[Archived] Time To Be Humble?

[philipl]

I wasn't even a twinkle any Dad's eye when WW2 ended but there is an article in the New York Times today which spells out how quietly and reflectively the victory in the War was greeted- no mission accomplished W guff!

That is contrasted with self-celebrations of today and the frankly embarassing "me aren't I wonderful" speechifying that goes on today.

One other point, everyone of the names that appeared in the special celebration are still household names today. Could a similar cast assembled today have as instant a recognition 65 years hence?

[rebelmswar]

No, because in those days, the media was in the business of making heroes. Today, they break them.

[Drummer Boy]

A good article that, whilst generalising somewhat, does richly describe the prevailing cultural norm of the supremacy of the self. To be honest, I'd forgotten the extent to which such humility has withdrawn from the public conscience even over the last 30 years or so - a bit like principles in politics other than the blind pursuit of power which I suppose is another manifestation of the supremacy of the self to which the article refers.

Good thread by the way - let's hope it grabs the imagination and is well posted.

[JAL]

Interesting to see that today we witness or endure some of the down sides to freedom.

With the saddest goal being MONEY.

[Rover Down Under]

It's quite ironic how in WWII we fought two of the worlds biggest cult of personalities, Hirohito and Hitler, and today we live in a society where these personality cults are abound. A sad deluded generation of people have been brought up to believe fame and money is everything and the worship of football players / pop stars / Hollywood trash / the latest Big Brother tw@s etc. is the best they can aspire to. Where did we go wrong?

[M-K]

The article says there was "almost none of the whoop-it-up spirit with which hundreds of thousands of men looked forward to this event a year ago,"

so I guess if the war had ended earlier then there might have been some triumphalism.

[colin]

That's an intersting article.

I do feel a lot of empathy with the writer. It seems that nowadays we (by which I mean the developed western countries) seem to go all "Whoooopppeee" at the slightest thing.

The last time I was on a plane the passengers all went "Whoooopppeee" when it landed. Blooming strange.

Last time I arrived at Manchester Piccadilly station no-one went "Whoooopppeee"

Maybe it's all down the the "game show" culture where some one who answers "name an orange fruit?" and answers correctly is given the "Whoooopppeee."

I blame Simon Cowell.

[philipl]

I know- this business of clapping when the plane lands is increasing not decreasing. The last flight I was on they clapped when it landed and cheered like a goal had been scored when the Ryanair fanfare came on!

You could put it down to excitable Sicilians and Maltese but it is affecting all nationalities.