Article note: I'm not sure that 9/11 started it, but it certainly did illuminate to a large swath of politicians that "Fear + Bullshit = Power" is a winning strategy.
Collections of things, and their collectors, have generally tended to give me the willies. I sometimes, usually only temporarily, accumulate things in some one category, but the real pursuit is in the learning curve. The dive into esoterica. The quest for expertise.