|
Al Graudian: Stop Building World War II Memorials
I enjoy checking out the Guardian website from time to time. It's like spending a few minutes on a planet where the sky is green. Recently the Guardian's editorial crew directed their attention to a really pressing issue: an excess of World War II memorials.This summer another second world war memorial, this time to Bomber Command, will be unveiled in central London. Even if this were an uncontentious subject of scintillating design, 2012 is far too late to be building memorials to those involved in a war that ended nearly 70 years ago. OK, so those young British aircrews suffered roughly a 40% KIA rate: what have the survivors done for us lately? Bunch of geezers, they are. The war is reduced to being another chapter in Our Island Story, England alone, the last bastion of freedom. It is becoming Britain's foundation myth, and the way it is remembered is as important as the fact of remembrance. The aggrandising of conflict misrepresents and diminishes the truth. It's almost ... patriotic! Their memorial, surely, is the NHS, social welfare and free education. I can see it now, the Seventh Armored Division Memorial Dole Queue. And a commenter chips in with this: I agree with this editorial. WWII is well and truly over. While we're at it, can we say enough is enough regarding Holocaust memorials? No, you jerk, we can't. But I do suspect that the Guardian could find the willpower to support a tasteful memorial to the Red Army in the Great Patriotic War. Posted by: Matt 2012-05-24 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=345252 |