 9/11 happened, American society- and much of the West- became afraid, constantly looking over its shoulder. This kind of fear was only what the media w

> Then 9/11 happened, American society- and much of the West- became afraid, constantly looking over its shoulder. This kind of fear was only what the media wanted us to have. I never felt it in my social circles. Quite the opposite: in Germany there were lots of rallies against the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and basically the narrative on which there was a consensus on was "Some terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, and a few hundreds people died. But masses of US soldiers kill hundreds thousands of people in Afghanistan and the Iraq. Thus for sure Osama bin Laden is a criminal, but George W. Bush is a war criminal and guilty of genocide, thus the much worse evil." Thus: at least in Germany I am very certain that 9/11 did not lead to paranoia and polarization, but to a unified hate against George W. Bush and US-American politics.