I completely and vehemently disagree with the pinprick and fetishizing comments. America and its crown jewels of New York and Washington was/is the shining city on a hill. I know you disagree given your previous Yoorup comments, but that's life. People disagree.
Pinprick was probably the wrong word. It was far less damaging to this country, in reality, than a pinprick. It is our continued scratching of this insignificant wound that has caused the infection.
And yes it is fetishized. Watching TV yesterday and surfing around the internet, I saw and read accounts by perfectly reasonable people that were borderline hysterical. The only country I can think of off hand that hasn't gone through something orders of magnitude more tumultuous than 9/11 in the last century is Canada. If I lived in London or Paris or Delhi or Moscow or Jakarta or Tehran or Harare or Caracas or etc, etc, etc and saw Americans acting like the world ended because two buildings fell down and the bad guys knocked down a wall of the Pentagon, I'd reflexively think 'grow a pair'.
And really, the terrifying thing isn't so much how shattered about it so many people seem to still be, but the obvious proposition: What will happen when/if something TRULY devastating happens to this country? Given our immoderate reaction to 9/11, the logical answer is pretty depressing to think about. This is why I wish we could ratchet down our overwhelming egotism as a country.
I would say 9/11 is the worst thing that will happen to us. Knock on wood. The big threat would have been China in 50-100 years, but their stupid population controls may have ended the war before it began. Their economy will never reach its full potential, and therefore neither will their military. Their social and political issues will also hurt it. By the time they reverse those ill effects of the 1 child rule and the draconian social/political system, the USA will have filled in all its empty space out West and down South. Russia is desperately clinging to relevancy, but they will ultimately fail. Their population numbers are gross, and it's not attractive to immigrants.
You are equating America to other countries, and I do not agree with that. Trivializing 9/11 to fit a political narrative of inclusion and worldliness and neoliberal utopia isn't something I can get behind.
We are not the UK, France, India, Russia, Indonesia, Iran, Zimbabwe, or Venezuela. Stuff like 9/11 should not happen to us.
You may not like this attitude, but I truly believe it is what separates us and makes us the world leader. We march to the beat of our drum. Guns, healthcare, system of measurements, football, attracting immigrants, the list is endless. Almost every important innovation and watershed moment since we were founded- cars, phones, TV, movies, flight, internet, skyscrapers, military, outer space, porn, United Nations, NATO- we either invented it or did it better.
I have no connection to Texas , but I think Texas is a great microcosm of America. Bigger is better in Texas, right? Look at the Cowboys stadium and the Texas State Fair. And you compare it to the states like California and NY that are hemorrhaging business and people to Texas. There's a reason for that.
Hell, our first national monument that I can think of is a giant dick dedicated to George Washington. The alpha male strain in this country will never go away, because freedom and liberty are alpha qualities.
I understand that the young crowd and the "educated" crowd vehemently disagree with most of what I'm saying, and that's fine. America gives you that right. Ironic.