Did 9/11 contribute to the nation's hate-mongering mentality?

Not to belabor the weekend's ceaseless reflections, but columnist Kathleen Parker has an interesting take:

Taking the long view, it is possible to see the roots of today's political dysfunction - the hate, fear, anger and resentment - firmly planted in the soil at Ground Zero. Did Osama bin Laden envision such a thing when he plotted the attacks? Probably not. He might have imagined that we would retaliate, and this would cost us lives and treasure. But he couldn't have known that we eventually would lose our common sense of who we are. This has been the big surprise of 9/11 - an ongoing, self-perpetuating act of American self-destruction.

Something was unleashed 10 years ago that bears our scrutiny. It wasn't only evil, though the attacks were certainly that. The event was so cataclysmic and horrifying that it caused a sort of emotional breakdown in the American constitution. Simply put, it damaged our collective soul and seems to have released a free-ranging hysteria that has contaminated our interactions ever since. No matter how many prayers uttered; no matter how many hands held or pledges made; no matter how many bombs dropped or coffins draped. A nation cannot heal itself without self-awareness. On this score we have fallen short. We seem not to want to recognize that we don't have a problem; we are the problem.

Self-aware? Americans? You've got to be kidding.