20 years after 9/11 and we see just how the event HAS NOT brought Americans together; it's driven them farther apart.

[Mercury]

20 years ago, Americans watched as three jet airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Within the next 2 hours, both 110 story towers crumbled as if imploded by dynamite, killing more than 2,500 people.

One would think that seeing such huge behemoth buildings crashing to the ground and seeing so many deaths that day, including people falling from 100+ stories up, would bring Americans close together and melt all ice barriers nationwide. Cruel surprise! It hasn't! In fact, it's shoved Americans even farther apart! Federal authorities began reminding people that any change in culture amounts to a terrorist victory. Talking to strangers except for business reasons has been criminalized nationwide, and now will get you arrested and sentenced to centuries in prison, even death, as enforced by the FBI. Americans are far more hateful and paranoid of everything. They flee when nothing pursues them. Strangers are now seen as worse than creeps, they are seen as potential terrorists. The only items you can bring through the airport without ending up in jail are laundry, cell phones, laptops, wallets, house/car keys, DVD movies, the clothes on your back, belts, shoes, wrist watches, coins, money, passports, boarding passes, and cell phone/laptop chargers.