The Post 9/11 World

How have things changed in this country since 9/11? For the better or worse? Be precise.

Things in this world have definately changed post 9/11. People have become more aware of their surroundings and other parts of the globe. Also, more security precautions are being taken, especially in airports. People have the fear of terrorists instilled in them. They have the fear that, at any moment, a terrorist attack can happen. People take more care doing everyday actions and show more love towards people.

Many things have changed since 9/11. There is more security everywhere there could be a threat, especially airports. There is more fear in people. There are more mean comments about Middle Easterns in general. Also, I feel the American people are closer. After a horrible thing like 9/11, people came together to help one another. So both good and bad have taken place.

There have been many changes post 9/11. I think that one of the biggest changes has been racial profiling. I have witnessed in the airports people get 'randomly checked' becuse of their skin color or just what they look like. My uncle happens to have tatoos all over his arms and before 9/11 he was able to walk through secuirty no problem but now almost every time he walks through secuirty he gets checked becuase of his tatoos and just his rugged look.

Since 9/11 people in america have really opened there eyes on terrorist attacks. We now know the dangers and we did something about it, for example airport security has increased. Also the whole country has gotten closer. There is more racial profiling but they are just trying to make the airports more secure (but I agree w/ the people who say racial profiling is ridiculous). I think we have gained more than we have lost (in a good way).

I think America is fearful now. Before 9/11, i don't think the word terrorism even crossed anyone's mind, but now that word is all you hear. I think as a result of the attack and the war on Iraq, we've become prejudice towards those of a middle eastern background. It's so idiotic that somehow and entire race has become a terriorist group to many americans.

Things have definitely changed post 9/11 in many radical ways. Two of the most obvious things is the hightened security in airports, banks, and stores and, as sleddingismylife said, "racial profiling." I agree with him/her that at airports they do a so-called "random check" but I think everyone knows that a lot of it has to do with your appearance. Another example of racial profiling that I've noticed is policeman. Almost every day when I'm driving down 700 East on my way to school, I see a cop that has pulled over a person, 90% of the time a person of color. Another huge thing that has changed post 9/11 is the fear that everyone has in them. The Bush administration is using this as a huge advantage for the Republican party because they hold the promise of America as a "secure country" by going to war.

after 9/11 everyone is so scared all the time, although i think that everyone has a right to be. not only the security in the airports, but the way people from different countries act towards eachother. a couple weeks ago i was in austria, and as soon as people found out i was american, they acted totally different towards me. people in the trains got mad at us, or some people were nicer to us, as if afraid. it was weird.

I agree with what most people have posted so far about the post 9/11 America being a much for fearful one. I don't think most of the general population felt their was an eminent threat of a major act of terrorism to the United States before September 11th. So in a way, I think 9/11 was a wake up call to many people, the U.S. is not an isolated safe haven from the rest of the world just because we are considered a "super power". On the other hand, acts of terror occur on a daily basis in other countries, but now our country is "at war" with terrorism. I think in many ways this is not a unifying cause because the purposes of this "war" and the violence spawning from this event is not well explained through the media and the government, I think that this broadness is what leads to the racial profiling people have mentioned in above posts.

9/11 is really concerning in regards to its political impact. I think that it provided an excuse, or even a reasoning, for the current government administration to carry out actions and legislation which are beneficial only to a certain group of people, and detrimental to the country as a whole. It was truly a tragedy, and I think the administration exploited America's vulnerability during that time and used it to set in motion legislation which they had already had planned out, but which normally would have been appraised much more critically. Also, America has gained a bad reputation from the whole affair, because we went into the war in Afghanistan as retaliation, which was somewhat justified (although I am not a supporter of any war), but ended up leaving the country to fight in Iraq, again, supposedly for America's safety. 9/11 spawned the "war on terror" which has been blown completely out of proportion, but which was not questioned as thoroughly as it should have been, because as a country we wanted revenge and were worried about our safety in the post 9/11 months and even years. However, now we are starting to look at things critically once again, and in hindsight we have made many mistakes.

Lots of things have changed since 9/11. Not many good things have come out of it, but there were alot of bad things. One of those bad things, was how we treat immigrants now that have nothing to do with terrorist groups, and probably never will. We treat them like they are the enemy, even though they are just like us, just from somewhere else.

9/11 has been used by our government to inspire fear. With a populace fearing for it's saftey the government can do whatever it wants saying it is needed for national security.

Our world is facing many, many problems with hate and hostility, and it only took a huge tragedy and a loss of too many lives for our country to finally realize it. Of course 9/11 left an impact. The government went to extremes to try to end the hostility towards the USA, not only outside of the nation with the "war on terrorism" and such, but also inside the borders. Airport security became even more thourough, and it seemed, in a way, that the government was hit so badly that they couldn't even trust the people they were trying to protect.

now after 9/11 has occured everyone is afraid. it is actually kind of sad that as a nation we are terrified of everyone that looks as though they are from the middle east, becuase we assume that they are terrorists, when in reality they could be the most harmless person walking the face of the earh. we are full of stereotypes that stem from 9/11.

