From War-Time, I found it interesting how he used examples from around the country on what people were doing when the planes hit the towers. I thought this really put it into context how no one expected anything, and how everyone reacted. People did not believe what was going on because it was so horrific. “How could someone do this to our country?” they thought. It was compared to as the Pearl Harbor of their generation- it was on United States’s ground, and there were thousands of people killed. One quote that I liked was, “before September 11, 2001, the words “terrorism” and “war” had not been conflated.” I thought this showed how terrorism was not even thought about as part of the attack at first. When watching the CNN news for that day from last class, the newscasters did not even mention terrorism. They thought it was an accident, until the second plane hit. If that were to happen today, that would be the first thing that would come to our minds. It is weird to think that a world existed without this Islamaphobia because our generation never experienced it. I agree that it was really “a day that changed everything.” We have made many positive changes due to this horrible thing that took place, like airport security safety and the Patriot Act to help keep citizens safe, but it also came with uncontrollable consequences. For example, how we stereotype Muslims or Arabs in general as terrorists. Because of this, there were hundreds of hate-crimes from Americans in the years to follow. Making these people the scapegoat for the 9/11 attacks was easy for Americans. I think we see America look down upon them through the speeches that were given after the attacks, how America is “innocent” and that we did not know it was coming for us. One of George W. Bush’s main goals after the attacks, was for American citizens to support the war in Afghanistan. Most of the country agreed that it was a good idea to put troops in Afghanistan. I think the way he talked in his speeches and his attitude really persuaded Americans that this was the right thing to do, and that the war would not last long. He portrayed America as innocent and strong, and we would stand up to the “evil” that attacked us. Obviously, it lasted a long time, and many innocent Arab civilians were killed.