Pearl Harbor Day: America at war, then and now

December 7 is a day of great infamy, treachery, tragedy. It also provides a benchmark in assessing America's cultural slide.

Though admittedly ancient (50), I'm not old enough to have experienced the attack on Pearl Harbor, nor World War II. But I am old enough to be able to mark one stark point of cultural difference, simply from growing up in the 50's and 60's.

That point of chasmic disconnect: Hollywood, and with it, the "mainstream" media (which, at the time, was pretty much the only-stream media).

As I grew up in the 50's and 60's, I saw endless movies with A-list actors, all supportive of the war effort and our troops. Today we regard many of them as classics. Cartoons and comic books even featured the conflict. Heck, when I was a kid, though he was long dead, we still derided Hitler and our enemies in little songs, poems, ditties, jokes.

All branches of the media were involved in our national effort: actors, singers, writers, directors, reporters, essayists, screenwriters.

Actors both American and British signed up voluntarily in the military, and several served with great distinction. Those who couldn't, did something to entertain the troops, encourage them, or otherwise support the war effort.

Hollywood served America and the world by uniting the nation in (1) identifying the enemy, and (2) focusing on working hard, together, for victory.

That was then. What about now?

Take this one-question test: name the ten best movies produced since 9/11 depicting that event, or positively featuring some aspect of the Global War on Terror.

Can't name ten? Then name five. Three? Two?

One?

Churchill said: We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

Today Democrats say: We have reached the end. We will not fight on in Iraq, we will not fight on in the Middle East, we lack confidence in the strength of our military to win this fictitious war. We will defend America, as long as the costs are not too high, we shall not fight them in an unpopular war, we shall not fight them if Europe disagrees, we shall not fight them until they attack us first, we shall only fight them for a set amount of time after which we will surrender. Even if the only fight them for a set amount of time after which we will surrender. Even if the nation of Iraq, which I do not for a moment believe, proves to be progressing into a friendly democracy, we will continue to attempt to score political points and carry on the struggle against the American war effort, until a nondenominational secular Deity allows us to assume a secondary role in world affairs to Communist China and Islalmofascists.

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