9-11 brought many changes for our country that we may or may not have needed. For instance, it opened our eyes to terrorist attack and the fact that not everyone loves our country, which for me was pretty shocking when you are only in 5th grade and you don't understand politics very well. The shock of 9-11 brought our country together. We all looked to the government to lead us and support us. I have to give props to the government during this time (i would have paniced, and the new members had only been there for 9 months), they did exactly what we wanted them to do, which was to comfort, tell us what to do with ourselves, and to try to figure out who did this to us. That is where all the bood things stop. five years have past, and people are not feeling a since of unity. Yes, no one ever wants that to happen again, but we aren't as unified. After 9-11, we wanted to take action, so we went to Iraq and Afganistan. Now I feel like everywhere i look, a party of the government is shoving it in my face. i feel bad that suck a tragedy happened, but at somepoint the government is like an annoying sibling blackmailing you.

for the worst because our freedoms are being taken away slowly because we are trying to protect ourselves from terrorists

I guess you can say that after 9/11, we came together as a country and security in places like airports and the Coastguard became a little bit better. In my opinion, most things changed for the worst. Nowadays, you can't go anywhere without here a Middle East joke or something funny that relates to the Middle East. Not to mention how everyone seems to have such a huge constant fear of terrorists and a repeat of 9/11, that they believe every manipulating word the government spits out. There has also been a lot more racial profiling, especially at airports because the American gov't seems to believe that every person who isn't white is going to blow up the country (after hearing all of the cracks on Muslims, Arabs, and Middle Easterners, I don't blame them). There are also new laws that have been passed, like the Patriot Act, which basically allows the gov't to do whatever they want because there are so many flaws that are interpreted how the gov't wants to. Like for instance, there is a law that allows police officers to search with "probable cause". But for some racist cop, that could mean searching a black man's car just because he's black and maybe looked at him funny. In my opinion, the changes that happened after 9/11 changed for the worst.

Guantanamo Bay is not a symbol of our stupidity, it is a symbol of our power. We use it as leverage against terrorist movements and if gives us much more power. Little terrorist kids here about it, and never want to go, along with adults. It create fear in people with who have nothing to do with the rules of warfare.
Guantanamo Bay is an example of desperate times call for desperate measures. We are fighting eye for an eye and fire with fire. We cant take anymore chances. Even the Pope feels threats. He demonstrated that when he did not read a passage from the bible beacause of a terrorist threat. Its disgusting that we are backing down to the terrorists. And the the utter ignorance of Americans by complaining about the infringement on our privacy when all the government is trying to do is protect. We do NOT have rights if we are dead. The government is not going power hungry, or 2984-ish on us, merely keeping up with the times.[center]

I guess you could say things have changed for the better and worse. People have become more aware of their surroundings and of what's going on in the world. It has also brought people together and they don't take things for granted as much as they used to. There is also more security everywhere you go for a precaution that something could happen. However, now everyone has this fear that has been planted inside them forever, a fear that another attack could take place anywhere, any time. So really, we all just have to be aware of what's going on in our lives.

I agree completely with everyone who talked about the new problems with racial profiling. Even though we're acting through fear, there is no excuse for how we have been treating innocent people from the middle east, especially in airports.
This change is for the worse, but most likely temporary.

Things have definatly changed since the 9-11 terroist attackes. The government has taken great actions to ensure the our "safety" even if that means we give up rights and different freedoms. While these actions have not directly effected me the knowledge of these changes begs the question, will they continue to limit our freedoms and privacy?

as an "outside observer" of the 9/11 situation i am not affected by patriotic emotions and i can definitely say they people are not as careless as they used to be.the whole security process makes sense but the governemt should be careful not to stretch the boundry of surveillance from monitoring terrorist information to actually spying on people and coming very close to comunists' KGB ideas

I think that it has changed but not in a good way. It was a horrible attack but I think that the president over reacted in his desperation to make a point that you cannot get away with attacking us. I think we are now mor paraniod then usual. This is especially true with airport security and laws like the patriot act that infringe on our rights. Not to mention the war that we are now in. It kind of relates to "War is Peace" it kind of ties into the "War on Terror" how we are killing these people to protect our own people. So in order to have peace we have to wage war now.

With the invention of the TIA, or whatever it is, the government has taken the rights to do WHATEVER THEY CAN TO FIND OUT ABOUT TERRORISTS...etc...this means they are legally able to SEARCH AND TAP PHONES LINES ETC WITHOUT WARRANTS. 1984ish? I think so. This is totally a violation of American's rights. I don't care who the terrorists are, we are still citizens and all are granted the rights of the constitution.
Also,
under cover investigations, I think, should be considered illegal. if you are under investigation, I think you should know about it.