A Thought

In the film, we are shown the brutality of war. The inhumanity, the struggle, the depravity of human existence. We see that unlike previous wars, civilian populations were not in the clear during the Second World War. Neither side of the conflict fought in a respectable way and moral deprivations occurred daily by every army of the day. The reality is if you were a person who grew up under Nazi rule, chances are you would have been a Nazi. Just as if you grew up under soviet rule, you would have been a Bolshevik who would fight just so Stalin could send you to the Gulag or a forced labor camp in Siberia. If you were lucky enough to not be condemned for treason against Russia because you were a prisoner of war, you may have been able to occupy east Germany were the rape of German women was so high that suicide rates exploded post WWII. If you were born in Japan, you would have been a Japanese soldier who at the battle of Okinawa pulled American soldiers into caves and torched, beheaded, and gutted them alive. (This was if you were lucky). Or perhaps you would have invaded china and participated in the “Raping of Nanking”. For a read that will really mess with you head, read Testimonials of Unit 731. A Japanese army medical unite that operated high in the Japanese government and universities. Or an American who was complicit in the never-ending bombing raids over Germany and Japanese civilian populations. A comprehensive study of the atrocities of the 20^th century was done by Dr. Rudolph Rummel (Ph.D in Political Science) and if you want to grasp a comprehensive understanding of the killing done by governments it would be a solid place to start research. Understanding the 20^th Century is an obsession of mine and to simply explain away these events as bad does not do them justice in the slightest. Using strong language such as disgusting or volatile may have a since of truth to them but the reality is, war brings out things in human psychology that would never rise to the surface in ordinary circumstances. I study history, economics, psychology, and philosophies as much as I possibly can; because to fully grasp any social issue it requires a universal grasp of the time. These events are not even a hundred years old yet, a mere couple generation ago they would have been current events. To say that history is rewritten by the victors is simply an understatement. To say that we will never forget the lessons of the past is even more ironic since they apparently are forgotten by the majority who make up the voting population. If there is one thing I have found to be true in history, it is the reiteration of old ideologies and philosophies which are then repackaged under a new name then resold to the public with a fancy new bow tied to it as a new, a better, an original idea that must certainly be the new craze. Which just goes back to the idea that anything will be bought if given the right sales pitch.