America's national case of PTSD

With the pudgy jester of doom once again preaching the impending Apocalypse over the uprising in Egypt, I continue to wonder, what the fuck are we all so afraid of? For a nation that is so enamored with guns, war, ultimate fighting and other assorted acts of violence, we certainly seem to be awful worried about a couple sparring crowds that are using rocks and sticks as their main weapons. Why are we afraid? Because we're told to be afraid, because that is what sells ratings.

We seem to be suffering from a national case of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) ever since 9-11-2001. According to the Mayo Clinic, if you could diagnose an entire nation, we'd fit many of the symptoms as noted here.

Flashbacks or reliving the traumatic event:
I don't think you can go a day without some pundit bringing up 9-11 and how "it changed everything".

Hopelessness about the future:
Just turn on Fox News...the world is going to end soon, buy gold.

Hearing or seeing things that aren't there:
Again, Fox News...

Being easily startled or frightened:
I'd say again, Fox News but I'm beating a dead horse with that one at this point.

These are just a few examples and you can read all of the symptoms on my link but it does raise an interesting concept of us as a nation still coping with a traumatic event almost 10 years in the past now. It was as if after that event, we became an irrational and angry country, willing to accept any excuse for war and any violations of our national ethics so long as we thought it would keep us safe.

I'd also say that there are those who have made a very handsome living by exploiting the event for their own gain by convincing us daily that there is some type of plot ready to once again make us relive the tragedy of that September morning any day now. Are there people out there that want to do that? Absolutely, but that doesn't need to turn us into a nation of bed-wetters. Come on people, we bankrupted communist Russia, nuked Japan twice, put people on the moon and own more guns per capita than any other countries but we allowed some idiot who caused no damage (other than to his testicles) to make us have to get full body scans every time we want to get on a plane?

I say it's time we man up, stop allowing people to manipulate us into fighting each other and instead demand our civil liberties back. It's what Chuck Norris would do.