“When good people see evil raise its head anywhere in the world, and do nothing about it, and become indifferent to it, that’s the consequence, because evil, conquers. Evil triumphs.”
– Survivor of the holocaust, from this video.
I get asked the question of “How can you like that movie?” when I talk about something I’ve seen lately, such as “All Quiet on the Western Front”, or “1917”.
I never get my point across very well, in part because I am always confused as to why someone wouldn’t want to see these attempts to recreate the past in a way that we can today get a view of what it might have been like to go through these events.
Anybody who reads history for a decent amount of time will see that we actually don’t know that much about the past, and of course, the further back we go, the less recorded history there is. There is far more history lost to time, than there is recorded. When you see something on television about how amazing it is that the Pyramids in Egypt were built, or some other puzzling ancient accomplishment, that is just a really obvious example of how little history has been preserved.
Actual recording of history didn’t become much of a thing until the time of Henry VIII, due to logistics, social and physical. And as far as humankind is concerned, that is relatively recent.
I saw these “Man-on-the-street” interviews in Hiroshima on the anniversary of the bomb dropped there in 1945. Actual citizens of that city had no idea what the significance of that day was.
Most Americans are the same way. Zero understanding of important events, so many of them in regard to war. And a total avoidance of anything, book or film, that might remind them of such.
The most difficult book I’ve ever read, “Hitler’s Willing Executioners“, gets detailed into the reasons of how one of, if not the most advanced society in Europe at the time, could descend into such a barbaric state. To think that we, today, are automatically so much better than the Germans of the early 20th century is total hubris. It very much could happen again, and in our country. It comes at us in other ways which would hide the obvious, like it did in Germany. Which is why avoiding anything resembling something that could possibly educate us about our past, is a mistake.
How are we as a society going to avoid wars and holocausts if we don’t understand how they happen? That is what ignorance is, and in this case, completely willing ignorance. Because there’s another popcorn movie or television show to go watch. And I like those too, of course. But historical topics are just as, if not more interesting, because they are based on actual people and events that can be looked into, there is more depth to the topic of the film. So much to be learned, and most of it very interesting.
Wars aren’t just battles and horrific events. They are logistics, politics, psychology, humanity, examples of selfishness and selflessness, strategy, and on and on. To just avoid the topic because there was the obvious horror of it, is not a good thing.
There is a guy who lives near us who fought on Iwo Jima. He’s in his 90’s. I’ve talked to him a little bit, and it was fascinating. I didn’t run away because it might be about war. I have to think he’s really disappointed that most people couldn’t name ten battles, places, events, or people, related to that massive event he experienced. Something that made the world we live in today.
Go watch a war movie. Then read about it. It’s fascinating and worthwhile.
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