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As far as concepts like continuity and identity overtime go, I think you may be interested in Dan Carlin's episode entitled Judgment at Nineveh that explores some interesting concepts surrounding this.
No I don't think many British would've fought for their country, if they knew what type of future it would've been captured by. Certainly there's also an atmosphere of apathy in the US as well that plays a role in people's silent retreat and resignation from participating in the broader society that has continued to recede from the territory it once possessed. It's not unlike what happened in the later Roman times, when the elite retreated to their villa's and saw themselves increasingly distant and isolated, and formed enclaves that separated themselves from the rest of the population and balkanized the empire. That was really when you saw the early stages of the Middle Ages begin to develop.
In the grand scheme of history though, these cycles are all par for the course and there's nothing uncommon about them. People of the 21st century just have a much greater visibility about them, to see the ways in which these historical motions occur and take place. I consider myself as belonging to an ideological wave that missed it's opportunity to have it's time in the sunlight when the broader umbrella that encompassed us still carried the day; and it's very unlikely that I'll live to see it revived again in my lifetime. But I think there is a pendulum effect that partially explains this general way of thinking.
Which ideological wave are you referring to?
Far right-wing.
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