There was a historian i saw once in History channel
@Squigglylines who said that most Americans have no memory of the country's past history.
He called it "The United States of Amnesia".
lol i'll never forget that. That line stuck with me.
I don't remember who he was because i saw this like 15 years ago when he was discussing 9.11 and the events that lead up to it.
But he had a good grasp of the whole ACTION -> REACTION idea.