Why Is It Now Wrong To Cherish The Way Of Life, That We Once Held Dear?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2337702/SIMON-HEFFER-Coronation-dream-politicians-betrayed.html

Is it now wrong to still cherish our way of life?

/// But steadily over the past six decades — particularly in the past 15 years or so — those aspects of Britishness and key institutions have all too often been insulted, rebuffed, ridiculed, despised, attacked and, to all intents and purposes, destroyed. ///

How very true, but not just by politicians.

[woofgang]

Oh Simon Heffer.....he opens his mouth and out flows the botox

[jim360]

I expect you could write this article with just a small amount of changes at just about any point in History you could care to mention.

[chrisgel]

I suspect AOG that it will just be us oldies that see the truth in this article. Others will just come up with statistics and articles that prove how much better things are today.
What they won't be able to do, because they weren't there, will be to know just how nice a country it was in the past. This is obviously a subjective opinion and others will say that it's a well known phenomenon that older people think things were better when they were younger.
Well I for one know they were.

[anotheoldgit]

Talk about edging the question?

[jno]

people were unable to post drivel on blogs in 1953. Is this ability a step forward?

[Gromit]

Just read it. Utter tosh. Things have improved immeasurably in the last 60 years.

The problem is that many are living in the past. Or rather, a false memory of the pst that never existed.

[anotheoldgit]

That wasn't aimed at you chrisgel, incidentally you have hit it right on it's head.

[chrisgel]

Ah! I see. You didn't want anyone to agree with you. Sorry, it won't happen again.

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// The problem is that many are living in the past. Or rather, a false memory of the pst that never existed. ///

You know that for certain do you Gromit? I don't think you do because you are not old enough to have experienced those days, we are not getting our experience from your book of experience, Wikipedia..

[Gromit]

Found this on the net describing Glory Day Syndrome.

// Imagine being on a journey and spending all your time looking in the rear-view mirror. Instead of seeing what’s all around, you would only see what is behind you. Instead of anticipating what is beyond the next bend, your view would only include the past. We all glance in the rear-view mirror from time to time, but our focus should be on where we are now, and where we are headed. //

I agree with that.

[chrisgel]

Gromit - I assure you that I am not living in the past. I am comparing the present with the past and not liking what I see.

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

The difference being Gromit is the fact that we can both see all around us, and also have a much clearer and magnified rear view mirror so as to see much further where we have been, than the short focus rear view mirror that you almost certainly have.

[woofgang]

well I lived through it and wouldn't go back...how kind of Simon Heffer to mention equality for women and homosexuals (his words) then dismiss those as "minor improvements"

[chrisgel]

Woofgang - cherry pick much. No you're correct, with nearly full employment, safe streets and parks for our children to play in unsupervised, an air of post war optimism, companies that put customers first and friendly neighbours it was so much worse then than today.

[Kromovaracun]

We should cherish the parts that are worth cherishing, and disregard the parts that aren't. We should endeavour to work out the difference using standards - like whether they are conducive to human flourishing, and personal freedom. Prosecuting and suppressing homosexuals, for example, clearly violates these principles, and most homosexuals who were around in the 1950s testify that this was the case, as do the evidence we have from police reports etc.

Just because a time was better for you and your community, that does not permit you to claim that it was also good for everyone else. This often bothers people, but alas is

[Kromovaracun]

We should cherish the parts that were worth cherishing, and disregard the ones that aren't. We should decide which are and aren't worth cherishing by using evidence, testimony, and the standards of human flourishing and personal freedom.

Just because a.time was good for you and your community, this does not allow you to declare that it was also good for everyone else. We also have people - who were also there, just like AOG claims to have been - who have described the prosecution of homosexuals, or the problem of domestic violence not.being taken seriously by authorities. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have described both of these at length, but they are just the famous names who have done so. And their testimony is backed up by extensive evidence from police reports, just dealing with these two problems alone.

So no AOG you are not the only person claiming to have been around in the 1950s and plenty of people who were have described something less than idyllic. I'm happy that you enjoyed it but you may not claim that everyone did.

[Kromovaracun]

Ignore first post - phone was playing up.

[emmie]

there are certain things from that time i would have liked to have kept. but time for good and bad marches on

[emmie]

for our family and many like us, it was a time of hardship, at least now we won't go hungry, or shouldn't.

[Canary42]

I was born in 1942 - things were certainly worse then than today.