The second world war coloured my whole early years - my parents were born in the late 1920s and were Londoners so too young to fight but living right in the middle of it all. My father watched the Battle of Britain from Shooters Hill. It was the most exciting time of their lives and, clearly, everyone else who was alive throughout felt the same way. I found all the nostalgia very tiresome - my brother made Airfix models of Spitfires and read Sven Hassel (?) comics, the TV and movies were full of men with moustaches being heroic. All very tedious, especially as every other war was completely ignored. Nobody marched past the Cenotaph in memory of Waterloo or Agincourt!
I don't think young people today have a particular opinion on the war - they all "do" it at school but it's ancient history now and, if my daughters' schools are anything to go by, it's a pretty anodyne look at it all. My kids studied the blitz in primary school! No nazis or Germans involved but lots of wearing curlers and singing cockney songs down the tube station.
As for Churchill. Maybe he was just the man for the job? It seems there was going to be another war and somebody had to be the poster boy for it. Why not Churchill? Seems to me that the point really is that, since then, nobody has measured up to his supposed British bulldog stance. The politicians just get more and more transparent as the years go by but I don't think millenials and gen z even know that Churchill isn't just an insurance dog and they wouldn't bother fighting for their country because, unlike the long dead, they don't think it's worth fighting for.
(The other constant presence in my formative years was the frigging Beatles! Swamped by Hitler and the Beatles!!!)
Now that WW2 is fading into the background, I fear the human race wants to live out a similar tragedy from sheer boredom. Could we be content with lesser myths, humbler aspirations, and better lives?
In some ways, learning the "published history" of WW2 and the brainwashing, coercion and actions of the majority of people of that time, prepared me for the last 4 years... The repeat performances minus most of the blatant horrors until recently.
Unfortunately, young folk weren't given even the opportunity to learn partial historical truths at school.... And Big Brother is nothing but a benign director in a self inflicted deranged TV show psy-op.
You'll find my account of WWII in my book "Our Country, Then and Now." I cover Patrick Buchanan's account of WWII as the "unnecessary war." I also make use of Guido Giacomo Preparata's book, "Conjuring Hitler: How Britain and America Made the Third Reich."
The second world war coloured my whole early years - my parents were born in the late 1920s and were Londoners so too young to fight but living right in the middle of it all. My father watched the Battle of Britain from Shooters Hill. It was the most exciting time of their lives and, clearly, everyone else who was alive throughout felt the same way. I found all the nostalgia very tiresome - my brother made Airfix models of Spitfires and read Sven Hassel (?) comics, the TV and movies were full of men with moustaches being heroic. All very tedious, especially as every other war was completely ignored. Nobody marched past the Cenotaph in memory of Waterloo or Agincourt!
I don't think young people today have a particular opinion on the war - they all "do" it at school but it's ancient history now and, if my daughters' schools are anything to go by, it's a pretty anodyne look at it all. My kids studied the blitz in primary school! No nazis or Germans involved but lots of wearing curlers and singing cockney songs down the tube station.
As for Churchill. Maybe he was just the man for the job? It seems there was going to be another war and somebody had to be the poster boy for it. Why not Churchill? Seems to me that the point really is that, since then, nobody has measured up to his supposed British bulldog stance. The politicians just get more and more transparent as the years go by but I don't think millenials and gen z even know that Churchill isn't just an insurance dog and they wouldn't bother fighting for their country because, unlike the long dead, they don't think it's worth fighting for.
(The other constant presence in my formative years was the frigging Beatles! Swamped by Hitler and the Beatles!!!)
War is a Racket.
https://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html
Now that WW2 is fading into the background, I fear the human race wants to live out a similar tragedy from sheer boredom. Could we be content with lesser myths, humbler aspirations, and better lives?
Great article thankyou!
In some ways, learning the "published history" of WW2 and the brainwashing, coercion and actions of the majority of people of that time, prepared me for the last 4 years... The repeat performances minus most of the blatant horrors until recently.
Unfortunately, young folk weren't given even the opportunity to learn partial historical truths at school.... And Big Brother is nothing but a benign director in a self inflicted deranged TV show psy-op.
It was the last time that someone can say that we were all in this together, and even then it was by hook and by crook!
You'll find my account of WWII in my book "Our Country, Then and Now." I cover Patrick Buchanan's account of WWII as the "unnecessary war." I also make use of Guido Giacomo Preparata's book, "Conjuring Hitler: How Britain and America Made the Third Reich."