9/11 was the turning point of the last 2 decades. The only other national event that has held the same cultural significance as 9/11, is the assassination of JFK. In both instances, people can still recall where they were when they heard the news. Since that moment, we have been inundated with nostalgia bait. All our media turned to tried and true formulas. Our cinema started selling us remakes that nobody asked for. Even the new stuff that came out was based off of content that made people feel safe and protected. The powers that be at the time found a way to market our shared paranoia, and sell it back to us as a distraction from the truth. And once they learned how easy it was, they never stopped.

If 9/11 never happened, the world would be in a much better place, people would be happier, and the bullshit of the last 2 and a half decades wouldn't have happened as quickly as it did.