We just completed our 36-lecture course entitled “The World Was Never the Same: Events Than Changed History,” taught by Dr. J. Rufus Fears of the University of Oklahoma. Included in his “events” were the American Declaration of Independence, the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the first flight of the Wright Brothers, and the dropping of the atomic bomb.
The last lecture was entitled “September 11, 2001.” Professor Fears is absolutely correct to include that event. Prior to that date Americans believed they were safe from harm and lived in freedom. Since that event Americans live in fear. It is manifested in small ways (I am no longer permitted to drive up to the intake tower of the Wild Creek Reservoir) and large ways (we keep people locked up in Guantanamo indefinitely).
Our entanglement in the mideast has also grown since that date and continues to grow. Our troops have been in Afghanistan for more than a decade. We just about wrecked Iraq. Now we may go to war against Syria.
Almost every restriction, N.S.A. intrusion, military action, and even torture is met with a shrug and the statement, “Well, I guess if it protects us....” We are not the same people we were on September 10, 2001.
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