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Polish pride. PL stickers, flags and the white eagle! Where does our obsession come from? [79]
Why are you calling it obsession? Who is to decide when is too much and when is not enough? It's all subjective and up for a debate I suppose.
Yes, perhaps i was overstating it when i used the word 'obsession'.
It would be a good debate (as long as it didn't degenerate into name calling, as many others do). Funny thing was, I was discussing this with my wife today and when we discussed things like reenactments of battles, I recalled having seen a few in Britain too (although not on the scale or regularity of those done here).
My thoughts were that in Britain we don't celebrate the Spanish Armada every year or the battle of hstings, nor do we run over to france and reenact slaughtering the French on the anniversary of Agincourt (although that might be fun). Likewise, we don't have memorials on every street corner... but that is perhaps because the history of the 20th century has not meant we in Britain have to remember those kinds of events. Somewhere like Ireland, this is more noticeable because of their recent history. The problem is that when you are surrounded by memorials and reminders of the past it may be harder to escape the past.
As we discussed it, I realised I myself had recently been cursing the British Council for refusing to commemorate something. I had written to a friend about seeing if BC might be interested in a project to commemorate the beginning of WW1 (not least because the last british soldier of WW1 had recently died). He got an unoffical reply that they probably wouldn't be doing anything related to the occasion because they preferred to look forward. I thought this was rather questionable...
Therefore, I find myself actually arguing against myself with what I put on this board.
Maybe there is a greater need to remember and express in Poland, having been denied the chance for so long.
My other experience comes with living in Scotland with an English accent. I was often hammered with "Aye, at Bannockburn we sent yeez hameward tae think again!" (it's based on a line from the song "Flower of Scotland") or, some diatribe about what the "English" did at Culloden. Funny thing was, my Scottish family hardly ever mentioned these events, let alone celebrated them. I remeber hearing the Scottish singer Dick Gaughan comment that he didn't like the idea of Flower of Scotland being made national anthem (it isn't) for Scotland, "because it's about the English, and why should my identity as a Scot be based solely on oyr historical relationship with them... why not on something positive about being a Scot." I liked that.
From an English point of view, I find it highly embarrassing that the world is constantly reminded that England won the World Cup in 1966 (and never again!)... also the habit of the red-top papers of constantly using WW2 as a way of attacking Germany and France in any field from politics to sport. Having been working abroad one year, I was mortally embarrassed when The Sun had a headline preceeding an England/Germany game "Achtung, for you ze european cup is over!" I was working alongside Germans, who just asked, "So, for us ze cup ist over, ja?" (I laughed when England were thrashed). But also, as my brother's kids are half German it was also uncomfortable having this constant obsession with the war brought up again and again. I was mortified when a german friend of mine said, "You know, you think you're above it but you do it all the time as well!" i hadn't realised.
I just wonder whether the frequent (constant?) use of Grunwald, WW2 etc is liable to hold back some people from moving on without constantly referring to it, the way many Britons seem unable to do with historical conflicts.
It was pointed out to me that this year was a special anniversary of Grunwald, so that was probably why there was a new monument.
Having a queen and a bunch of freeloaders to support that's what I would call the obsession with the past.
Perhaps, but they are still part of the modern society and are actively involved with changing their role and working in different areas. It's not like they don't exist anymore and there is a big movement to celebrate a lost thing.
So if the people want to express themselves now - let them.
The fact this is a recent thing has also been pointed out to me. Perhaps it is that coming from Britain, where such things aren't always done on a such a big national scale with such regularity, that it seems strange to me.
Sorry for the meandering waffle... thanks if you've made it this far.
