Commentary Sometimes, the significance of a cataclysmic event is not immediately apparent.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor was an event that shocked the world. Many realized—even as it was happening—that it would bring America into a war it didn’t want to be in. But few predicted what would follow. The end of World War II led to a Pax Americana that would not only let the world live in peace but would allow a couple of generations of earthlings to live longer, richer lives.
Unfortunately, that long peace also preoccupied us with less important issues. Navel gazing about which pronouns to use or what a woman is are relatively harmless, but some of our new culture war obsessions are not. Obsessing about race, in a Western world that has never been less racist, is one example….