Thursday 13 March 2014

Paxman wrong on war-weary youth

How typical of Paxman to make comments about "British generals struggling to fill a trench" because young people are "bubble-wrapped by a feckless culture", especially when he has a new book on, guess what, the history of World War One, to publicise. However,whilst it`s certainly not obsession with technology, it`s not the changing nature of warfare either that is the reason for the war-weariness of the country, and the youth in particular, as some commentators have suggested, but the lack of trust for politicians.      
     The undertaking to send our soldiers into unwinnable and unecessary wars, often for reasons which politicians have deliberately created to generate both jingoistic support and exaggerated fear of the so-called "enemy", allied to Britain`s position in world affairs as America`s poodle, at her beck and call to appease her rightwing bias and warmongering defence industry, go a long way to explain why the young are "war-shy". Politicians have been "economical with the truth" on so many occasions in recent years, young people cannot be blamed for disbelieving them when told war is necessary.
     Education at the start of the 20th century brainwashed gullible pupils into "being more ready to die" for their king and country, something Paxman chooses to ignore, possibly because most to blame were the history books, written to glorify Britain`s imperial and war-mongering past, by people who were not expert historians! The state education sector, today, produces young people more willing to challenge accepted and out-dated ideas, especially perhaps ones which hold that wars must be "just", because politicians say so. In his interviews Paxman often, if not usually, shows his utter incredulity with the explanations and excuses of duplicitous politicians; is he so arrogant as to believe young people are not capable of doing the same.

No comments:

Post a Comment