What We Forget When We Remember 9/11

The 25th anniversary of September 11th marks a significant shift as the event transitions from lived memory to historical record, particularly for the approximately 100 million Americans born after the attacks. A politics professor examines how collective memory works through selective remembering and forgetting, noting that while early commemorations focused on human loss and courage, the meaning of 9/11 has become entangled with controversial policy decisions like the Iraq War, expanded surveillance, and restrictions on civil liberties. Different groups now remember the day in competing ways—as trauma and warning about fear-driven policies, as restored American military pride, or primarily as a story of innocent lives and extraordinary courage.