As for John's insistence that we should all forget World War II and the Holocaust, I don't buy it. Indeed, his argument militates for precisely the opposite: an injunction on forgetting the period, and letting shiny happy memories of brave leaders and triumphant wills take over. WWII was not a fun thing. America did not want to get involved. Roosevelt stayed out for years and years, only entering after a direct attack on the homeland. The Holocaust is a critical reminder that men are capable of the darkest evils. Etc. if history is being warped, misremembered, and misused, it's incumbent on those who notice to reclaim it. But a country can't forget its history because some opportunists insist on deploying it in their own interests. WWII was the effective birthplace of America as a superpower, and much in our national mythology and psyche ripples out from that moment. I'm not big on dragging the past into the present, but the reason you can't forget WWII is that it basically defined how America views itself, its global role, and its international interest. And if you let the warmongers and ideologues wrest that language away, they will win, and we will dishonor that heritage.
