"Those who do not study history...

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shouldazagged

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...are doomed to repeat it."

I believe that old saw. Consequently I was seriously discouraged this morning when I read an article about the phenomenon of "Hitler chic" in Thailand. Young people are dressing as SS troopers or as Hitler. Nazi emblems and insignia are found on T-shirts and accessories. A chicken joint used a sign with der Führer's head atop Col. Sanders's body.

A Bangkok high school teacher was quoted as saying this was a result of not having been exposed to history. That probably accounts for most of it, and adolescent determination to irritate their elders takes care of a lot of the rest.

I don't see Thailand going National Socialist in the German mold, or anticipate that these youngsters will be burning synagogues and chanting "Juden raus!". Call it cerebral acne (SEE: Bieber, Justin). But with neo-Nazi resurgence in other places, including this country, I think it points out that we need to be doing a better job of teaching what World War II was about and how it changed the world.

I'm not an alarmist, but I am a student and lover of history.
 
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As a kid I saw history and english classes as easy for me to bluff my way through and offset my failing grades in math. At no time did any history teacher ever, ever tell us what the purpose of studying history *was*.

So I just did my own thing and started prowling the adult section of the library when I was 10 or so and reading history stuff that interested me.

Most of my freshman year in college was spent in the library reading back issues of "Life" magazine from its initial issue in 1936 through 1945. I learned a lot from burrowing into the stacks.

The Founding Fathers thought that history was the most important subject of all; ignorance of history and its lessons is collective amnesia. Not good.
 
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shouldazagged said:
...are doomed to repeat it."

I believe that old saw. Consequently I was seriously discouraged this morning when I read an article about the phenomenon of "Hitler chic" in Thailand. Young people are dressing as SS troopers or as Hitler. Nazi emblems and insignia are found on T-shirts and accessories. A chicken joint used a sign with der Führer's head atop Col. Sanders's body.

A Bangkok high school teacher was quoted as saying this was a result of not having been exposed to history. That probably accounts for most of it, and adolescent determination to irritate their elders takes care of a lot of the rest.

I don't see Thailand going National Socialist in the German mold, or anticipate that these youngsters will be burning synagogues and chanting "Juden raus!". Call it cerebral acne (SEE: Bieber, Justin). But with neo-Nazi resurgence in other places, including this country, I think it points out that we need to be doing a better job of teaching what World War II was about and how it changed the world.

I'm not an alarmist, but I am a student and lover of history.
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I wonder if some of the new nazi resurgence is a response to some of the immigration problems here and abroad? Not saying I condone it but frustrated youths are easily swayed.
 
I recently watched the "America: The Story of Us" series on TV. Given that by nature it had to be a 30,000 foot flyover, I was still quite impressed - it had many interesting learning points I had never been exposed to, such as Washington's troops doing crude "inoculations" against smallpox at Valley Forge...and that the technique they used was learned from African slaves. Guess I missed that one in school!
 
As I recall, "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" was a best seller in Japan in the '80s.

The Japanese aren't especially known for their anti-Semitism. Indeed, during the war they sheltered Jews in occupied territory in China.

Why was a virulently anti-Semitic screed created by the tsarist secret police (the Okhrana) a best seller in Japan? It was generally attributed to a TOTAL ignorance of the history of organized anti-Semitism by the Japanese public. They were simply suckered by something which they were unequipped to examine critically.
 
shouldazagged said:
I didn't know that. Sounds as if your analysis is spot on.
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And there's more than a passing resemblance between that and the recent history of gun control advocacy in the United States.

If you're selling rotten fish, your best customers will be people with no sense of smell...
 
Lee in Quartzsite said:
This story was made at the University of California Santa Barbara and reported in the British press. A sad commentary on the American Education system.

Hilarious video shows drunk college students who have no clue about American history | Mail Online
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I hate to admit this...but I grew up there and that's why I left! You can thank the Administration for "No Child Left Behind."
All my kids either go to or have gone to a private school or college. I can't see wasting my money if that's what the in product is....
 
Let's don't stop with the kids. Adults who should know better still fly the Confederate flag here in the south. I have a very nice collection of Confederate currency and would love to own an original Confederate flag but I could never fly it like the American flag because of what it symbolizes to blacks. Those flags belong in a private collection or displayed properly in a museum, not on the back window of Shane or Brandie's cab. There is a well known radio talk show host around here that repeatedly explains on his program how flying the Confederate flag is just showing "respect" for the South's history. He is in his early 40's and should know better but guys like that give true conservatives a bad rap. It's really a shame. People are just plain ignorant.
 
Henry Ford said: "History is bunk."

Let's don't stop with the kids. Adults who should know better still fly the Confederate flag here in the south. I have a very nice collection of Confederate currency and would love to own an original Confederate flag but I could never fly it like the American flag because of what it symbolizes to blacks.
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If you want to fly that flag, fly it. It's nobody's business but yours, no matter what it symbolizes to anyone else according to their race. That's what the American flag means. After being a European-American for the past 50 or so years, I'm really getting sick of being expected to comport myself based on who my perfectly legal actions will offend.
 
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History is written by the winners -

When studying any event, bear in mind that the historian that wrote the history books used the news reports of the day for their main source of information.

100 years from now, imagine the accounts of "gun control", "undocumented immigrant invasion", & "Iraq/Afghanistan war" if written using the Wash. Post & N.Y. Times for reference sources.

Case in point: The buffalo hunters of the old west

History now teaches that the buffalo were annihilated to starve out the plains tribes. Altho it was one of the after effects, the real motive that drove the buffalo hunting was an industrial need for strong leather.

The industrial revolution (moving from hand made goods to factory produced) was in full swing. If you have seen a 19th century picture of any factory (S&W's own for example) you will note it was common for a single power source, such as steam engine or water wheel to drive a main shaft overhead & large flat belts transferred this power to the individual machines Those belts were the end use of buffalo hide.

So, - I guess the point I wish to make is;

Todays history book is usually yesterdays news story & often just as biased an account as today's media reporting.
 
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