If we’re being honest with ourselves it goes back much further than that. It has never, at any point, been what it set out to be or what it claimed to be.
Kinda hinted toward it in another post but its more about my own personal perspective. At a young age my life was mostly devoid of politics and america seemed like an ok place. Since the attack on the twin towers, for me personally, america has only gotten worse. To me, 911 marks the end of america, as an idea.
I was an adult when 9/11 happened. After growing up in cold wars, Gulf wars, recessions, etc. that day was extremely horrible, but also felt like just the latest big symptom of an ongoing downfall.
My parents’ generation had the Vietnam War as their One Big Important Thing, their parents had WW2, etc. Like other commenters are saying here, what seems like the One Big Important Thing to you is really just a matter of where on the running timeline you happen to be. I find the best way to gain perspective is to examine and understand the entire thing, that’s the only way I think anything constructive can be done about any of it.
The commentary is more about the idea of america. Usually death isn’t perceived as a bill getting signed or a person getting elected, its the consequences of of those things. So maybe you joined the military and witnessed war crimes. For that person, someone you assume has some sort of patriotism, they might switch from believing in their country to not believing in it.
For me, being very young when the towers fell, I started to understand how hopeless and fucked we are as a people.
Another American here, I think it’s important to be aware that those attacks happened as a direct result of evil -empire level shit the US is responsible for in the 20th century.
If we’re being honest with ourselves it goes back much further than that. It has never, at any point, been what it set out to be or what it claimed to be.
Kinda hinted toward it in another post but its more about my own personal perspective. At a young age my life was mostly devoid of politics and america seemed like an ok place. Since the attack on the twin towers, for me personally, america has only gotten worse. To me, 911 marks the end of america, as an idea.
I was an adult when 9/11 happened. After growing up in cold wars, Gulf wars, recessions, etc. that day was extremely horrible, but also felt like just the latest big symptom of an ongoing downfall.
My parents’ generation had the Vietnam War as their One Big Important Thing, their parents had WW2, etc. Like other commenters are saying here, what seems like the One Big Important Thing to you is really just a matter of where on the running timeline you happen to be. I find the best way to gain perspective is to examine and understand the entire thing, that’s the only way I think anything constructive can be done about any of it.
I think it’s also important to compare America to other Western countries, and see what other paths it might have chosen.
The commentary is more about the idea of america. Usually death isn’t perceived as a bill getting signed or a person getting elected, its the consequences of of those things. So maybe you joined the military and witnessed war crimes. For that person, someone you assume has some sort of patriotism, they might switch from believing in their country to not believing in it.
For me, being very young when the towers fell, I started to understand how hopeless and fucked we are as a people.
Another American here, I think it’s important to be aware that those attacks happened as a direct result of evil -empire level shit the US is responsible for in the 20th century.
I disagree with the last sentence. I think we made an attempt. But everything after WWII has been headed this direction without much checking.