Putting the past on trial: burning dead witches?

In this short video from the Battle of Ideas festival, a panel discusses our approach to past decades and why they are now seen as having a toxic legacy. Spiked writer Jennie Bristow explains what is wrong with blaming baby-boomers. They are admonished for everything, she tells us, and are seen as having had a big party in the 60’s with no thought for the consequences afterwards. But, she points out, what is significant about this war with the past is a strong sense of fatalism, “the idea that the past has made us what we are now and we can’t transcend it, all we can do is to suffer it.” What does it say about a younger generation’s relationship with the future, she asks, “if it’s believed that it has already been lived out by their parents?”