waauw wrote:Is the western world still too focused on and traumatized by WWII events that it still dictates current events? I read some articles from american right wing news instances and it seems that's the conclusion they come to. It might hold some merrit, what do you think?
You know, when I was a kid, war was everything to me. I read every book about war in the school library. I memorized battle maps and ordnance statistics and orders of battle. There was a time when I could have told you the name of every German and British and American commander along the Rhine, the top speed and fuel capacity of every Russian and German tank, the muzzle velocity and flash signature of every Japanese naval gun, the ethnic composition of all the Imperial troops under Slim's command, etc., etc., etc. I used to do thing like write alternate histories where Singapore held out.
Then, around the middle of high school, I discovered sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll. War just faded into the background. Today I can't even remember 5% of that stuff. It's amazing how little I know or care about WWII now, when once it was the core of my existence.
I think that really is the answer. Once you have sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll, you realize how much of everything else is bullshit. The only reason we have wars at all is that there are poor benighted souls out there who don't get laid regularly, are too uptight to do drugs, and haven't discovered Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
Tell parliament to make love, not war.