The 19th Century : On Trial

Expand, Pete?

I am imagining Petes belly expanding right now. *shudder*....

The 19thC is generally seen as an era of progress - especially Victorian Britain. Certainly it was the century where the US made its first faltering steps as a nation, when France came to terms with getting rid of its monarchy and colonialism and expansionism was rife. Couple this with the unprecedented (until C20) technological advances it made this a century which laid the foundations for all that went on afterwards. Nevertheless much of what has been built on said foundations has - for better or worse - stunk. So is that the fault of the 19C or did the 20C manage all of its badness by itself.

This - of course - a flippant question.

That Adam Hart Davis informed me that it was responsible for cricket on the telly last night.

that Adam Hart Davis is a mentalist, Rick.

Quentin Bell neatly summarises my view of the Victorians when he says: "We find that the apostles of progess, having swept their churches clean of sacraments, altars, priests and pulpits, leaving nothing save a bare structure of ethical assertions, returned to curtained, cushioned, upholstered homes in which every sort of buried sexual superstition, traditionalist tyrrany and emotional cant served as a covering for dirty unswept corners and nameless secular filth."

i pretty much detest a lot of aspects of Victorian society. don't know if you could call it responsible for the failings of today's society though.

The question is illogical. VERY illogical.

personally, i think the seventh century B.C. is REALLY to blame for all of today's ills.

I think you're all to blame.

Wait, this is being posted to ILE. Isn't it supposed to be Ethan's fault?

I think there's a much better case for saying that Britain is to blame for most of the major problems of the 20th Century.

Northern Ireland: Who thought it would be a good idea to send protestants there?

Israel: Who thought it would be a good idea to make a jewish homeland in Palestine?

Germany: Who forced the Germans to accept an unnecessarily humiliating settlement at the end of the Great War, thus creating Hitler's power base?

These days, of course, the British limit themselves to agreeing unreservedly with disastrously poor policy decisions made in Washington DC.

Historical blame = dud. It's happened. Let's deal with it. Let's learn from it.

france helped with the isreal and germany things in the 19th C we could do make bad decsions on our own

UK was the US of the 19th c

British government progressed immeasuarably (sp?) in this time. All those reform acts a catalyst for more reform, Gladstone just being a parliamentary god who also happened to be handy with an axe...And we were still trying to sort out Ireland then, with probably about the same degree of success, but not everything's perfect, right. Unfortunately, Gladstone also closed all the pubs and regulated opening hours etc...this = not so great. Hence 'we have been borne down in a torrent of beer and gin'. (OK, I learnt all these quotes for A-Level and have to use them at some point!)

People had more moral fibre then.

But much less bran fibre and therefore were most irregular.