‘Anti-German sentiment in the Shire of Alberton to the end of 1915‘, Shire at War, 7 November 2015
Thorough local research from this Gippsland-based blogger on
the degree that people used the anti-German hysteria to flaunt their patriotism. Patriotism became a cover for anti-social, vindictive and even violent behaviour. The local media reported, and thereby fuelled, the general hysteria.
The article looks at reasons for these attitudes, local demographics and newspaper reports of particular cases. More to come about this ‘very simple, easy and no-risk variety of patriotism’. Psychologists would discuss the phenomenon of attacking ‘the other’ with only the identity of that beast changing from generation to generation. For more on this, get hold of Carmen Lawrence’s book Fear and Politics.
