Rich Birds

Themes can be pretty complicated, and a complicated war like WWII is filled with them. Conflicts like Human v. Human... Human v. Society... Human v. Technology... and so many more animate the art inspired by this most terrible war. What does that art say? Well, it depends. Today I'm going to look at a few themes in some lesser-known WWII films: 2018's Overlord, 2008's Flame and Citron, and 2004's Downfall. 

WWI had been billed as the war to end war...the war to make the world safe for democracy. Those hopes were dashed as the world sunk into financial depression, fascists rose to power, and millions more people died. 

Here is a brief reason you should read more...and watch more tv.

The New Imperialism as it is sometimes called was motivated by power politics and money. I think those motives were thinly masked by the call to "moralize" and Christianize.

With vaccines in the news thanks to the mRNA breakthrough, I thought it would be a good time to talk about Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch. They didn't like each other very much, but both men made immense contributions to the development of the germ theory. Medical science has developed well beyond the work of these two men, but the world is still in their debt.

Along the way, I am going to reference John Snow (not of GOT fame), Joseph Lister, Florence Nightingale, Ottoman medical practices, and Sub-Saharan variolation. 

War has cost the modern world millions of lives. Modern medicine has saved millions. It's important not to lose sight of that fact.

Source Links:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/mrna.html

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/conversations/downloads/vacsafe-understand-color-office.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3407399/

https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/library-and-publications/library/blog/mapping-disease-john-snow-and-cholera/

https://theconversation.com/florence-nightingale-a-pioneer-of-hand-washing-and-hygiene-for-health-134270

https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/publications/youraba/2020/youraba-april-2020/law-guides-legal-approach-to-pandemic/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170303163208.htm#:~:text=Globally%2C%20the%20vaccines%20developed%20from,more%20than%2010%20million%20lives.

Who doesn't love when one word has multiple definitions? It makes things so sophisticated...so subtle...so...confusing. Of course, those different definitions are often significant. Am I talking about the tree's leaves or am I sad when the gardener leaves? Am I going to ship my dog off to obedience school or am I taking a ship to Puerta Vallarta?

What about when a word has multiple meanings based on historical context? What about when that same word has a number of very specific variants? That's when you need to focus. You need to listen. You need to be on your guard. What is the actual topic of discussion?

What word am I thinking about? I'm thinking about liberalism. 21st century American? 19th century European? Classical? Economic? Social?

Words have very specific meanings, and when we conflate ideas, we create a mess. Make sure you are able to define exactly what you mean and make sure you don't allow others to trick you by playing on their knowledge of multiple meanings. Words are one of the greatest human inventions, like many tools, they can be used as a weapon as well. 

In the last episode of 2020, I read you an essay I wrote. I tell you how to deal with a primary source. I acknowledge that even for a survey class, we are asked to cover A LOT. 

Napoleon Bonaparte was the Corsican son of a minor noble who became an emperor. He was at once a man of the enlightenment and a ruthless despot. You might even call him an enlightened despot. He Tolerated different religions, Reformed laws, ruled with Absolute authority, and Patronized the arts (if you consider pillaging national treasures of conquered lands patronage). 

Napoleon was born great, made great by circumstance, both, neither, something we haven't thought up yet... 

Honestly, the "Great Man" debate makes about as much sense to me as the human nature debate. For my money, "both" is the horse I'm backing. Also, that horse doesn't have to be a man in my estimation...but the metaphors are starting to mix and I'm going to stop typing before this description gallops away from me. 

Hee hee.

How society: deters, investigates, prosecutes, and punishes crime is one of the most important sets of policies a government will enact. At its core, the decisions a government makes regarding criminal justice are meant to protect its citizens. 

For too long society was marred by an arbitrary administration of justice. In fact, society grapples with these issues to this day. Mass incarceration and racial inequity spark protest movements, and prosecutorial decisions to seek (or not seek) the death penalty haunt politicians.

Cesare Beccaria's seminal work On Crimes and Punishments remains staggeringly relevant over 250 years later. If I were to assign one book for this course, Beccaria's masterpiece would be the one.

The man responsible for arguably the most important invention in modern history was a terrible businessman. He was taken advantage of by "partners" and left basically penniless. So, maybe there is something to this whole uomo universale thing. If Gutenberg was as savvy as he was inventive, maybe his great, great, great...great...great ancestors would be rich.

Maybe they are, but not because he gave them any money though.

I compare the Thirty Years' War and the English Civil War.

When I hear the word witch-hunt, I immediately think of Salem in the 1690s. But this hysteria wasn't confined to the North American English colonies. Europe experienced similar episodes of fear and paranoia.

It's easy to view those sinking into the mire of fear, manipulation, and conjecture with derision. After all, authorities in Salem arrested a five-year-old girl named Dorothy Good for witchcraft. Can you imagine the tweets if that happened today?

Try to fight the impulse to judge (or judge quietly). A variety of factors went into these witch hunts. 

And in case you were wondering, Dorothy Good was released without trial or punishment.

Why did Europeans want to explore? Why were the Portuguese so successful? What on earth is mercantilism? 

In this BONUS episode I point out a couple of pitfalls.

First, the lands were already inhabited. 

Second, Europeans had already made it to North America.

I promise you, someone will call you out if you don't take these two bullet points into account.

Whether you consider it a counter-reformation or an internal decision to clean house, the Catholic Church (as we can now call it) is making moves in the 16th Century.

Martin Luther is a unique figure in history. Born into what could be described as the burgeoning middle class, Martin Luther got the best education money could buy. 

Then he had a vision...of sorts.

Hans Luther's promising young lawyer son became a monk, then a revolutionary, and then...a dad. 

When I think if the Renaissance, I think of the great painters. I think of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. I think of Leonardo's Mona Lisa. I think of Machiavelli, the Medicis, Florence!

I don't think of trade. I don't think of printing. I don't think of corruption.

But I should. Trade, printing, and corruption. It could be the 21st century if we changed "printing" to "social media."

In this opening episode of Season 3, I'm going to focus my efforts on the BIG 3. That's what I'm calling them. You'll see why.

Note: the exception is not the rule. Just because Elizabeth I was queen doesn't mean women were being treated well.

This episode goes into the conflict between religion and science.

The broad brushstrokes of the European economy and the development of labor

From peasants to the bourgeoisie to the nuclear family to the... 

My attempt to connect the dots on the timeline a bit.