Yes I suppose things have improved a bit! In the old days men were lead like sheep to the slaughter in a pointless catastrophe that still bedevils the nations of Europe. Now people rightly distrust the fools in government, nice to see a bit of live returning, I never thought I'd say it but maybe our hope does lie in the young.
Inclined to agree. The second world war was at least a battle against a pernicious expansionist ideology which ultimately had to be fought; but the first world war was very largely a battle of old empires engendered by national elites using ordinary blokes as the cannon fodder driven by the false flag of 'patriotism'.
That's not the whole picture, though, is it? You also have to factor in care and hospital staff who stayed at their front-line and high risk posts even when there was an inadequacy - and sometimes in the early days a complete absence - of PPE; the staff at a care home who volunteered to 'live in' for six weeks to reduce the risk to frail residents of bringing in the infection; 'locked-down' restaurants whose owners decided that they'd go into work to prepare and deliver delicious food for stretched staff at neighbouring hospitals. 'The era' isn't comprehensively characterized by 'selfishness', and in fact I doubt that any era is.
Let's not forget that access to news during the 1940s was far more restricted than it is today (and censored). This allowed the Government to buy into and spread propaganda such as the "Blitz Spirit" in a way which is not possible today: https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Blitz-Spirit/. There was also, I sumbit, a greater deference in society as a whole which in one way was good as people "did what they were told" but on the other hand it reflected the prevailing class structure in a way we would find unacceptable today. I'm sure that there were many people have wild (if rationeds!) parties - if only to counteract the sense of fear - and this was not confined to any one social class (think of the "Cafe de Paris" nightclub bombing in 1941). And then there is the black market, with many seeking to subvert the system. What I do think has happened today is that individualism - an "I'll do what I want" culture - has taken over; some might blame Mrs. Thatcher and her remarks on "no such thing as society" for that but I suspects the roots are more complex than just that. But I do think it's mistaken to look back at the past, especially WW2, which most of us only experience through decades of passed-down memories and generations of films and literature, with the actuality of our experience today.
Indeed. I'm a 'crumblie' of 75 now, and the war in Europe was already over by a few months when I was born. I've no better perspective on the war in the far east either, since the Japanese surrendered when I was less than a week old.
So my perspective on the war years, such as it is and other than what I've read, is entirely dependent on the attitudes and reactions of my older relatives who lived through it. You have to be very old indeed by now to have direct mature memory of both its effects and the way of thinking prevalent at the time, and even then the recollections of most of those who have is viewed through the lens of childhood.
Not just childhood, but also the rose-tinted spectacles of time and nostalgia, influenced by decades of books, films and TV - themselves frequently not dispassionate or unbiased but intended to show the "British bulldog spirit".
Yes I suppose things have improved a bit! In the old days men were lead like sheep to the slaughter in a pointless catastrophe that still bedevils the nations of Europe. Now people rightly distrust the fools in government, nice to see a bit of live returning, I never thought I'd say it but maybe our hope does lie in the young.
ReplyDeleteBen
Inclined to agree. The second world war was at least a battle against a pernicious expansionist ideology which ultimately had to be fought; but the first world war was very largely a battle of old empires engendered by national elites using ordinary blokes as the cannon fodder driven by the false flag of 'patriotism'.
ReplyDeleteBollocks.
ReplyDeleteThe era of selflessness versus the era of selfishness.
And apparently those who should know better do not.
That's not the whole picture, though, is it? You also have to factor in care and hospital staff who stayed at their front-line and high risk posts even when there was an inadequacy - and sometimes in the early days a complete absence - of PPE; the staff at a care home who volunteered to 'live in' for six weeks to reduce the risk to frail residents of bringing in the infection; 'locked-down' restaurants whose owners decided that they'd go into work to prepare and deliver delicious food for stretched staff at neighbouring hospitals. 'The era' isn't comprehensively characterized by 'selfishness', and in fact I doubt that any era is.
DeleteHow many Hospital staff and carers do you see queueing up outside bars and clubs in St. Mart Street?
DeleteNo idea. Have you? I'd guess probably not that many because (a) they've got more sense and (b) because they've got better things to do.
DeleteBut the imputation was that the 'era of selfishness' is all-encompassing, whereas plainly it isn't.
Let's not forget that access to news during the 1940s was far more restricted than it is today (and censored). This allowed the Government to buy into and spread propaganda such as the "Blitz Spirit" in a way which is not possible today: https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Blitz-Spirit/. There was also, I sumbit, a greater deference in society as a whole which in one way was good as people "did what they were told" but on the other hand it reflected the prevailing class structure in a way we would find unacceptable today. I'm sure that there were many people have wild (if rationeds!) parties - if only to counteract the sense of fear - and this was not confined to any one social class (think of the "Cafe de Paris" nightclub bombing in 1941). And then there is the black market, with many seeking to subvert the system. What I do think has happened today is that individualism - an "I'll do what I want" culture - has taken over; some might blame Mrs. Thatcher and her remarks on "no such thing as society" for that but I suspects the roots are more complex than just that. But I do think it's mistaken to look back at the past, especially WW2, which most of us only experience through decades of passed-down memories and generations of films and literature, with the actuality of our experience today.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. I'm a 'crumblie' of 75 now, and the war in Europe was already over by a few months when I was born. I've no better perspective on the war in the far east either, since the Japanese surrendered when I was less than a week old.
DeleteSo my perspective on the war years, such as it is and other than what I've read, is entirely dependent on the attitudes and reactions of my older relatives who lived through it. You have to be very old indeed by now to have direct mature memory of both its effects and the way of thinking prevalent at the time, and even then the recollections of most of those who have is viewed through the lens of childhood.
Not just childhood, but also the rose-tinted spectacles of time and nostalgia, influenced by decades of books, films and TV - themselves frequently not dispassionate or unbiased but intended to show the "British bulldog spirit".
ReplyDeleteFair comment. I wouldn't dissent from any part of that.
ReplyDelete