american empire

[leo9]

I don't like that comment. I agree with your assessment of trading civil rights and freedoms for security, and indeed, post 9/11 was chaos. But other than those people living in NYC and DC, was fear that pronounced?

Speaking as an outside observer, my expereince was that my US friends were not just frightened but literally hysterical. Any attempt to reason with them, to suggest that they might be over-reacting or lashing out at the wrong target, was met with reactions on the level of "WHY DO YOU HATE US? YOU'RE ON THEIR SIDE!"

It wasn't universal by any means, but the impression from this side of the pond was that a large percentage of the population simply lost their marbles.

[Thorne]

It wasn't universal by any means, but the impression from this side of the pond was that a large percentage of the population simply lost their marbles.

I don't know. Maybe it was mostly people from the NYC area, and the DC area, as I said. I'm sure that there were some people who frightened, and some even now who won't get on a plane for fear of it being hijacked. But I can't think of a single person I know who was "terrified" by the whole thing. Sure, we were upset, and certainly concerned about the potential for more incidents, but except for the government crack downs on our civil liberties, I can't think of one tangible effect from 9/11. Aside from the financial impacts, of course. And naturally, those who lost friends or family are more affected. I would venture to guess that most of those hysterical people you mentioned were probably in this category, having lived through the ordeal directly. Their reaction is understandable.

I do remember in the hours following the Oklahoma City bombing that many people, including the media, were very quick to blame Arab terrorists, but I have always been of the opinion that anything the Arab fanatics can do, homegrown fanatics can do. In that case I was proved right, and I felt the same way about 9/11 until the evidence started coming in about the Muslims who boarded the planes.

Don't jump to conclusions, and don't judge all Americans by the handful who may have, indeed, panicked.

[Dr_BuzzCzar]

Speaking as an outside observer, my experience was that my US friends were not just frightened but literally hysterical. Any attempt to reason with them, to suggest that they might be over-reacting or lashing out at the wrong target, was met with reactions on the level of "WHY DO YOU HATE US? YOU'RE ON THEIR SIDE!"

It wasn't universal by any means, but the impression from this side of the pond was that a large percentage of the population simply lost their marbles.

I didn't observe such reactions but I was not in NY or Washington so can't speak for them. I didn't see panic.