I didn't see anyone inspect a white, Christian male entering a federal building after the Oklahoma City bombings. To me, the actions of the public were unnecessary and ignorant. I felt that America as a nation should have been more educated and prepared for an event like 9-11. Even though no one can actually be prepared for something with such magnitude, I thought people stressed diversity and tolerance. So where was all that on 9-11?.
As I mentioned before, people change when the environment around them changes. After 9-11, people felt threatened; therefore, they changed their mindset to better protect themselves. The way that the media portrayed Arabs and Muslims led people to believe that all Muslims and Arabs were like that. And by that, I mean America-hating, fanatical, religious extremists. But in reality we"re not. The majority of Muslims around the world sympathized with the US because they too have been attacked at one point or another. I"m not saying they all were; of course there were those Muslims and Arabs who said that the US deserved what they got, and if the US paid more attention to its foreign policies then there wouldn't be such hatred. Nonetheless, the media did not help this situation. And so this created the premise that mistreating Arabs and Muslims is okay because they are not really Americans; not unless they proclaimed in loud and clear. .
The reaction? Many Muslims and Arabs had to declare their patriotism loud and clear. My family I know hung a flag outside our home since we live in a predominately white, middle-upper class neighborhood. My dad made me take off my bumper sticker that read "Pray for Palestine." He told my sister and me to not debate the issue of 9-11 in public, nor did he allow me to be interviewed by television and newspaper reporters. To me, this was a definite change in my lifestyle that I just did not like.