9-11: An "inoculation"?

In the process of inoculation, one is given a tiny amount of a disease with the goal of having the patient's immune system learn how to cope with it. Thus, when and if the patient comes into contact with a bigger dose of the bug in question, his immune system will be able to ward it off.

9-11 made "terrorism" an extremely dirty word in America. Part of me wonders whether this has served to forstall DOMESTIC insurgency in the face of a deteriorating economy and society. I'm just speculating now, but what if 9-11 was a kind of social "inoculation," a small dose of terror designed to get people thinking in an "anti-terrorism mode" and thus make it harder to pick up a gun when TS really HTF.