Opinion | A Sept. 11 Conundrum – The New York Times

Kara SwisherSept. 10, 2021Credit…Arsh Raziuddin/The New York TimesA lot of important words are being written about the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on America, marking that major and tragic turning point in history.For those of us who lived through the harrowing time in 2001, it is an event that’s indelibly seared into our memories, having taken in so many devastating images and videos — and raw feelings.“Never forget” became a rallying cry to counter the heinous terrorist attacks. And we never have. Yet, today, it’s so easy to forget what’s most important to us.Social media has a lot to do with that. As hard as it may be to imagine, social networks weren’t around in 2001. Now they seem to govern every news event we experience — from elections to troop withdrawals to how we think about that suitcase scene in “White Lotus.” News flies by on social media, we obsess over it, then we move on.Social media records, chronicles, broadcasts. It forms, and then warps, our reactions and, more important, our memories. For example, the links between services like Twitter and Facebook and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol seem impossible to unwind. It’s a…
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