911 ten years later

911 ten years later

An Introduction to “9/11: Ten Years Later” Roxane Cohen Silver University of California, Irvine Adecade has passed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Most of us remember where we were when we learned of the attacks, although our memories of the event and of our feelings that day may not be as accurate as we suspect (Hirst et al., 2009). The attacks of 9/11 did far more than destroy buildings and kill thousands of innocent people. They interrupted routine patterns and tugged at our social fabric, not simply in New York City, Washington, DC, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, but across the country as well. They shattered a sense of security and perceptions of invulnerability among residents of the United States and the Western world (Silver, 2004). Even those individuals who did not know anyone who died that day have been touched by the tragedy. We are different now. Most of us willingly tolerate long lines at the airport, empty our pockets, and remove our shoes, belts, and jackets, sending them through X-ray machines for scrutiny. We open our bags before entering sporting events, theaters, and musical performances. We sometimes gaze askance at young men carrying backpacks on public transportation. Only in retrospect can we clearly see how the attacks of 9/11 have shifted the direction of our country. Of course, the goals of terrorism are inherently psychological in nature. Terrorists seek to create disruption by instilling fear and anxiety that leads to wide-ranging social, political, psychological, and economic consequences (Silver & Matthew, 2008). Thus psychologists have much to contribute to an analysis of that day and its short- and long-term effects on both individuals and society at large. Over the past decade, thousands of empirical articles, commentaries, editorials, and books have been published on terrorism in the aftermath of the attacks (as is evident from a search of the PsycINFO database). Many psychologists have explored the direct and...

Similar Essays