	Generational Dynamics
	Forecasting America's Destiny ... and the World's

\| HOME \| WEB LOG \| COUNTRY WIKI \| COMMENT \| FORUM \| DOWNLOADS \| ABOUT \|

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 11-Sep-06
The day that changed the world

Web Log - September, 2006

The day that changed the world

The events of five years ago today spawned two wars and redefined relations between Muslim and Western civilizations

If you look at the right side of the screen, you'll see the second plane approaching the World Trade Center. This screen appeared at 9:36 am on September 11, 2001, but it was a rerun of what had happened half an hour earlier. <font size=-2>(Source: CNN)</font>

If you look at the right side of the screen, you'll see the second plane approaching the World Trade Center. This screen appeared at 9:36 am on September 11, 2001, but it was a rerun of what had happened half an hour earlier. (Source: CNN)

Even today, watching reruns of the events of September 11, 2001, it's almost impossible to believe what's happening, especially as the second plane flies into the second tower of the World Trade Center.

Those images immediately flew around the world, bringing a feeling of horror to most people, but not all: There were also news stories of Palestinians dancing in the streets (although Yasser Arafat himself condemned the attacks).

In the five years since then, relations between the Islamic world and the Western world have continued to deteriorate.

"Islamophobia" has grown in countries throughout the West, as Muslims complain that they're feeling increased levels of discrimination.

In fact, many countries have passed new laws targeting Muslims. America has its Patriot Act, and several European countries have passed laws targeting Muslim clerics and restricting inflammatory language in mosques.

While the West has launched two wars -- the Afghan war and the Iraqi war -- similar terrorist attacks have since occurred around the world, in London, Madrid, Tunisia, Turkey, Casablanca, Riyadh, Bali, Egypt and Iraq. Osama bin Laden and various al-Qaeda functionaries have released numerous tapes to al-Jazeera warning of additional terrorist acts.

Today's commemoration might have had a very different tone. Al-Qaeda planned a major terrorist attack as their own celebration of the September 11 attacks. The attack, planned for August 16, would have caused the explosions of up to ten planes traveling from the UK to the US, using liquid explosives. The attack was thwarted just a month ago.

All of these actions on both sides have continually raised the level of tension between Muslims and Westerners.

As I've said many times on this web site, when trying to understand and event like this, you have to examine the behaviors and beliefs of large masses of people. From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, the actions of politicians are irrelevant except insofar as they reflect the behaviors and beliefs of large masses of people.

When Muslim terrorists bombed the New York World Trade Center in 1993, the people of America treated it as a criminal act.

A terrorist act like that really wasn't such a big deal to the upper-middle aged people alive at that time, since those people had all grown up during World War II, a time when London especially was suffering "9/11" every day, thanks to German bombers. To people who had lived through that, or whose friends and relatives had lived through that, the bombing of the WTC in 1993 was not a big deal.

By September 11, 2001, a major generational change had begun, and the people who had grown up during WW II were almost all gone (retired or died). They left behind the "Baby Boomer"and "Generation X" and subsequent generations. To people in these generations, a terrorist act, especially one as horrific as the one that occurred on 9/11, was as inconceivable as the sun disappearing.

Today, America is going through an extremely bitter period of political recriminations. From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, this is happening because increasingly anxious and frightened Boomers and Xers lack the skills to solve the world's problems.

Boomers and Xers have been taken care of all their lives by the generations that fought and lived through World War II, and who set up structures like the United Nations, World Bank, and World Health Organization to manage the world. Those organizations worked as long as they were being run by the Heroes of World War II. Today they're being run by Boomers and Xers who have no idea how to run them.

Conflict risk level for next 6-12 months as of: 9-Feb-2006

W. Europe 1 Arab Israeli 3

Russia Caucasus 2 Kashmir 2

China 2 North Korea 2

Financial 3 Bird flu 3

Key: 1=green 1=Low risk 2=yellow 2=Med 3=red 3=High 4=black 4=Active

Since things are going poorly, and since no one knows what to do anymore, everyone points the finger at everyone else. That's certainly true in America, but it's also true in all the countries that fought in World War II, since all those countries are going through similar generational changes. Thus we've seen similarly bitter political battles in Britain, France, Israel, Japan, China, and many other countries.

Generational Dynamics predicts that we're headed for a new "clash of civilizations" world war. This clash will re-unite Americans in a fight for their very survival, thus starting a new secular cycle in the history of mankind. (11-Sep-06) Permanent Link
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Donate to Generational Dynamics via PayPal

Web Log Pages

Current Web Log

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 11-Sep-06 The day that changed the world

Web Log Pages

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 11-Sep-06
The day that changed the world