First Friday Filmclub

Wrapping up 2023 and focusing on history - and that too, war history. Some have wondered why we do this... quite simply, history is there for us to remember with respect, acknowledge the errors, and gain insights - for we are creatures of inquiry and curiosity. It can help us to recognise our current state, also. There will be much in the second video that anyone interested in current affairs will recognise - proving that history does indeed repeat itself. It seems that as soon as living memory dies (i.e., the last of the veterans of a conflict are gone), the subsequent generations fall lax and think they are immune to all the same idiocies and insanity... Some say that history is there for 'us' (humanity) to learn and grow from. However, one only has to recognise that the repetitious nature of history proves we do not learn at all. But what it does do is hold up the mirror so that those with sensibility can do what is necessary to create balance against the vain who cannot see the flaws therein. As I commented on Tomichan's post about Onam, the only way we can know what is 'good' is to experience what is 'bad'.

There are two closely related episodes about the closing of WW1 on the Sabaton History Channel. This first one, relating to their song, Versailles, relates the background to the first of several treaties negotiated over two years and is shared directly here on the blog. The second and perhaps more interesting one, which looks at The End Of The War To End All Wars, referencing HG Wells's writings from which that phrase arose, has to be watched only on YouTube as there are more than usual graphic images and clear analogies to be drawn with the state of politics currently. If I am frank, that is the video I would have preferred to offer here, but instead, provide you with THIS LINK. Why would you go and watch it? Perhaps because you care about how things happen and wish to understand that more deeply. Perhaps as a mark of respect for this final presentation for the year. Perhaps as a mark of solidarity for the people in conflict zones, even as we read here today, keeping them in our hearts and minds. We live such easy lives, distant from those places - the least we can do is look their way from time to time and ache a little with them...