"The level of historical ignorance displayed by many people today - including not a few politicians - is very depressing."

The trouble with people today is that we speak in absolutes. We fail to look at both sides of the story. I agree, our educational system can lack perspective and unfortunately fails to teach the whole story.   On the other hand, we tend to dismiss peoples feelings and ignore how our actions will impact on others - solely because we feel that "right" is in our corner.   

What we have here is a failure to communicate.