Reply #42: The memory of Pearl Harbor was also subsumed into a much larger memory matrix of WWII

[RZM]

Granted, that has happened to some degree with 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but those are very small conflicts compared to WWII (at least from the American POV). From 1941-1945, the entire nation was mobilized for war and a large percentage of the adult population either served in the military or in sectors of the economy re-jiggered for the war effort. It was 'total war' and thus has defined the memory of those years. 9/11 changed a lot of things, but it has not led to total war.

Also, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan (especially Iraq), weren't entirely about the legacy of 9/11 either. The US had already waged war against Saddam once and the leftover tensions meant that another conflict there was never out of the question - sanctions and on and off bombing continued all the way until the second Iraq war in 2003. The 2003 war was probably as much the sequel to 1991 as it was a direct consequence of 9/11.

On a related note, there's the issue of victims. A good percentage of Americans lost in the 'war on terror' (or whatever you want to call it) died on 9/11, including most of the civilian victims. Pearl Harbor, on the other hand, represented a small percentage of military dead from 1941-1945.

Other posters have already pointed out other differences having to do with television and the civilian/military targets and the fact that Pearl Harbor was several generations ago.