I have been meaning to post something about this for about a month now and I am just now getting around to it, but I have seriously wondered what kind of impact an event scaling similarly to 9/11 would have on today's society. At the time of its occurrence the hijackings were something that tore the country to shreds. The shear trauma that even those on the other side of the country felt after that event is unmatched. That day was so monumental in fact that it even caused a complete overhaul of airport security, where prior there was next to none, as well as a 3 day period where no planes were allowed in US skies. On top of security buffs, nearly everyone old enough to remember that day knows exactly what they were doing and where they were when they were informed of what happened. No single event has ever shaken our country to that degree.
Now lets imagine a hypothetical situation of equal proportion happening in 2018. Whether it be another hijacking, a bombing, or some other terrorist attack, how do you suppose we would react today? While it is easy to assume our response would be equal given that both instances have the same destructive impact both on infrastructure and human lives, if you really look at today's culture, an argument can be made that our reaction would be exponentially smaller. With the growing cynicism, seclusion, and all around lack of empathy engulfing us as of recent, it would not be too much of a shock to have an event like this shrugged off or just addressed with a high dose of disingenuous social media posts. The lack of sincere care that has become today's norm would be evident in a slew of posts in support of those effected suddenly vanishing after a month or two. A perfect example of something like this actually happening in our recent history is the hurricane stricken Puerto Rico. Or even the water crisis in Flint. Both of these situations had devastating effects on those within the grasp of each respective situation, yet were completely forgotten about after a brief, yet dense coverage. The attention span of our culture would refuse to allow an event of even catastrophic impact to hold in our minds long enough to have any major change. If there isn't a meme or some sort of drama around an event it will have nearly no chance of keeping the spotlight.
Aside from the complete inability to focus on the problems facing us, we also have an astronomical desensitization to these sorts of things. Look at the absurd amount of mass shootings happening recently. As of June 28, there have been 154 mass shootings in 2018 alone, this being only on the 177th day of the year. In fact, in the past 3 years, 8 of our history's top 22 most deadly mass shootings have occurred, both of the top 2 being since 2017. Try and honestly tell me you have felt a genuine connection to each of those shootings. The insane over-saturation of terrorist attacks enacted by our country onto itself is baffling. If we live through each of these events with little to no impact, what could possibly stir the pot to the degree 9/11 did? While I do fully agree we would act much more rash if it were an attack by some terrorist organization or another country, it would not be enough of a push to make the history books. Unless there is some sort of attack that dwarfs the hijackings of 17 years ago, our country, with its current mind-state, will never experience anything as traumatizing as 9/11.
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