well, things do kinda change with time

According to an article originally in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, people are forgetting about the Kennedy assassination. Furthermore, according to this article, this is a Bad Thing.

I can see, of course, why Americans no longer have the same feeling towards the assassination as they did even ten years ago. After all, as Star-Telegram points out, less than half of Americans alive today were alive back in 1963. And in terms of national tragedies, September 11th looms a bit larger in the minds of contemporary Americans than the assassination of a man whose myth has been rather eroded in recent years.

What I can't quite figure out is why there seems to be such a nostalgia for the times when the Kennedy assassination did mean something to the American psyche. Look, national memory changes over time. That's just the way it is. Back in 1963, I'd venture to say that the sinking of the Lusitania didn't really resonate with Americans anymore. Successive generations select the moments that are meaningful to them. To pine away for the cherished moments of the past seems hopelessly naïve.

Most astonishing, though, is this quote. "Some believe that the fascination with Kennedy's death will remain strong because he has become an almost mythical figure whose death represented the end of America's innocence."

What, America was innocent until 1963? All those wars we fought didn't show that the world wasn't all hunky-dory? How about when other presidents were assassinated?

Events aren't significant in of themselves. People attach meaning to events. It's inevitable that those meanings will change over time. America's a drastically different place than it was even five years ago. Why should its collective memory stay the same?