The 9/11 attacks hit 25 years ago. They're still shaping our lives

Key Points:

• Twenty-five years after the 9/11 attacks, nearly 100 million Americans have no personal memory of the event, yet its impact continues to affect victims' families, survivors, first responders, and the broader U.S. society through laws, security policies, and culture.
• The post-9/11 trade-off between liberty and security remains contentious, with debates ongoing over surveillance laws like Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows warrantless collection of foreign communications but also incidentally captures Americans' data.
• The 9/11 attacks accelerated the rise of conspiracy theories, undermining trust in government and media, and creating a "through line" to modern conspiracies about election fraud and other events, contributing to widespread public uncertainty and political polarization.
• The legacy of 9/11 has influenced video game culture, with war-themed games like Call of Duty reflecting national trauma and shaping perceptions of military engagement; these games are now being used by the Pentagon and law enforcement as recruitment tools, sparking criticism for trivializing the realities of war.