“Irrational patriotism” is a harsh term to use. Yes, the post-9/11 world isn’t ideal and there may be many things about it (i.e. TSA regulations, NSA screenings, etc., etc.) that we don’t like. True, many of these measures are seen as punitive and may not be transparent nor truthful. But if you distill post-9/11 sentiment down into just these actions, you are missing half of the picture. Terrorism wasn’t new when 9/11 occurred, as is evident with the previous WTC-bombing attempt, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the Pan-Am catastrophe over Scotland—but 9/11 was larger in scale and more devastating to the US than any terror attack prior. Al-Qaeda (spearheaded by Osama Bin Laden) wanted to break down US morale and leave us in a vulnerable state so that the “jihad” could be easily won. What ended up happening, however, is that Americans became patriotic as ever (irrationally so, as you claim) and decided, as the US always has, to tout one of the foundational statements of the United States of America: “Don’t Tread on [Us]”. Whether this was the right decision or not, who knows—yes, acts of terrorism haven’t stopped, but we did manage to send a message to the leaders of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda—the Taliban have significantly lost their foothold in Afghanistan, as has Al-Qaeda.

The Invasion of Iraq was meant “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people” (President Bush) That’s hardly “who knows what”. Yes, perhaps we went too far in attempting to implement democracy in Iraq, but the initial reasoning makes sense—there was a terrorist attack on the US and Saddam Hussein had pretty strong ties with the Taliban. In addition, as with Syria, the loss of innocent civilian lives in Iraq was great, so the US (again, as we always have) felt the need to step in and trounce the bully.

Now, I’ll say that it’s true—the odds of another terror attack are minimal, and the chance that you will die in one, even slimmer. There are other instances of attacks on US soil (Newtown, Aurora, Boston Marathon, etc.) that are still occurring and are very viable. We remember these events because public memory helps stay alert. If we put these catastrophic events out of our minds, there wouldn’t be a precedent on how to react, or what to do if such an event were to happen again. Furthermore, we wouldn’t be constantly on the lookout for threats to our security. The reason that the odds are so slim is because we never forget, is because we are always on alert, and is because we have taken the harsh (and seemingly punitive, illogical, and border-line immoral) measures to protect the US.

We remember not only our greatest moments (Independence Day, Iwo Jima, Appomattox), but our worst as well (Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina)—and it is the “selective memory,” that helps define what “American” means. Without our history, we would be an amalgam of peoples from all over the world that didn’t have any stories, any cultural practices that kept them in sync. Our history, in addition to providing us with precedents to follow and ideals to hold up, is what makes us “American.” So, call it “irrational patriotism” or otherwise, I think I’ll choose to never forget the 9/11 attacks.