I’m in a car, late as usual but on my way to work. The driver has 94.5 WPST-FM on, and the “morning crew” is inviting call-in comments on their deep discussion topic du jour: how long should you wait to complain at a restaurant before you regard your “server” as late in bringing your order? “Fifteen minutes.” “Twenty minutes.” One guy says he avoids the problem by telling everyone he’s in a hurry, whether or not he is. Ha ha! Funny! Happy Friday, everyone!

Is it wrong to have contempt for this sort of escapism? Were Germans this insouciant and delusional two weeks into the invasion of Poland? Historians (Kershaw, Evans) typically describe German public opinion as tense but approving of the invasion. But was it as out of touch with reality—as detached, dissociated, and lacking in any sense of normative priorities—as this?