The horrors of war are so seared into the minds of people that the resultant images in their heads can bias them to picture future conflicts as being like previous ones. The more tragic and terrible the past conflicts, the stronger this bias tends to be.
Hollywood films play a big part in such image-making, but some experts themselves may also be so biased, especially if they are of the older generation. When Americans say their country may be heading towards a civil war, many likely still have…