From the perspective of the dark, foreboding memorial erected in the footprint of the Twin Towers, perhaps Americans envisioned their own demise.

All the misbegotten policies from the 9/11-era onward to the COVID-era of controls on speech and public behavior don't speak towards a culture coming back stronger, overcoming tragedy, or refusing to be struck down by an attack. They speak about a society set up to fail, a society who lost sight of what they are supposed to stand for; and with eyes in the 2020s, it feels intended, rather by design, something like a controlled demolition of an entire way of life