I agree with you both. I think we just think differently on the reason of 9/11.
According to my point of view, USA needed a new enemy after the cold war ended with the victory of USA. Because if a government have enemies the society turns to be nervous and fearful that makes the government to govern them more easily. Fearful people need someone from their side to trust. So if a government have enemies the public trusts you more. If a government have enemies, citizens can abandon from more things. That means more stable tax income and less criticism. If a gun producer government has enemies all conflicts turns as income to her. If a government has enemies the society believes the whole miserable situation of them is just because the enemies. They throw up their hatred to the enemy and get relaxed. Political Psychologist Vamik Volkan investigates that issue very well in The Need to Have Enemies and Allies. Here is the abstract of the book;
This paper describes as an inescapable developmental phenomenon: man´s need to identify some people as allies and others as enemies. This need evolves from the individual´s efforts to protect his sense of self, which is intertwined with his experiences of ethnicity, nationality, and other identifying circumstances. When threatened by political or military conflict, man clings ever more stubbornly to these circumstances in an effort to maintain and regulate his sense of self. Members of any given group revert to childhood ways of reenforcing their bonding, developing shibboleths, and investing objects with mystical value. Anyone trying to deal with interethnic or international conflict must grasp the psychological cogency of man´s need to have enemies as well as allies, and his stubborn adherence to identification with a group when undergoing hardship and danger. This need is the basis of political psychology, connecting the public arena of political action with individual psychological development. Political, economic, military, and historical factors are customarily weighed in any attempt to solve turbulence, but it is necessary to consider also the profound effect of human psychology.
In conclusion, I think we Muslims, Americans and the rest are playing their roles that are written by the USA. I hope we ordinary people can find a way to stay friends. Otherwise, if we just follow our governments we will realize that we all have been used for bloody purposes.
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