Following the call of the wiiiiild, following the call of the wild
Studies show that children are better at identifying Pokémon characters than real animals and plants.
You know what? Let's us go back to the 1940s and all those evacuees who were grossed out at the revelation that milk came from cows rather than nice clean bottles.
Or to c. 1920 and the formation of various youth organisations which were about getting children back in touch with the Redeeming Powers of Nature (apparently one of the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry's most flourishing branches was in Bermondsey).
- And if people had been doing Surveys at that time, I am very strongly indeed of the opinion that the yoof of the day would have been discovered/revealed to be a lot better at knowing a lot about film stars/football players and collecting cigarette cards than the flowers that, actually, bloom quite a bit in niches of the urban environment.
And going back yet further, late C19th writers exhorting to the delights and benefits of Nature - William Morris*, Richard Jeffreys, Edward Carpenter - were doing so precisely as a protest against the ills of urban life. (See also, the Garden City movements.) The Romantic poets? Blake?
Not 'since time immemorial' but defs 'since the industrial revolution', this 'we have lost contact with nature. BAD.' has been a - possibly v English? - thing.
*Nice article on his daughter May, who had a long and productive creative/business life This entry was originally posted at https://oursin.dreamwidth.org/2664944.html. Please comment there using OpenID. View
comments.