American humour. There’s some brilliant stuff. Steve Martin’s stand-up skit about taking hostages (« I finally got myself something I always wanted …… hostages ») so that he can demand the letter « C » be erased from the English language is tremendous, and just as surreal as anything in British comedy.
Anyone who thinks the Yanks don't do irony, clearly
hasn't watched
any episodes of M*A*S*H.
One of my drinking pals is a retired police inspector. He gets loads of joke circulated via texts and online from his circle of retired cops.
They are 90% racist or sexist/obscene and we have asked him not to circulate them to the rest of us. A retired fireman friend says a very similar story about humour in the fire service.
The son of a colleague was dismissed from the police force because of the mysoginist jokes and comments he was circulating and passing on from others about another cop facing charges of sexual abuse. His defence that, as a fairly new recruit, he was only doing it to fit in with his colleagues did not help him.
Thats how it works in reality though isn't it, that's how the toxic culture builds, and is excused..
If you don't go along with 'the in joke culture' however distasteful, you're ostracised.
Not being 'in the gang' doesn't bode so well for career progression.
It's all about 'face' right ??
After the national disaster of losing two world wars in a short period Germany had to have a total reboot, politically, socially and economically, which they did. They have moved on in a very positive way as a result.
All war is terrible, and usually starts from the lowest points of ego, greed, violence and inflated sense of superiority, whether of tribe race or nation.
But this, ridiculous hyper-mythologising of 'The Plucky Brits at War' that some people go in for, could do with binning.
As a nation at that time, alongside our allies, we exhibited courage, industry , ingenuity and forbearance.
Alongside all the other usual human traits of cowardice, greed, cruelty, and selfishness..
Germany
has learnt from it.
It's very constitution guards against the possibility of the rise of such ideas from happening again.
Europe being set up to work together, with closer ties as a group, of nations, was also partly to do with preventing further wars..
It's worked so far.
Many Brits seem to have got stuck in a very unhelpful place of unfounded self glorification about the whole enterprise.
Oh that and 'Empire' as well.
Of course we were quicker than the Americans to get involved.
It was right on our doorstep ffs.
Self protection, is a great motivator, right ??..
We have
always however been net benefisheries when it comes to piscine puns - their plaice is sacrosanct in our great British lexicon
