The following newspaper clipping has come into my possession. Can I make it clear that I in no way condone the sentiments expressed, except of course that I like to see large numbers of toy soldiers on a table.
I believe that the year is 1915; I wonder if they were saying the same thing by Christmas 1918. It's also interesting to note the sexism which they've sneaked in among the warmongering. The Daily Sketch was absorbed into the Daily Mail half a century or so ago. It provided the downmarket bigotry which when added to the Mail's existing establishment right-wingery (they of course are the paper that supported both Hitler and Mosley) produced the current appalling publication.
I love the 'Tory bastards' label on this post. The Mail is indeed a truly filthy rag.
ReplyDeleteThe sexist comment reminds me of the full title to H G Wells' Little Wars: "Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books". Acknowledging that some girls were 'more intelligent' probably counted as quite enlightened for the time!
I hadn't made that connection, but you're right; very apt.
DeleteHi Dave, good to see you commenting! However, it's easy to laugh at old attitudes but are we any better? People in 100 years ( if any people left ) will be horrified at our use of fossil fuels and plastics... 'did they not realise?'. Sorry, all a bit po-faced!
DeleteDid anyone buy the whole castle, I wonder?
I am 50/50 on this one - it is hard to apply our current standards to 100 years ago - I just made a comment on Ally M's blog about jingoism and nationalism in books from the same era - John Buchan and other, less well known authors. Reading them can be a bit of a struggle but I dont really care if he uses the word Kaffir in a book written when that was just the standard term for blkack S Africans, the same way we might say African American today - doubtless, that term will evolve into something even less offensive in time too...Person of Colour is my personal favourite - arent we all some colour?? i suppose its offensive and racist to refer to "flesh" or "skin" coloured paint, as it infers the sort of light orange European skin tone is 'THE" colour of flesh and anything else is just various shades of brown....!
ReplyDeletefrom what I've read about Buchan, his use of Kaffir was not in any way similar to the use of 'African American' today - but then, I can't believe you don't really know that.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's the (ongoing) problem.