23 April 2008
Smugly righteous
Posted by Greg under: Jingo .
Melbourne greets the news of World War I breaking out
Instead of bringing with it a sense of disaster, the announcement was received enthusiastically, but most people had no experience of war and little knowledge of what was involved in crushing a powerful enemy.
Around the newspaper offices crowded excited men and women, eagerly awaiting the latest bulletins to be displayed on the front of buildings. They cheered and sang as they waited, their patriotism a product of mass emotion rather than of genuine devotion to their ‘country’s’ welfare. The words of ‘Rule Britannia’ swept from them in a wave of sound as they joined in a march down the street.
They marched into Little Bourke Street where, inspired by a hatred of the Germans, they illogically smashed windows in the shops of the inoffensive Chinese residents. Then, smugly righteous, they marched away again.
‘Australia will be there.’
Ambrose Pratt, The Gay Provider : the Myer story, p 82. F.W. Chesire, 1961.
I tried without luck to find a representative photo of these proto-bogans. Their repulsive spiritual descendants will have to suffice.
