So Bad It's Good

 

A 1930s Perspective

If you think that our times are strange, curl up with these books and make some comparisons.

Holy Man/Iranian Gandhi/Man of the Year in 1979

 Giscard d'Estaing admitted years later that President Carter had asked him to take in and protect Ayatollah Khomeini, whom the president described as a "holy man," while the newspaper Le Monde referred to him as the "Iranian Gandhi." Khomeini had been designated Time's "Man of the Year" in 1979, after being able to organize the downfall of his sworn enemy, the Shah of Iran, from his gilded retreat at Neauphle-le-Château. The abandonment of their friend and ally did not bring good fortune to the two Western heads of state. 

- From The Suicide of France: The Quiet Revolution That Destroyed a Nation by Éric Zemmour

Motivation

"The first time I walked into a trophy shop, I looked around and thought to myself, 'This guy is good!'"

- Fred Wolf

Films About Totalitarianism: A Series

 

An Intellectual Feast

 

Let's have a Presidential Civic Fitness Program in high schools and expand perspectives.

[Photo by Getty Images for Unsplash+]

Looks Fascinating

 

Perspective on The French Revolution

 

It is ironic that of all countries in Europe, France was the only one that could have had a revolution - not because she groaned under the lash of tyranny, but, on the contrary, because she tolerated and even invited every conceivable dissension and heresy. Restlessness, a passion for novelty and the pursuit of excitement were everywhere in the air. They were the fruits of idleness and leisure, not of poverty.

Paris was a "storm-tossed sea, blown perpetually by contrary winds." When, in 1789, the Revolution finally arrived it was everywhere acclaimed. It was not a single, self-contained or unified uprising, but a succession of revolutions. One after another, various men or parties emerged to seize power. One after another, they were swept away by forces stronger than themselves.

- From Paris in the Terror June 1793 - July 1794 by Stanley Loomis

[Photo by Ty Koh at Unsplash]

The Original Film Version is Best and Don't Forget to Read the Book

 

Bastille Day: Go Storm Something