Short public memory

I am constantly surprised at how short the collective public memory is.  Soon after being obviously disappointed when loosing the 2000 Olympics hosting bid in 1993 China made the news by conducting additional surprise nuclear tests---no one seemed to wonder if there was any connection.  On 9/11 2001 so many people thought the terrorist attacks was something completely new and forgot that the New York world trade center had already been attacked by terrorists in 1993.  Now people seem to be thinking the threat of Ebola cases in the US is something completely new.  If you haven't already I highly recommend that you read "The Hot Zone" (1994 by Richard Preston).