Never forget.

“Never forget.” That’s what the sign said by the flags memorializing the victims on the northern part of the Diag. That’s what the poster said depicting various “terrorist” acts leading up to 9/11. Challenging these words seems to be unpatriotic, but the phrase has always struck me as cliché, unnecessary, and offensive.

Could anybody really forget what happened six years ago today, even if they really wanted? There are doubtlessly some for whom the attacks were especially traumatic—families of victims, rescue workers, businessmen who decided not to go to the office that day and will forever be haunted by “What if?”—who desperately want to forget, or at least not be continuously reminded of it.

Perhaps I wouldn’t be as bothered by those who said, “Never forget,” if they merely meant “Let’s remember and honor those who died on 9/11 and unite as a country against our common enemy.” But the phrase is more often than not used by fear-mongers who seek to politicize the tragedy. Instead of the above, “Never forget” implies “Remember the terror you felt on that day, and trust us with your civil liberties, trust us to make the complex foreign-policy decisions that are beyond your understanding. If anyone challenges us, they are not true patriots. We can and will keep you safe like no one else can.”

That may be an exaggeration, but take for example the poster that depicts the six “terrorist” acts. It shows three acts perpetrated by Al-Qaeda: the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole off Yemen, and 9/11. The poster also shows an image from the 1979-80 Iranian Hostage Crisis and a group of Iraqis burning an American flag in 1998. The last is not even an act of terrorism, and surely I could be forgiven if I forget that five Iraqis burned a flag nine years ago. The effect of the poster is to conflate Persian with Arab and Sunni with Shiite, to portray America under attack from Muslims worldwide who would all gladly kill us if they had the chance.

Whether the creator of the poster was deliberately racist or merely careless is debatable, but the fact remains that the poster is fear-inducing propaganda. This fear stifles dissent, discouraging debate and paralyzing the body politic of our nation. It is cruelly ironic that those who urge all never to forget have themselves forgotten that this is what the terrorists wanted in the first place.