Shortly after 911 I wrote, DIFFERENT, WITHOUT CHANGE, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Volume 3, Number 5A.
Immediately after 9-11 this countries leadership began, and still is, telling citizens, "Defeat terrorism by not changing what we (U.S. Citizens) do." Asking, telling us, we should, "Go about our lives as we always have." Adding, "...but, be vigilant, observant; suspicious of those who don't belong, or behave oddly - and report them."
Huh?
Oh, I get it. Don't do anything different, just change the way we do them.
What?
Now wait a minute!
If we (any individual or organization) change the way we do things we have altered, to some degree or another, what we are doing.
Interesting contradiction - particularly in light of the numerous, far reaching (sweeping?) changes our government has, is, and will continue to make; changing not only the way it (our government ) does business but what business it conducts too! Now, if that isn't letting terrorists control what we do, I'm in need of some extensive enlightenment.
It should be no effort to grasp what the above meant; that changing the way we do things was exactly the perpetrators goal; that to make any changes of what or how we do anything validated the attacks; not only allowed, but by those changes have granted, bestowed, success upon the perpetrators for their action. Not in any small measure, but wholesale; emotionally, economically and socially.
The effects have been global within and without our countries social, economic, physical and governmental infrastructures. Caused crippling increases in cost and difficulty of doing business and living at every level. The effects on travel/transportation of any kind; accelerated exponentially the growth of government bringing restriction, often outright functional revocation, of personal liberty and freedom.
Don't look now folks, but I think the effects of 911 attacks effects have been far greater and reached much further than the planners of those atrocities ever imagined, hoped and/or dreamed they might be.
How, why, have we allowed this to happen? It's happened because we have been deluded into thinking SECURITY is more important, more valuable, more desirable, than FREEDOM - the very social condition this countries founders feared, warned us most strongly will destroy what they paid so dearly, with property, blood and lives, to build.