# Whats america like now after 9/11? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 6, 2002, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-america-like-now-after-9-11/112639 "2002-06-06T10:10:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-america-like-now-after-9-11/112639/21 "2002-06-08T03:08:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MsWhatsit \* > \*\*I used to think of the US, rightly or wrongly, as sort of an invincible fortress. The continental US had never been invaded by an enemy force, and the thought of anyone attempting to do so was simply laughable. \*\* War of 1812, the British occupied and burned down much of Washington, including the White House, and President Madison and Congress were forced to flee; Detroit surrendered to the British. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-america-like-now-after-9-11/112639/22 "2002-06-08T03:14:05Z")
Well, shows what I know. That’s it; next time I feel tempted to post a bit of historical info about the USA in a thread, I’m going to go offline and soak my head in a cold bucket of water first. Either that or maybe read a history textbook. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Dieter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@Dieter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dieter)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-america-like-now-after-9-11/112639/23 "2002-06-08T03:25:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Broomstick \* > **I realize not everyone out here was thrilled with my calling Mr. Ashcroft a fascist pig. But am I the only one who finds it significant that the people of Missouri voted to send a dead guy to the Senate in preferance to Ashcroft? C’mon - if you lose an election to a _dead guy_ there’s something wrong there!** I’ll back you up on that one. Ashcroft is a very bad man. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-america-like-now-after-9-11/112639/24 "2002-06-08T07:49:03Z")
Hey hey hey! Criticism of this administration is tantamount to helping the terrorists, remember? So knock it off! Show some patriotism, or I’m reporting y’all to the FBI! And in case anyone missed it, :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-america-like-now-after-9-11/112639/25 "2002-06-08T13:31:09Z")
\*\*The whole country has gone to hell in a wicker basket \*\* :eek: ---
**Author:** ![dave316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dave316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dave316)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-america-like-now-after-9-11/112639/26 "2002-06-08T15:49:49Z")
its like one of those school shootings where one of the kids that always get picked on comes too school with a gun and starts shooting The kids that he killed were not the one that picked on him . Some of the kids that he killed were picked on themselves. Everybody at the school knew that kids were getting picked on and did nothing about it . Now the survivors of the shooting begin too wonder that hey, maybe we should treat the less popular kids better ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-america-like-now-after-9-11/112639/27 "2002-06-08T16:56:46Z")
In the L.A. area: Laker flags have replaced U.S. flags on many vehicles. My perception: people seem to care less and seem to be in more of a hurry. But the U.S. is so damn large, it all depends on where you are. ---
**Author:** ![\_ceQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b9bd4f/32.png) [@\_ceQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_ceQueen)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-america-like-now-after-9-11/112639/28 "2002-06-08T18:17:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Broomstick \* > \*\*I feel like we are less free and the Fascist Attorney General Ashcroft wants to turn this country into a police state, fingerprint everyone, and issue internal passports. \*\* Maybe you would feel differently if you lived in a big city, like, oh, New York, and not in the middle of nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-america-like-now-after-9-11/112639/29 "2002-06-08T20:13:25Z")
I live 10 miles from the Chicago border. Is that close enough? My and my 6 million near-neighbors think we’re a pretty large city, don’t you? I work 5 days a week in a 800 foot highrise. Does that qualify? And, oh yes, I’m a pilot, so airspace security is possibly just as important to me as to anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-america-like-now-after-9-11/112639/30 "2002-06-09T03:04:10Z")
For the first time since 9/11, I walked from my apartment in Chelsea down to the Battery, past Ground Zero (about 2.5-3 miles). It was a gorgeous, 70-degrees-and-no-humidity day; as I followed Hudson River Park, I saw a city that has found a new normal. It looks a lot like the old normal: Hot gay boys on rollerblades, married couples with toddlers, skateboarders practising jumps. But there are reminders. At the children’s park at Pier 25, clumps of five- and six-year-olds painted pictures and played miniature golf–next to a sign thanking the volunteers who, at great effort, cleaned the dust that had caked into the park’s every crevice. I continued my walk into Battery Park City, behind the blast zone. I’d never walked through it before - its gardens are gorgeous, filled with people reading and chatting and sunning themselves. I reached the Winter Garden, the dramatic glass arch known from several movies, smashed in the collapse of the North Tower. It’s well under restoration and slated to reopen by the first anniversary. I walked over to the edge of Ground Zero itself, which now is so easy to see. The corners of the World Financial Center, gashed from falling debris, are almost completely restored. I can’t even tell where the damage was, and last fall the wounds were so obvious. I returned to Battery Park City, to the cove by the yacht club. A memorial stands, dedicated to the uniformed officers who died. It’s a wall of shoulder patches, from fire and police uniforms. Everyone’s reading where they’re from and choking up - West Vancouver, Canada, Fairbanks, Alaska, Dortmund, Germany, Joliet, Illinois. It’s such a simple, beautiful show of unity in grief. At the end of the wall, a freshly engraved stone sits, which will remember those in more permanent fashion. I walked on. At the very tip of the Battery, looking out to the ocean, is the particularly graceful East Coast Memorial to the roughly 5,000 servicemen lost in the Atlantic coastal waters during World War II. Eight monumental marble slabs, forming a “V” open to the harbor. At the apex, an enormous eagle, head down, wings spread. Three European tourists asked me to take their picture by the eagle. It seemed appropriate to me. So that’s the new normal. We go on, and from time to time we remember. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-america-like-now-after-9-11/112639.md?page=1)