HISTORY BEGINNER: COMMON BASICS FROM UNCOMMON BLOGGER

Long stories blur into each other the more they’re told. Eventually a common thread emerges.

I’m a history beginner, you’re a history beginner, we all be history beginners.

If you don’t agree, then visit a new place, a place where you don’t speak the language, a place with different food, where you essentially throw yourself on the mercy and kindness of strangers. (With thanks to Tennessee Williams.)

Full disclosure: I’m a history major, American history with a focus on Oregon, which is a good box to check on a blog post called History Beginner.

Let’s start:

The best historical video ever produced was the intro to a Spike Jonze adaptation of Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief. It’s hard to overshadow Nick Cage in a double role, but the opening came close: a history of time from the Big Bang done in a blur.

But that’s another blog post; this one is more to the point.

For better and worse America has led a world full of dark forces, the darkest hour an alliance with mass murderer Joseph Stalin to fight against mass murderer Adolph Hitler. This BBC link spells it out pretty well.

Since then it seems the major goal of world peace has been containing the social impulses that lead to one or the other of this famously blood-splattered duo. Not that they were personally splattered.

No one got the full treatment after their time in the spotlight burst like the treatment of Benito Mussolini and his lady. Be careful with this link, this is a grizzly execution pic from foreignpolicy.com.

Since then it’s been bad, just not super-power bad, internationally disruptive bad, like the comet of WWII that roasted the earth; not bad like ‘hang your victims’ bodies by their feet in public’ bad.

Is medieval the right word?

Today’s world is run by technology and supply chains from cheap labor and available resources, to officials who look the other way after testing, to the big box store near you, near me. I’m surrounded. Within half a mile in Tigard I can park at Costco, WinCo, or WallMart. And so much more.

Those three neighbors in the lowlands off Hwy99 are a big draw, with Home Depot and Lowe’s just up the road. The more consumers they pull, the faster the supply chain runs. Call it supply and demand, and I don’t say that like I think I’m talking to third graders.

Again, this isn’t a political statement

Supply and demand has been the roots of America ever since the first ship landed. Was it the Nina, Pinto, and Santa Maria? Or the Mayfower?

Was America founded by the search for religious freedom, or raw materials for a growing European market?

The history beginner can make up their mind on the details. The important part to nail on the wall is whoever came to America stayed; from where ever in Europe, and for whatever reasons, they stayed.

The people stayed and worked, and worked, and worked, and worked until they couldn’t do all of the work they needed done. Some had large families and enslaved them to the farm; some enslaved others; some hired people and contributed to the community wellness.

As the country expanded, so did the social needs, and so did the cost of fulfilling those needed.

Let’s tie things together with a supple chain. Humans, from the beginning of recorded history, depend on other humans. What began as barter turned into a multinational web of communication, services, and products.

Those are the products in every big box store from East Maine to West California, from North Dakota to South Texas. That supply chain needs to stay open for a cooperative world, and that’s the job of every elected person, creating a cooperative world.

The End Of Death

Stalin killed everyone to keep them quiet and under control. That’s the sort of death he dealt. The knock in the middle of the night, the missing family member, the lost memory.

Nazi’s killed everyone to make room for more Nazis at first, then kept killing to make it more attractive to new Nazi recruits.

What happened when Russia and Germany, both led by mass murderers, faced each other in battle? Just about what you’d expect. Google ‘eastern front’ and ‘battle of stalingrad.’ Here, I’ll do it.

This is a site called rbth.com.

Feb. 2 marks 75 years since the end of the bloodiest battle in the history of mankind. It changed the course of WWII and resigned Germany to defeat. How could this happen to the Nazis who boasted one of the strongest armies the world’s ever seen? Here are 3 reasons the Red Army triumphed in the battle for Stalingrad.

History Beginner Review

While you analyze the world around you, and how you best find a place in it, remember these three points:

If something’s wrong and you know it, stand up.

If something’s wrong and you know it, and you stood up only to be knocked down, stand up again. (If you wonder if this is why Ghandi took so many pictures siting down, you’re not alone.)

If you have an idea that involves hurting others, it’s a bad idea.

If you have friends who have ideas that involve hurting others, stand up.

You already know what happens next, but that’s the name of the game. A strong person will wear out those who knock them down.