24 years ago when 9/11 happened, I was just a schoolboy who was days away from starting 3rd grade in Romania

I had no idea that some airplane crashing into a New York skyscraper would affect the way that I travel, legitimize mass government surveillance & lead to the kind of indoctrination that even to this day makes me think twice before saying hello to someone from the Middle East.

Not trying to downplay the tragedy and the role that NYC heroes played in saving lives. I’m just saying it’s ridiculous that the rest of the world got dragged into a new era of surveillance and paranoia which prevented many of us from ever knowing the freedom our parents had.

To this day, KYC/AML practices find their legitimation in “we don’t want to fund terrorists to have another 9/11” – even if they were proven to be inefficient and just security theater.

Now you cannot fly to another country without getting groped by a bunch of paranoid policemen if you forgot to remove your belt. You can’t even carry your water bottle, how can they trust that it’s just water? And if you just want to wave goodbye to your departing friend or family member, you can no longer walk to the airplane door. Hell, you can’t even pass your plane ticket to someone else as a last-minute gift when your plans suddenly change.

Because of 9/11 and the subsequent Patriot Act, all of your communications are monitored and recorded under the assumption that anyone can be a terrorist. Instead of tracking bad actors and clear suspects, now all phone conversations and internet data gets stored and monitored. Which usually leads to a dilution of efficiency, as suspects aren’t that much of a priority when even grandma can potentially wire money to Al-Qaeda.

9/11 is a tragedy in the history of New York City and the United States of America. But what it caused all over the world is truly a shame. Here’s to hoping that we will someday return to the freedom of the 1990s!