Re: Grumpy Old Women
Posted: 14 Oct 2010, 9:26pm
It's probably about evens. The general level of background violence is higher now that it was 40 years ago, although a lot went on behind closed doors in domestic situations. OTOH my father and grandfather's generation were sated with organised violence in the guise of war, and were quite happy to having nothing more to do with it when they were demobbed.
I remember my father telling me that his father once came in with a black eye after someone in a pub had taken exception to the fact he had sent a friend over the top (my grandfather was a sergeant major). Despite my grandfather's insistence they should leave it the brothers tracked the chap down in a pub. I wonder how many similar reprisals rolled on for years afterwards. The difference now is there often isn't an excuse like a girlfriend getting the eye, or gang rivalries but a simple need to punch someone, anyone, in the street. Is it nihilism, is it stress? Who knows?
I remember my father telling me that his father once came in with a black eye after someone in a pub had taken exception to the fact he had sent a friend over the top (my grandfather was a sergeant major). Despite my grandfather's insistence they should leave it the brothers tracked the chap down in a pub. I wonder how many similar reprisals rolled on for years afterwards. The difference now is there often isn't an excuse like a girlfriend getting the eye, or gang rivalries but a simple need to punch someone, anyone, in the street. Is it nihilism, is it stress? Who knows?
