Having lost the best part of an entire generation to the killing fields in France 20 years earlier, nearly 400,000 Britons died defending their island in World War II.
Some of the survivors of that greatest generation wonder whether it was all worth it.
So very, very sad. And the accompanying picture says it all, really. Just as sadly, in Britain we are looking at our future. Not a pretty sight to contemplate….but at least I don’t have to contemplate our fate overly much as long as the Barbancourt and/or my liver holds out….passing out for extended periods has its advantages….
I have it on good authority that livers of all AF pilots are exchanged for stainless steel on completion of Pilot Training. So, not to worry, you’ll be able to stick around and see it all fall apart, just as Teddy Kennedy predicted, along with the rest of us.
Now, doesn’t that cheer you up a bit?
We need to print that on a t-shirt.
From the comments:
You, United Kimgdom, have ONE generation to look forward to.
- ExUK, Now living the dream in US of A, 21/11/2009 22:58
Ain’t it the truth. The numbers are overwhelming in favor of the immigrants. For a country of approximately 65 million, it loses over 450,000 emigrants and gains over 450,000 legal immigrants per year–counting the illegals, that’s a million people a year, out of 65 million. England, like the rest of Europe, is lost before the battle even starts.
The first commenter had it right, too–this best generation that cries for the England that is lost was the one who elected Labor over and over since the war, was the one that wanted all the benefits of the welfare state while kicking the cost down the road. Pity for them they lived long enough to see the cost of what they enjoyed.
Remember that the next time you hear the schmaltzy overtures to our own “greatest generation.” Never forget that for all their successes, they are also responsible for rearing the greatest generation of brats the world has ever known, a generation which has set us on a course to follow our fellow Britons in maybe only one more generation.
Well, you’re right about that Zane. But it was probably inevitable. I doubt even the most far-sighted prognosticator/Cassandra could have rallied the society of those times to change their lifestyles/attitudes. Remember this was also the generation that had endured the Great Depression and certainly didn’t want their children to ever want for anything again as a result–so they can perhaps be forgiven if they indulged their children somewhat as a result, never dreaming that today’s outcome would be possible.
Then, too, one must differentiate between the 1st decade cohort of boomers from the 2nd, and all that followed. The first decade’s worth saw the “brats” as a distinct minority–mostly red-diaper babies. But they had an influence all out of proportion to their numbers thanks to TV and the fact that their fellow travelers on the left naturally gravitated to the media and the educational system thru a largely self-selection process that no one paid attention to in those days. Now, of course, the left has almost a total lock on the MSM and academia and it is pretty much a closed shop. As a result, the general public has been so indoctrinated over the last 40 yrs by the constant drum-beat of leftist thinking from K-12 onward into adult life that the language and terms of argument of the left is the default position for the discussion of public policy and provides the conceptual lens thru which all too many otherwise apolitical people view the world.
Thus said, it is going to be a long, hard, slog, trying to row the Ship of State back against the prevailing cultural currents even IF the Captain and Crew consisted of nothing BUT Conservatives. Given the current make-up of our government such a reversal is well neigh impossible. The question is, will enough of the conservative passengers, aided by approaching stormy weather cause the “independents” to “rip the scales from their eyes”
(to use a favorite lefty phrase) in time to see the impending rocky shoals ahead and mutiny soon enough to seize control and successfully alter course.
As Jerry Pournelle has posted on his site, many times, “liberalism is a philosophy of comfort while the west commits suicide.”
“All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.” -Edmund Burke
Oft quoted, usually dismissed as a cliche, or not being applicable, or overly pessimistic, but Mr. Burke knew what he was speaking of. Every generation stands on the shoulders of previous ones, and what they have accomplished or provided to subsequent generations in a material, economic, ethical or spiritual sense.
What we have can easily be lost. Without aggressive, active involvement in the body politic, on all levels, we will lose what we have to those who do not make a positive contribution to our society.
I do not think it a good thing when the Peters robs the Pauls, and when the Peters have more votes than the Pauls. Any quess as to which way the politicians will vote? We have a truly amazing ability to rationalize our actions.
On the other hand, for possible options I do think of the Amish on occasion, or perhaps even trying copious quantities of Barbancourt.
Are you saying that we shouldn’t vote with our Peters?
(sorry, sorry, I suppose I should have TRIED to resist)
It was very difficult for me to refrain from using PeterHeads.
Sadly prophetic.
Will we change in time to avoid the same fate? I think not. We are too far down the road of dependency and deviancy to make the hard choices.
Or, as Dick Armey used to explain: “Too many are riding in the wagon instead of helping pull the wagon.” Those few, those very few, who still labor in the traces are getting damn tired of their contributions being squandered on the unappreciative and undeserving.
Within 10 years, we shall probably see an epidemic of “going Galt” or some form of passive, and perhaps even active resistance to government tyranny.
Meanwhile we better get extremely active in the political process and throw the bums out before those riding in the wagon make it impossible and doom us all to a total collapse of the economy.
Dire, but the British story is from a clear parallel course to our own.
Not much to add but ‘Amen’ to the above. Indeed a sad thing to see what has become of Britain, but even sadder to see their current plight as a forecast of what we’re likely to become.
An Aunt and her two younger generations live in/about Vienna, Austria, and find their lovely ‘Edelweiss’ in similar straits; more folks in the wagon than in the traces. Her SNO was recently here and visited with me Ma, describing the relatively low threshold required there to achieve the 50% income tax level. A right proper work motivator, it is. Build an addition to your home? Sure. Add a 30% cost surcharge for government taxes and fees.
Don’t get them started on what the vaunted Socialized medicine has degenerated into, especially as it relates to treatment for his younger brother’s brain tumor. He and the Missus are looking to the U.S. and New Zealand for future digs.