Hacker News Reader

You also have to keep in mind the mood of nation after this attack. The USA lost it's invincibility. At that point in time was by no means assured that the allies would win the war. In fact, we were losing it.

View on HN

A similar thing happened after 9/11. Xenophobia went rampant, people started to call Islam a "religion of evil" and call for every Muslim in the country to be rounded up and expelled. Politicians called it an existential crisis and wanted terrorist suspects stripped of their Constitutional rights because giving them a fair trial was just too dangerous. The US normalized torture and set up a concentration camp for Muslims. Media was wall to wall propaganda, from "24" to "Courtesy of the Red White and Blue."

I'd also consider the Red Scare and McCarthyism - fear of Communists used as a proxy to harass and suppress Jews and homosexuals and purge them from society.

Every time the US experiences a test of its values it seems to abandon them immediately. The cultural fear and hatred of the other goes too deep.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com