The first world war is a century old and the second world war is now approaching three quarters of a century old. When I first moved to Germany I lived in the town which was renowned for its baths and accordingly was a place for the evolution of hospitals and rehabilitation centers. In 1989 the streets of this town were filled with men with white hair and one arm or one leg, veterans of World War II who were lucky enough to have survived. Today, these veterans are no longer to be seen on the streets of this town, virtually all of them having died out.
I tutor kids to help them pass their English and history exams and so they are anywhere from 17 to 20 years of age and their universal reply to whether they feel "guilt" for World War II, or for the Holocaust, is to observe that they were not even alive at that time. They feel no such guilt.
Likewise, I feel no guilt for slavery. Do you?
With all due respect, those are nonsequiturs. Never mind the fact that they presume that all liberal stereotypes about white Americans to be true. We do not have any parallels here; there was never a civil war fought in Germany to extricate those who were hardcore adherents to the elites of either second or third reichen, and the slavery culture had to be forced out of Germany from without.
Might seem ironic that such sensitivity arises in light of the European Union’s “ever closer union” and “solidarity” rhetoric. Why should the character of the UK change for anyone?
Good reports from the source, thanks. As I learn more about the history of the 20th C and the ability of the British to manipulate and destroy so much freedom in the world, I’m amazed that we even consider Britain as an ally. After what a mess the Brit left made in Africa (esp SA), the MidEast and most other places on the earth, I’d think we would never again ally with that criminal nation!