Isolation has provided me with an opportunity to watch a slew of documentaries that I’d mentally placed on a when I have time list. At this very moment, I do in fact have time, and so I was watching one of them. This one was about the second world war, and the term greatest generation kept coming up in the narration.
I’m naturally prone to skepticism, and with apologies to the greatest generation, I’v got to admit I have a problem with the term. For starters, the commentator claimed that this greatest of generations were Americans. That repeated claim set off my first skepticism signal. If the narrator had specified that this particular group were the greatest of the American generations, then I would have been content to let Americans argue the nuances of the assertion. I suspect too, that if any civil war veterans were still breathing that those folks may have some issue with the claim, but at least the argument would be about Americans and among Americans. That’s not how the commentary unfolded though, and as I listened it reminded me of how Americans call their football champions world champions. At least with baseball there’s one league team outside the U.S. so there’s a sliver of credibility to the world champion label, even with the omission of an invite to Mexico, The Dominican Republic, Japan, Canada, Cuba and Korea. But world champions of football when your country is the only participant seems a little presumptuous.
At least from my perspective.
Anyway, for sake of argument. lets say the American documentary was exclusively about Americans and that was always the intent of the film makers. Let’s also assume that no slight was intended to the generation of Russians, British, Canadians and the rest of the world that existed during that time.
Except for the Japanese, Germans and some of the Italians. Obviously the generation from those countries took a pass on the greatest designation from about 1939 until mid-1945. Unless of course, you’re defining greatest in terms of starting and perpetuating all the shit that eventually made everyone else great.
Anyway, the Americans.
I was wondering what would happen if a similar set of circumstances to the second world war were to occur. I was wondering if there’s another greatest generation just waiting to be called upon once more. I’m wondering if not just the Americans but all of the old allies would answer that call.
I suppose that the call would have to be a text, but the question still applies.
If we’re talking exclusively about the Americans then I see an issue or two. To begin with, lets say the call came from the President. That president has to be either a Republican or a Democrat, so automatically about half the country is going to think the call is a hoax.
That’s a bit of a problem.
To combat that problem of perception, the media of the Forties was pretty much turned into a patriotic flag waving instrument of pro-government propaganda. There was basically one message delivered to the masses. While that tactical option is still available in Russia and China, it’s a little more difficult to pull off in any of the Western democracies.
So, that’s a bit of a problem too.
I can’t envision the Fox late night commentators supporting the call of a democrat President for all out war regardless of the circumstances. I can however, easily see those same commentators red faced and enraged at Democrats if they ignore the call from a Republican.
So, lets assume that somehow the messaging conflict gets resolved and all of the news services from Brietbart to Buzzfeed are singing from the same hymnal. I think the message would have to be both stark and undeniable. I’ll grant this is a huge assumption, but, let’s entertain the thought just for shits and giggles.
Now it’s greatest generation time, and that got me wondering about some of the details of who stepped up in the forties, and who the Americans would need to step up this time around. After a bit of thought I concluded that everyone would have to step up in one form or another.
And that’s a bit of a problem.
Consider that after Pearl Harbor that damn near every male between 17 and 35 was instantly expected to enlist in the armed forces. That included baseball players, Hollywood stars and the sons of the rich and famous. In a modern redo, the women of America would also be expected to serve and so Don Jr, Eric, Ivanka, Hunter, Malia, Sasha, Taylor, Gigi and Lady Gaga would all get their opportunity to demonstrate their penchant for greatness in a different environment. So, would those celebrities and wealthy elites pull a Pat Tillman, or would they secure themselves a bone spurs bailout?
That’s the abnormal people, and who the hell knows how that would work out. I remain skeptical that Donnie jr, would be inclined to shoot his twitter arsenal at anything that returned fire, but he’s probably a little old and besides, he’s essential to the home-front.
What about the normals though? The run of the mill everyday, gamers, college students, nurses, accountants, skaters, Wal-Mart shelf stockers and Instagram influencers. Would they answer that call?
Even in the Forties, with a depression fresh in their mind and the army looking like three meals a day and a paycheck, a draft was still needed to compel the last of the patriots. Without any of those economic hardships, would the current batch of cannon fodder see the call to arms the same way their ancestors did?
It’s pretty unlikely without assuming the messaging reached and sustained propaganda levels that successfully altered the mindset of self. But with a few laws enacted by old people that won’t have to shoot anyone, it’s possible I think. Also, I have all kinds of faith in American ingenuity when reasons for war are required.
The harder nuts to crack in my opinion would be the Boomers, Gen-x’s xennials and millennials. For clarity, that’s everyone born between 1946 and 1975. So, everyone else. These Americans wouldn’t have to go to war, but I think an all out conflict would mean they would also have to sacrifice something for the cause.
Their children or their jobs for example.
Many of these people are currently losing their minds because they have to use the drive- through at MacDonald’s or because they can’t get a haircut. So, it looks like the concepts of freedom and convenience may need a rebrand with them as well. The sacrifices on the home front in 2020 aren’t necessarily the same sacrifices that were needed in the Forties, but maybe three or four years of total war would change that.
If rationing of food and fuel were required, I’m not certain how well that would go over with the citizenry. NASCAR would be canned for sure. Again, and sadly, I think the reaction would depend on who was providing the instruction. But, limited mobility and rationed butter would only be a tip of the sacrifice iceberg. In order to message and convince the citizens it would be essential to control and censor all social media. The government would need to eliminate those pesky voices of discontent and that’s the end of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as we know it. Mobile phones would need to be monitored and would work wonderfully as tracking devices. All you’d need was a law compelling Microsoft and Apple to co-operate, and national emergencies tend to have those kind of laws. Of course, the government may also toss a trillion dollar bone to those same companies for military communication and software, But hey, that’s just how things work. Someone usually gets rich from war. I’m guessing that Boeing won’t mind a war too much either.
At the point of censor and censure I think we’ve crossed the Rubicon in terms of patriotism vs freedom. Freedom has decidedly taken a back seat and this is the puzzling part of the greatest generation to me. Their liberties were curtailed, and their lives and deaths were dictated and determined by the government. Their freedom of choice was taken from them so that they could more effectively preserve freedom.
Perhaps that’s the real truth of the greatest generation. They didn’t just sacrifice their lives. They also sacrificed almost all of their freedom and self determination, so those that followed them didn’t have to take one for the team as well.
If the total war scenario were to repeat itself I wonder about a couple of things. Firstly, are we willing to sacrifice? Secondly, once all the freedom has been taken is whoever’s in charge going to return those freedoms?
The greatest generation had faith I think. I’m not so sure that the current generations share that faith. So, maybe we really have seen the one and only greatest generation and we’ll never see anything like it again.
Hopefully we won’t ever need to know. But, it seems to me that even if we avoid a huge war, that eventually some generation is going to have to pay for our current path. Whether from a warming climate. rampant consumerism, population overload. pollution, or a frigging pandemic, it seems a good bet that some generation is going to have to pay for our progress and our political choices.
Hopefully the chosen ones will be up to the task.