History's Differences Makers: Times of Peril Demand Unity

No, I'm not engaging in alarmist hyperbole by describing the present as a time of peril. It's as if a pack of demon dentists were going around aiming too high with their novocaine shots. Were we any less mind-numb before Pearl Harbor? before 9/11? before the great market crash of 28? Nah,about the same. I'm not even talking about chronic problems such as stagnation in the job market, global warming and the crumbling infrastructure. We're aware of those issues but can't agree on what to do about them. I'm talking about real and present dangers---ones which seem to be blocked from consciousness by a Satan-crafted firewall.
How many of us are concerned about Egypt's version of ISIS which pledged allegiance to the mothership in Syria? What of the caravan of Russian tanks pouring into the Ukraine even as we speak, their very existence denied by the Kremlin truth squads? And what of a Secret Service which can't get out of its way? Those of us old enough to remember the true horror and trauma of November 22, 1963 shudder....as we do over the epidemic of shooting violence in our schools and elsewhere. Well, maybe these perils are just media-exaggerated tempests in a teapot. Right, and Fort Sumpter was just Confederate target practice and Lexington-Concord an empire-colony cross-cultural retreat. Com'mon people lose the decaf and smell the real coffee.