The powers that be want us to forget history. So they can rewrite it to their own power needs.
They also want us to forget that the founding fathers were students of history, and specifically designed the Constitution to limit government.
Patriots are not in the habit of forgetting, or forgiving traitors and tyrants.
SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS
I don’t know that I disagree but I think a lot more of it is just the simple passage of time. I grew up right after World War II. Every adult had lived through it and it was a shared experience for all of them. Half of the movies on TV in the 50s were cowboys and Indians and half were war movies. Every boy knew the difference between a B-17 and a B-24—how could you not? The Nazi atrocities were revealed at the end of the war so even in the 50s this was fresh news.
But amazingly to me, a half a century has passed from those days. The men and women who lived through WWII and the Holocaust are leaving us. The stories are second and third hand. They are from a time long ago and far away. When Lincoln gave his Gettysburg address he said that the day’s speeches would be soon forgotten but that no one would ever forget what the brave men did on the battlefield. To his mind, it seemed inconceivable that the monumental battle could be forgotten—but it has been. Gettysburg is the name of a battle and or speech to the average American—and that is about it. Iwo Jima is becoming the same.
I teach junior high kids American history. They don’t really remember 9-11—after all they were not even in kindergarten yet.