give_us_a_wave
Well-Known Member
OK. I'm 58 so same generation.
I obviously can't speak generally but only from personal experience. My Dad for example would be 94 if he were still alive. He was born into the sort of miserable poverty that is totally unimaginable to anyone in the western world today. His childhood up to his mid teens consisted of the great depression followed by the second world war. A shittier start would be hard to imagine.
When I was young he absolutely recognised the times he lived in. Constantly told me that I was growing up in the best of times & not to waste it. Because he absolutely knew it wouldn't last.
He told me that the English working class, as a group, would only be supportive to progressive ideas as long as it put money in their pockets & gave them visible opportunities. As soon as things became more abstract they'd revert to supporting their traditional lords & masters. Even at their own expense.
" Do you really think 50 sheep are afraid of one sheepdog? "
" No. They go into the pen because centuries of breeding & conditioning tell them that they're safe in the pen "
He told me that as soon as some flanneling **** with a posh voice who went to a good school & waved a flag at them showed up they'd all fall back into line like good little serfs & do what they're told.
" Like they have since 1066. England has no radical tendencies whatsoever. Radical individuals yes, but they end up ostracised, imprisoned, tortured or pelted with rotten veg on their way to the gallows by the people they set out to help "
" It could take 20, 30 or 40 years but it's ****ing inevitable lad, so take your chances when they come "
I have to say, hearing this as a young teen in the late 70s it seemed way off the mark. Particularly in the circles I was starting to move in.
I then lived long enough to watch Boris ****ing Johnson form a government.
The single most ludicrous political event of my lifetime. Possibly of anyone's.
& on the day I couldn't stop thinking about my old man.
So in this individual case, someone at least knew they were in the best of times & had no truck with nostalgia.
" The good old days, boy, were ****ing shit "
Mam wouldn't let me put that on his headstone.
