Y'know we look about this world today with a freedom unparalleled. We are able to see, firsthand, things which til this generation have been objects far beyond reach, and we've been places our parents would not have believed possible..and we have this ineffable hubris, this untouchable pride, to think we're in an unique situation. Every generation since the Industrial Revolution has awoke to find itself that much further along the road of technological development, and has felt the same. And despite societies claims to growing enlightenment, a study of recent history and a comparison with today's news would show many of the same problems still present, some to a far greater degree.
It's odd to think that many of those who debate the ethics of this war we're facing, are doing so from the perspective of one who was prepubescent when the last one took place..
The pronouncement of denunciation, or of support for the effort, is from one who can't remember when, and why OPEC was formed. What the political 'feel' of the day was, the subtleties of the coalition, is lost of them. It, to these cognoscenti, is a matter of history. And what is odd, is to be such a position where far from being 'history', it is a vivid memory.
It was 41 years ago today that ten thousand Gendarmes took to the streets of Paris, to face a mob 20 thousand strong, protesting right-wing bombings. Two hundred and fourty people were injured.. half police.. half unionists.. Eight killed, including a 15 year old boy..
The issue?
Charles de Gaulle's decision that Algeria should be self determining, and the disagreement of the OAS.
How quickly we forget..