What Happens When the Sacred War Departs?
Sacred war is a national rite of collective sacrifice and transcendence, as Lincoln declared in the Gettysburg Address: Marking in blood the rebirth of the nation. Yet we no longer inhabit a world where societies seek this celebration as the catharsis of identity -- although some peoples insulted and injured, like Putin's Russia, may dream of it. For we Americans today it is enough to feel a quick surge of pride, a little patriotic shiver or frisson, at the opening of Pro Ball. We need only genuflect to memory now. We have ritual commemoration locked in, 24/7 on cable, on the Military and Hitler channels, and now also, the ever-forthright "American Heroes Channel." TV always remembers, but how do we?
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