Why should you remember Pearl Harbor?

Answer 1

This is an opinion question, and those will vary. Some would even call into question whether it needs remembering.

From a perspective of loving one's country, then it should be remembered as part of America's national identity. It was a sad and shocking event for Americans.

From a perspective of simply wishing to be a reasonably well informed person, one should know it because all educated people in America do. It is a cultural referent still, and not knowing it will cause others to regard you as intellectually inferior.

From a more objective perspective, it is probably not hugely important in the larger scheme of things. It is likely that the American President provoked the attack, and had the Japanese not attacked, he'd have found another way to draw us into the conflict.

Given that, knowing the details - or even that it happened - has about as much relevence to the average joe's life as the events of the war with Mexico in the early 19th century do.

Granted, how those events shaped history have relevence to all, as we'd have a different world if they happened differently. But in the routine of going to work, loving your family and watching sports, you can go your whole life without knowing much about such things.

Only when one wishes to be - or appear to be - educated, do such things matter. And frankly, in another 100 years, it is doubtful that any educated person will know much about Pearl Harbor any more than most educated people today know about who attacked who in that Mexican war.