Let me be clear. The various attacks on the US by Muslim extremists on 9/11 were horrific and call for censure by all thinking people. But they should never have given rise to the surveillance state under successive administrations since 2001. If we had pursued the masterminds of the attacks as law breaking terrorists and used the rule of law to bring them to justice we might have reached a state of closure regarding 9/11. Instead, we insist on this public hair shirt repentance each anniversary.
I particularly hate the way Americans reacted to anyone professing a religion even vaguely associated with Islam. I personally knew a Canadian Sikh truck driver who feared for his life when delivering a load of produce to Pennsylvania in the aftermath of the attacks. Most of us are better than that, but there is a significant minority of our fellow citizens who allow themselves to fall into the cesspool of hate and intolerance which seems to motivate our worst impulses.
So, I say, let us not forget the events of 9/11, but also, let us not be consumed by it.
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