Feeling of the Times - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

Wandering the information superhighway, he came upon the last refuge of civilization, PoFo, the only forum on the internet ...

'Cold war' communist versus capitalist ideological struggle (1946 - 1990) and everything else in the post World War II era (1946 onwards).
Forum rules: No one line posts please.
#14663806
I have long held the idea that the post-war period from 1945 to around 1995 and onward to 2005 was a sort of naive period. Westerners born after WWII did not experience any sort of war. Most war was confined to the third world. War was something that happened far away and the sort of terrorism that we experience in the 2010s did not exist in the above mentioned period. There was terrorism but it was far more sporadic, far less common and far less deadly. This lack of exposure to conflict made Westerners timid, naive and unable to deal with the realities of the world.

Westerners became comfortable and complacent. Unlike their parents and grandparents war was not something most of them would ever experience. Post-war peace and prosperity shaped their mentality and approach to the world. It made them far more individualistic, materialistic, careerist and unable to consider the realities of the world. This situation arose due to nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons prevented another great war between the Warsaw Pact and NATO. As a result Westerners became tricked into thinking that such conditions were normal when they were only enabled by the existence of the most destructive weapons known to man.

While they may have had to face the real world in their personal lives, they never had to face the real world on national terms. In 1935 Europe was on the path to war. Everyone living in that period knew what this meant and they had the appropriate outlook on life and politics. The old veterans of WWI understood this very well. War was simply a generational occurrence that happened every twenty years or so. After 1945 there was no real possibility of war in Europe. Someone living in 1985 or 1995 would never have to think of another great European war.

My theory is this: from 1945 until 1985 people living in the Western world were still largely thinking in post-war terms and never moved on from that. The experience of WWII still echoed throughout the continent. Most people were still shocked and haunted by fascism and National Socialism. The legacy of inter-war far right political movements was still something that loomed large over Europeans. That was their biggest fear and it even surpassed their fear of communism. Even though most knew that fascism was dead and was not coming back it still cast a shadow over Western peoples. The existence of the communists in the east of Europe was a cause for concern but this was mitigated by the fact of nuclear weapons which made another world war impossible. The communists were seen as another remnant of the inter-war era and could in this sense be tied to fascism, another totalitarianism. Nothing new came to threaten Europe and as a result they forgot what it was to live in normal political conditions.

After 1991 with the fall of communism there was no longer any threat to Westerners. They could now live even without communists on their eastern frontier. We were at the end of history or so we thought. Then in September 2001 we became closely aquainted with Islamic radicalism.

Now the safety and security that has existed for over seventy years is starting to deteriorate. Islamists do not have a country or real state. They do not put armies on borders. They are not rational actors like the Soviets were. They launch attacks all over the place without warning. The Soviets never conductd terror attacks on Western soil. Islamist terror is more akin to Axis aerial bombardment. We are not used to this. It was only our grandparents who knew what it was like to experience attacks on their cities.

Is it possible that Westerners are for the first time since 1945 starting to experience insecurity once again?

I think that Europeans and Americans are not able to properly come to terms with this due to the prolonged peace they have experienced for nearly a whole century. The cultural developments that took place in the post-war period have permanently changed Western societies and made them ill equipped to deal with the new circumstances. Those who lived through WWII are certainly equipped and prepared for such a new reality but I believe the majority of Westerners cannot make the right decisions or know what to do. Much of the way Europeans respond to the refugee crisis, ISIS/ISIL and Syria is due in large part to the softness and complaceny that has developed since 1945.

Many Westerners today live in suburbs, drive luxurious cars, enjoy far easier lives than their grandparents did. Career and individual achievements are extremely important. Making money and social status are the only really important things now days. The fate of the nation is not important. Political opinions are simply a matter of social conformity rather than real conviction.

The old martial values of European peoples have vanished. No one really cares for the fatherland like they used to. The impulse that drove scores of British, French, German and Russian men to volunteer for the trenches in WWI no longer exists.

Europe and the West are very different today. Too soft, too pampered, too spoilt and too privileged to cope with the challenges of the era. They would rather watch reality TV and play on their smart phones. The whole society is emasculated and impotent.
User avatar
By Potemkin
#14663819
Europe and the West are very different today. Too soft, too pampered, too spoilt and too privileged to cope with the challenges of the era. They would rather watch reality TV and play on their smart phones. The whole society is emasculated and impotent.

For most people in the West, this is basically true. However, there are still people like myself, Rei and many others who are old-school, who still remember the way things were and who have fundamentally rejected the current shallow materialism and wilfully ignorant individualism which passes for 'ideology' nowadays. When the time comes, some of us at least will be ready....

Image
User avatar
By Albert
#14663842
The disparity we see today and the lack of good spirit in Europe and generally in the west. Has its roots far before 1945. As it was the generation that led Europe in WWII created the social conditions of post-war period. As much as I hate the hippy generation with all my heart, and wish death on them every day. It is really not their fault, but more of their parent, who should have known better (because most of them lived through both wars and knew suffering).

Perhaps their parents were really messed up by the two great wars, hence their failure. Who knows. I have been reading about WWI recently, I have read a lot about WWII but never knew much about WWI. I become to form a perception that WWI and WWII are part of the same conflict just with different narratives. Almost like interwar was a period of truce and not really peace.

Anyways, I still do not know exactly what it is, but perhaps those two great wars really did a trick on European people. My favourite artist from the time Otto Dix. And I think he depict very well what he experienced during the war and relates its impact.

Image

Image

Image
By yiostheoy
#14710343
Sounds like most of you were not influenced by Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan, or the IRA in North Ireland. There has always been abundant warfare if you were interested in volunteering for it and getting your hands dirty.

Since Afghanistan however, Pax Americana has extinguished all but the pinpricks of Islam across Europe and America now. If anything, more vigilance is required along the home front.

In the USA more and more people are arming themselves and carrying their weapons with them at all times concealed. Europeans do NOT have this option in their constitutionally disarmed societies so the Islamist get to have a field day there with easy meat for targets.

But don't kid yourselves. There are still at least 1000 ways to die prematurely all across the globe especially in Europe and North America.

They are building a Russian Type nuclear reactor..[…]

Russia-Ukraine War 2022

Hamas are terrorist animals who started this and […]

It is possible but Zelensky refuses to talk... no[…]

Israel-Palestinian War 2023

@skinster Hamas committed a terrorist attack(s)[…]