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Violence and the willingness to mete it out under stress.
I got to wondering how much this is a result of the UK's involvement in wars and the resulting population with post traumatic stress.
My response was in support of the OP but after seeing all the posts decrying it, I started to wonder why my opinion was different.
I wondered if it may be environmental. Growing up postwar in small communities where most of the men served in fighting regiments, we were used to violent fathers and uncles, my family included. We got very good at spotting early signs of the "rage' and making ourselves scarce, but I also remember a fair amount of violence amongst ourselves which became worse as we hit our teenage years.
Then I realised that the same upbringing applied to our fathers, the product of WW1 fathers. Looking at what I know of my grandfather it looks like he had PTSD. There would have been millions like him.
And extrapolating it back a bit further, our line has served in the Boer War, and the Madhi campaigns in Egypt, Crimea, and the Napoleonic Wars, but I don't know much about that. Up here there would be plenty families with similar history.
However is PTSD the gift that each generation passes down to the next, and it gets refreshed with a new war every so often?
(Bit of a ramble, but Remembrance Day always gets me thinking about why we are so keen to sign up for our country's wars)
There's certainly research suggesting a link between violent parents leading to violent kids. PTSD from war service would presumably make it worse in some cases.
There are also people I know who've seen active service and are desperate to never see any sort of violence again, so argument goes both ways.
Bit of a ramble, but Remembrance Day always gets me thinking about why we are so keen to sign up for our country’s wars
Not sure many people are. Given the choice or not to join the armed services most people are not taking it. The world war was a bit different as choice wasn't a part of it.
"Why are we so keen to sign up for our countries wars"
Wars are good for the economy and the army provides kids with education, stability and opportunities that they might not otherwise have access to. It makes heroes out of kids who are seen as failures. The military made 1,783 visits to 377 Scottish educational institutions over a 2yr period, selling a jet set lifestyle in a period of austerity and uncertainty.
Since 2014 we've dropped more than 3,400 bombs and missiles on Daesh, at a financial cost of £2.1bn; there has been more than 6,000 civilian deaths as a result of coalition airstrikes. It's so profitable that Lockheed Martin sponsors the British Legion, selling us the shell of a hero that is so broken that the only way they can contribute to society is through the 3rd sector support services by providing jobs for therapists and care givers.
Our socital structure is breaking down, we're becoming more divided and no longer have the sense of community that we had. In a globalised world we have less people to turn to as friends and families fracture over distances that aren't affordable to visit regularly. Poverty is becoming more visible as it erupts in violence, whether it's domestic, street or terrorism. The stress of war is predominantly borne by the poor but it affects all who go through its ranks, although it's delt with differently when you have options which are only available to the wealthy to mitigate the mental damage.
Every society has issues regarding violence. Sating that growing up in the 60's and 70's there seemed to be a greater acceptance that violence was normal and a reasonable way to resolve issues. I remember far more schoolyard fights and pub punch ups than now. Perhaps it was because of the influence of our parents and older family members who'd been involved in both world wars.
But then maybe it was because of the lead in petrol.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis
I think it's just that some people are dicks who like punching other people.
Violence is instinctive. Since the enlightenment, society has been asking itself 'is this right? Are we doing the right thing?' And society has bit by bit become fairer, progressive ideas have taken hold. In the last 30 or so years society has begun to realise that even casual violence isn't a good thing. We don't cane kids in school any more, we might not even be allowed to smack our kids any more. Violence is gradually becoming less normal.
It's even visible in films. Take that family favourite Back To the future from 1985. The whole film is working up to the point where the hero punches someone and we all cheer and he gets the girl and everything he desires. That stands out like a sore thumb now.
Wars are good for the economy
Not always. WWs I and II were quite detrimental....
Not always. WWs I and II were quite detrimental….
Depends on your point of view... after WWI there was a massive shift in wealth from the “old countries” like UK, France to the USA.
The UK motor industry benefitted getting cheap loans & grants to build shadow factories pre WWII.
Plenty of UK industry chiefs were knighted post war and the export or die philosophy to obtain raw material allocations boosted the UK economy.
Despite loosing, the German and Japanese economies did pretty well.
Anybody know what happened to 'Mr 3 punches' ? Did he go to the police?
I'd just opened a packet of garibaldi and the thread was pulled...............