As I scrolled Through social media At the top of June, a hot afternoon, a meme attracted my attention. A black and white picture. A smiling young woman with water to her knees. She looked in a fountain, many others sank her legs within the water.
The caption states that “the British heatwave started on that day in 1976. It will continue till August 27, during which the UK will experience extreme temperatures and widespread drought. And we all had a wonderful summer in the summer.”
He immediately. It hit me: It was a boiling hot day. When I sat at my office desk, keeping a hydrate with a fan that directly pointed my face, I noticed that I used to be burning anger inside me. How can people be so irresponsible? Heat could be dangerous. But the effect of Mem was clear: If people withdraw at the moment, today's warnings about heatwave, climate change, and public health have been exaggerated. These rose color memories disqualify a dark truth.
I’m a historical criminal. This meme has a rare effect on bothering each areas of my skills.
As a historian, this meme belongs to me since it maintains the “good old day” fiction. A selected, old -fashioned ideology of the past that smooth complexity and difficulties in favor of a snug, ideal story. Flagid folklore stories flattering history, eliminating social inequality and government failures.
It echoes a wider cultural trend: “Re -Make America Great” “Bullets Spirit”Representing the old memories of Britain for the pliability of war time, a romantic past is usually utilized by politicians Legalize political ideas Recently, but history shouldn’t be a relaxed blanket. This is a crucial tool.
My work shows how the institutions reply to the crisis and the way the successes of success or failure are built. In 1976, Advice To take care of water shortage, a wife needed to bathe and drive a unclean automobile. Without domestic tap water, areas had to make use of sectarian street pipes.
The government didn’t set Minister Despite the growing evidence of meteorological experts and public health officials, by the top of August. Emergency measures were implemented in pieces and uneven.
The advice that “we all had a wonderful summer and survived” is misleading. It was Reported “There were 200 people dying in one day, who did not die if the weather was normal”. During the highest of the heatwave, The deaths increased 28 % in Southeast England and 33 % in Greater London.
As a criminal expert, I do know that these should not just natural deaths that may increase throughout the hot weather. In 1976 and other heatwaves, the variety of violent deaths increased. Thermic law It is imagined that violent crime is high in hot seasons. These patterns could be specified The theory of temperature-agony: This hot weather may cause aggressive behavior.
For other criminals, this shouldn’t be the temperature itself that causes rising violence, but how are people Changes to behavior Due to the warmth. For example, individuals are taking day out of labor or school, drinking social and alcohol. Non -imposed time and spaces, with alcohol and holidays, increase violence.
To present the chance in a fallacious way
Emotionally in the summertime of 1976, we eliminate its lessons. Even worse, we’re prone to repeating its mistakes. A conservative member parliament Described the people The 2022 Hatwave is worried with “esophage” and “cowardly”. The British people were asked to “protect NHS” throughout the Covade 19 pandemic diseases.
This protection apparently didn’t even extend even within the heatwave to deal with one another. In fact, heatwaves are largely a Hidden danger. We are told to not make a riot, but ways to maintain protected are sometimes discussed.
Examples of lack of policy and examples of political doubts are related to a crucial topic in comment under this Mem: refusal to vary climate. If we had a heatwave in 1976, then what we’re experiencing is nothing latest, okay? False
The heatwave was bad in 1976: hundreds of individuals died, the hearth flared, and the water dried up. But it was also irregular. One in a hot summer Relatively cool cool decades. Heatways at the moment are more often, more severe and lasting. The temperature was over 40 ° C in 2022In 1976, a maximum of 4 ° C-5 ° C was cooler.
Nevertheless, each time the weather warns are issued, it’s present in a wave of sarcasm. There is barely one online conversation as expressed on this meme. This attitude shouldn’t be just sharp, it’s dangerous. It disrupts the necessary public messaging, discourages precautionary motion, and not less than the chance of fuel in those that are in danger, while essentially the most weak and even exposed.
History can present a crucial perspective. But provided that we treat him truthfully. This implies that to calculate the complexity of the memories of the past and the complexity of what happened really. This means difficult the stories we tell ourselves. Many people lived within the 1976 heatwave. But many died: quietly, hidden and pious. Their stories should not a part of the old memories. That needs to be.
