It us not going to be fashionable to say this and I fully expect howls of derision but Jonathan Jones stance on the Tower of London Moat and exemplified further in todays Guardian is speaking to the truth. He writes my criticism of this work of art was and is reasonable, honest and founded not in some kind of trendy cynicism but a belief that we need to look harder, and keep looking, at the terrible truths of the war that smashed the modern world off the rails and started a cycle of murderous extremism that ended only in 1945. If it did end. Yes we must remember all the brave men and women who gave their lives for our better tomorrow but we must make sure that there really is a better tomorrow for our children and grandchildren. Jones concludes thus: The best current work on the origins of the first world way, Christopher Clarks The Sleepwalkers, is a 562 page analysis that does not pander to instant explanations. He demonstrates the absurdity of seeing Germany as the unique culprit and reveals the complex process of diplomatic folly that started the war. Yes I am currently wearing my poppy with pride and I remember the fallen but I want the folk of today not to see death and destruction in war as falsely beautiful without understanding the terrible terrible facts and reality of what war really does inflict on ordinary people - whether they are ours or theirs. I want my grandchildren and their children to understand that war is not a beautiful sea of red ceramic poppies but rather a reality of fear, death, destruction and mutilation. I often think that our politicians want to disguise this from us and sadly sections of the media are often their willing servants in this manipulation. Remember Wilfred Owen who wished that we could all witness what he witnessed, a young man dying in a gas attack , If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth- corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer ....... Let us all remember but in doing so please dont air brush out the horrors. I have said enough!
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 12:16:50 +0000
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